Birmingham City decision brings danger for Christoph Klarer – and Chris Davies knows it

Birmingham City decision brings danger for Christoph Klarer – and Chris Davies knows it.

Last weekend, Christoph Klarer returned to his preferred spot on the right of Birmingham City’s central defensive duo.

Nobody can argue that Birmingham City’s defence didn’t appear more balanced against Swansea City.

Christoph Klarer was able to return to his natural right side after Jack Robinson took Phil Neumann’s position, and there were no problems from the defensive end.

Playing with a left-footed centre-back has the advantage of creating lanes and passing angles. As a right-footed player, Klarer was unable to open up and play forward during his brief stint on the opposing team, and frequently his only pass was a short one to Alex Cochrane.

That in turn put pressure on Cochrane to always be available and to find the forward pass that Klarer couldn’t. We saw a huge improvement from the two players in question with Robinson between them last weekend.

Phil Neumann was the unfortunate casualty, despite doing very little wrong in Blues’ opening five Championship games.

“I was eager to give Jack a chance, but it was always going to be a difficult decision,” manager Chris Davies acknowledged. “With Klarer once more on the right, it’s a lot like Ben Davies from last year.

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