“They are beyond League One quality” A look at Birmingham City’s best players this season

National World - LocalTV

As Birmingham City hit the reset button following their relegation to League One, we’re looking back at the start of this season to pinpoint who their top players have been, as a number of them are expressing Championship talent every week.

Transcript

00:00Charlie, looking at Birmingham City and obviously an amazing start to life in League One, a

00:06sort of start, a reset that a lot of fans are happy with going down, they've got the

00:10backing from the owners. A lot of money spent in the summer and it has warranted this start

00:17to the season, this sort of upwards trajectory at the top of League One. How good have the

00:25midfield partnership of Paken and Watts actually been? There's certainly whispers of them certainly

00:32being better than League One quality.

00:34Oh, absolutely. I think those two could arguably be top of the championship kind of quality.

00:40If you whack them in a play-off contention midfield in the championship, I don't think

00:44the fans of those clubs will be complaining too much because their quality is clear to

00:48see every time they step foot onto that field. Not only do they work incredibly hard to win

00:52the ball back and progress possession, but also their passing range, their ability to

00:56shoot as well. Iwata has scored some fantastic goals for Blues so far in his early career

01:01at the club. The fact that Mark Leonard's summer signing, who was Northampton Town's

01:06best player last season, he's been on the bench because Iwata and Pake have been that

01:11strong. A really formidable partnership and one that is without doubt the best in League

01:15One and one that Blues will probably carry forward for the next two or three seasons

01:19if they are promoted back to the championship.

01:22Yeah, and how important is having big players, you know, top quality players when you do

01:26go down to League One? Because they do tend to see you over the tougher games and just

01:32get you through with that extra bit of quality.

01:34Yeah, it's huge. Obviously, a lot of money spent in the summer. Jay Stansfield being

01:38the big name addition and the big money addition as well, absolutely smashing that League One

01:42transfer record, scoring plenty of goals for Blues already, showing just how prolific

01:46he is. He's another player that is just absolutely levels above League One, let's be honest.

01:51And it was quite a surprise that he took that drop down, but he loves the football club.

01:55The fans have really got a great connection with him as well, and a good partnership being

01:58formed with Alfie May up top. Although May, last season's top scorer in League One, hasn't

02:03started every game, he's been a bit more creative playing a role just in behind Stansfield.

02:08They can swap around as well. You've got Lyndon Dykes, the Scottish international, who can

02:12also play minutes if Chris Davies wants to rotate. And having this much depth allows

02:17him to play well in a variety of competitions. I think Blues fans will be very happy with

02:21those guys. And Willem Willemsen as well, and Christoph Klarer, two other big name additions

02:26in the summer, costing around £2 million each. They are, again, players of championship

02:31quality and those that can probably expect to remain in the squad for many years to come.

02:36And then Christian Bielik being the new captain. Dion Sanderson was the skipper last season,

02:41had a drink driving charge and was dropped away from the captaincy. He's since dropped

02:45down the pecking order of starts altogether. So Bielik stepping up, a lot of responsibility

02:50for him, but he's done very well in that role. Just the way he leads from the back, he's

02:54got the experience. And then once again, he is a player that is definitely of a championship

02:59standard.

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