Birmingham City’s place in the Championship is effectively guaranteed for next season now
06:00, 25 Mar 2026
Birmingham City forwards Marvin Ducksch and Jay Stansfield
Birmingham City’s failure to sign a number 10 in the January transfer window was somewhat surprising.
A few days after the summer window closed, Chris Davies revealed that he spent deadline day analysing options in the number 10 position and it has been problematic for Blues all season.
It wasn’t on the agenda in January, even after Willum Willumsson was sold to NEC Nijmegen, when Blues moved for a left-back, a centre-back, a midfielder, two wingers and a striker instead.
Davies has settled on Marvin Ducksch more often than not, but the German’s output from behind the striker isn’t what you would associate with a natural number 10 – or ‘the classic number 10’ as Davies puts it.
Ducksch is low on assists (2) and chance creation – only one big chance created all season – but he is Blues’ top scorer with 11 goals in all competitions.
Jay Stansfield did the job before Ducksch, with much more mobility but no more guile.
Blues haven’t had enough guile, creativity or ‘craft’ – the word Davies used to describe last season’s number 10, Kieran Dowell – from that position since they returned to the Championship.
You can point to some of Blues’ recent draws at home and a whole bunch of their away defeats, where they just haven’t been able to penetrate the opposition’s defence with an incisive pass or the ability to beat players in tight spaces.
“We’ve had two strikers,” says Davies. “That’s been a thing I’ve looked at in terms of our goals.
“We’ve gone into away games with a very attacking line-up most of the time, we’ve always had two strikers and two wingers and a lot of attacking intent, but we haven’t had enough goals to show for it and that maybe suggests our link hasn’t quite been there to create the meaningful chances.”
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By link, Davies means someone who can receive the ball from the two midfielders and paint attacking pictures. Neither Ducksch or Stansfield has the ability to do that.
Stansfield is capable of carrying the ball and Ducksch can make exceptional first-time passes, but they won’t dribble, probe, bounce passes and wait for the gaps to appear.
“I think a classic number 10 these days is quite tricky (to sign) because the ones that are really pure maybe don’t do the defensive work,” added Davies. “I want them to be able to run and press as well.
“There are ones out there that are able to get it on the half-turn, run and slide people in, but they don’t want to run or work hard. You stay away from those, so you’re asking for a lot, but a lot of our sixes are sixes, they’re very much get the ball off the back four and pass, so it’s an area we’ve had to find solutions in.
“Marvin and Jay have done it in different ways but it’s something we have to look at.”
Proper number tens do exist in the Championship. Coventry have one in Jack Rudoni, Bristol City have Scott Twine – who has 10 goals and five assists in the league this term – and Finn Azaz has done the business for Southampton.
These players do tend to come at a premium though, particularly those who have already experienced and excelled in the Championship.
For Blues it feels like a must-have. If they want to win promotion they can’t go into another season without natural fits for a position that is absolutely essential in a 4-2-3-1 formation for a team that favours possession.
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