Birmingham City completely blew an opportunity to climb comfortably into the playoff spots last week, losing both road games, 1-3 at Southampton and 1-2 at Queens Park Rangers.
Southampton took the lead just 6 minutes into the game, doubling it 18 minutes later. Demarai Gray gave the Blues some hope in the 54th minute, only to have the lead back to 2 goals permanently just 4 minutes after that. irmingham was never really in the game.
At QPR the team were on the back foot almost the entire game, registering a mere 4 shots and 2 on target despite 62% possession. QPR took the lead 40 minutes in and continued the attack throughout the second half, missing a couple of excellent chances to add to their lead. City finally got an equalizer 4 minutes into stoppage time thanks to a Patrick Roberts shot. The relief was short-lived as QPR got the winner just 3 minutes later.
All of that saw the Blues drop back to 11th, both winning teams leapfrogging them. Even so, they are still only 3 points out of the playoffs but 11 points out of automatic promotion, Middlesbrough in 2nd winning both its games last week.
Just one game for the Blues this week, and it should be winnable. They are back home tomorrow to play Charlton Athletic (9:00am, no US TV). Charlton are 19th and have lost 5 straight games.
Some clarity has emerged this week about City’s potential transfer plans in the upcoming January window. The team is expected to offload Swedish winger Emil Hansson, who cost £1.5 million ($2 million) but has not lived up to hopes, and there are rumors German center back Phil Neumann may be on his way out as well. They will likely need any cash generated as they are targeting Nigerian winger Philip Otele, currently at FC Basel. Fulham and Crystal Palace in the Premier League among others are also chasing after him. He is highly rated and is thought to carry a price tag of £7 million ($9.4 million).
