#BirminghamCityFC v #BrentfordFC - St. Andrews Sat 3pm

Slightly brief for this fixture with a bit of a focus on a young player we are excited by.

With a draining 1-1 draw v Leeds still reverberating around the squad, next up for Bees is a difficult trip to St. Andrews.

Sides winning against Leeds have struggled with results in their immediately following fixture. The physical and mental energy expended to make it through a match against Bielsa’s side, let alone compete or win, can have a direct impact on future performance levels.

The time spent without the ball, added to the tracking of runners and the physicality Leeds bring to each on field duel doesn’t leave too much to guess work when trying to figure out why.

Thomas Frank came to conclusions on his starting team prior to the Kamo Mokotjo injury and since that moment has been resolute and steadfast with it afterwards.

His midfield 3 has consistently been Norgaard, Jensen and Dasilva.

4-3-3 will remain the formation but there could potentially be a spot for Marcondes, who made a brief contribution against Leeds. This could help freshen up a midfield that spent a great deal of time chasing the ball and covering space on Tuesday night, not forgetting being on the end of some strong challenges.

Birmingham City predominantly opt for a 4-4-2 system which Clotet can flip to a 5-4-1 depending on game state. It’s easy to dismiss this as rudimentary or functional as a plan, it’s once you pick out contributions within the system that you find it’s strengths and how it is able to cope with a multitude of attacking and defensive situations.

Dangerous from set pieces, Birmingham use the hold up play and the advanced pivot of Jutkievicz to great effect.

It must be caveated with the partnership still being in its infancy, yet Hogan and Jutkiewicz are working well as direct options upfield. The latter struck up an interesting combination last year as a foil for Che Adams, and quickly looks like replicating that with the Ex Brentford and Villa striker.

Within this system we’re also seeing standout contributions from 16 year old Jude Bellingham.

The word incredible is used to such excess within football that it has now lost all impact, but in Bellingham's case, it is fitting in describing the consistency of his output.



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He’s abnormal for his age in so many ways. To already tick tactical, technical, physical and mental boxes has led to his chance in the first team. It’s on him from there and he has excelled, consistently starting first team matches and making life starting in the championship look so natural.

Bellingham can play on the right or left of midfield, but with the intelligence to tuck in and make numbers centrally or break forward into the wide areas to provide attacking support. or He can also dictate the game centrally as a midfield pair.

He has the running range to contribute in both boxes and likes to use his first touch to instantly commit the opposition. With 4 goals and 2 assists officially registered, his expected assist numbers, which looks to value the quality of the chances he is creating, has him closer to double that figure.

We believe Pep Clotet will deploy him on the right hand side of midfield where he’ll be used to contest and influence the wing of Rico Henry and Benrahma. He’ll likely also be asked to come inside to provide a numerical match up with Brentford's midfield 3.

Another player that stands out for us has been Jérémie Bela.

Bela was a fantastic pick up for Birmingham and has a number of attributes that transfer to having a successful career in England. Versatile across all of the front positions, he has shown a great ability in 1v1 situations in wide areas, as well as getting shots off as an inverted winger. Albacete in Spain’s second tier narrowly missed out on promotion to La Liga and couldn't feasibly keep hold of a player that has shown he is able to step up a level.

We don’t mind his decision making in shooting from range because we can see enough high value close in shots to compliment these efforts.

Colin, well known to Brentford, will be playing wide right and will be pushed defensively, making the positioning of Bellingham interesting if he is selected.

Dean at centre-back may have finally been upgraded, as the impressive Chelsea loanee Clarke-Salter, after a spell with Vitesse in Holland in 18/19 finally starts to make his mark in England.

Squad usage across last 5 matches

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