Chris Davies might have to reverse Krystian Bielik decision to solve Birmingham City issue
Birmingham City are down to the bare bones in midfield after Marc Leonard was stretchered off against Newcastle United on Saturday evening.
Manager Chris Davies hopes Leonard’s injury is just ‘a deep gash to the knee’, but the Scot was in considerable pain as he left the field and the medics who tended to him administered oxygen. The chances of Leonard featuring when League One’s basement side Cambridge United rock up to St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park on Tuesday evening appear slim to non-existent.
That leaves Davies, who is also expected to be without Paik Seung-ho and Taylor Gardner-Hickman, with a problem to navigate. Who will partner Tomoki Iwata in midfield?
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On the face of it, Davies has plenty of options. Kieran Dowell, Willum Willumsson, Luke Harris and Blues skipper Krystian Bielik can all do the job, but they aren't natural partners for Iwata in the way injured trio Leonard, Paik and Gardner-Hickman are.
Dowell started in a deeper midfield role against Stevenage last week and played it well. You would presume the Rangers loanee is favourite due to the fact Davies will want his ball-playing creators on the field to unlock Cambridge’s defence.
The option of Bielik, who has lost his place in the XI due to the sterling form of Christoph Klarer, Ben Davies and Ethan Laird, is one put forward by supporters. Bielik has played the bulk of his Blues career in midfield and was an effective anchorman in the Championship, let alone League One.
But Blues played a different style of football back then. They didn’t have much of the ball and a 6ft 3in enforcer whose mission was to put out fires excelled. Bielik didn’t fare so well in midfield when Tony Mowbray started to change Blues’ way of playing this time last year.
Mowbray converted Bielik to a centre-back and Davies shared his opinion when he inherited the Poland international in June. Speaking recently, Davies made it clear that playing Bielik in midfield wouldn’t be his preference.
“He’s a definite option in there because of his experience playing in defensive midfield, but I do see his strongest position as a centre-back,” Davies told BirminghamLive. “It’s good to have versatility considering the amount of injuries we’ve got in that position at the moment.”
Needs must sometimes and there is a way Davies could utilise Bielik in midfield without drastically changing Blues’ shape in possession. Bielik could drop back into defence to form the back three with Klarer and Ben Davies, allowing both full-backs to push up high and wide. That would in turn allow the wide players, likely Keshi Anderson plus one, to tuck inside and flood the middle ground behind the striker.
Out of possession, Bielik wouldn’t press like Gardner-Hickman, but Blues average 66 percent of the ball in League One games and Cambridge are fourth bottom in that metric with 44 percent. Based on that statistic, Bielik will be passing more than pressing and he can do that very well.
Davies quite clearly never planned to use Bielik in midfield, but the 27-year-old is fresher than most and capable of filling in.
