Dion Sanderson sale mooted at Birmingham City to fix big issue | OneFootball

FLW's Birmingham City fan pundit has offered Chris Davies a solution to their recent issues regarding draws.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Birmingham City were relegated to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1995, but the fanbase will be hopeful of bouncing straight back to the Championship with Chris Davies now in charge.

Under new ownership, the club has certainly shown ambition, and signs of a potential new era began to emerge last year. However, relegation has undone some of the progress made over the summer, with poor decisions surrounding appointments in the dugout proving to be particularly problematic during the 2023/24 season.

That said, Birmingham have substantial financial backing and have assembled a strong squad for their League One campaign. This is further emphasised by the planned investment into the city's new Sports Quarter, which will include a modern stadium and state-of-the-art training facility for the team.

Naturally, following relegation, victories should be easier to come by, which could help boost attendance as the feel-good factor and optimism around the club grow. Their start has also been impressive, having tasted defeat only once in 13 League One fixtures thus far.

The verdict on Birmingham City's biggest issue ahead of January

Despite their strong league position, recent draws have stopped Birmingham from topping the table at this stage. The draw away to Mansfield wasn't a bad result as the Stags are in the play-off mix, but Saturday's draw against Northampton certainly felt like two points dropped, and was surely a huge frustration for everyone at the club.

We asked FLW's fan pundit Mike Gibbs to name one concern that they must find a solution for, and he believes they need to find more goals to secure the three points well before the full-time whistle.

He said: "The biggest issue for me, is our ability to kill off games.

"I think we are generally bossing games, and we have great possession, but we are sort of typically only one goal ahead or there is only one goal difference in it.

"We saw it against Mansfield Town when they came back in it, and obviously at the weekend against Northampton Town and their last minute equaliser.

"We're just not killing games off and getting that second or third goal to give us some breathing space.

"I think there is an opportunity in January to freshen things up. Someone like Dion Sanderson, I could see him potentially moving on now after the last couple of performances.

"The reason why I can see that happening is that it then does give you the option to bring new players in, not that we would look for a like-for-like replacement, and would instead look for another creative attacking player.

"The other thing is, I think we have got to have a plan B and a plan C as well. The starting 11 has remained relatively intact, albeit the odd change has happened here or there but usually like-for-like replacements.

"I think we have got to develop a plan B and C to find ways of breaking teams down, but at the same time still remaining really firm at the back."

Birmingham City's issues this season

Of course, Davies' possession-based style has been a defensive tool by limiting the opposition's chances, which has been crucial to their success with Blues keeping 70% of the ball on average, per FotMob.

That is the most in the division and has meant they have conceded just 10xG, which is the lowest figure of any side. Keeping the ball allows the side to control the game’s tempo, reducing the time opponents have to create opportunities, which they have mastered.

By dominating possession, a team restricts the other side’s ability to attack, forcing them to chase the game. However, Birmingham are generating the sixth highest xG and number of chances in the league, which is where things need to improve.