{"id":260015,"date":"2025-07-12T22:10:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T22:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260015\/"},"modified":"2025-07-12T22:10:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-12T22:10:16","slug":"birmingham-city-player-verdicts-vs-sevilla-neumann-strong-as-anderson-shines-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260015\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham City player verdicts vs Sevilla: Neumann strong as Anderson shines again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keshi Anderson, Christoph Klarer and Marc Leonard scored for Birmingham City in their win over Sevilla\"Alex<\/p>\n

Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail<\/p>\n

\"BirminghamBirmingham City winger Keshi Anderson<\/p>\n

Birmingham City kicked off their pre-season campaign with a 3-1 win over La Liga side Sevilla on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Keshi Anderson<\/a> and Christoph Klarer<\/a> put Blues<\/a> in control at half-time before Chris Davies<\/a> fielded a completely new XI for the second period.<\/p>\n

Nico Guillen pulled one back for an improved Sevilla side after the break but Blues had the last laugh when Marc Leonard scored a stupendous free-kick three minutes from time.<\/p>\n

Here are our player verdicts…<\/p>\n

First half<\/p>\n

Ryan Allsop<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ice-cool in possession, as ever, and wasn\u2019t even panicked when Neumann bounced a lofted ball towards him. Allsop comfortably held one low shot and made one superb save from Vargas.<\/p>\n

Ethan Laird<\/strong><\/p>\n

Laird\u2019s burst of speed to get on the end of Klarer\u2019s long free-kick to force the corner which led to Blues\u2019 second goal was superb. The right-back was strong in and out of possession.<\/p>\n

Phil Neumann<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a lot to like about Neumann. He looks at ease in possession and pinged passes into his teammates with purpose, whilst also showing the athleticism to stride forward with the ball on occasions.<\/p>\n

Christoph Klarer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Klarer\u2019s position has been tweaked slightly which means he is now in the middle of Blues\u2019 three-man defence when they have the ball. It\u2019s a smart move to ensure he isn\u2019t isolated out wide by speedy wingers. Klarer was perfectly positioned to score Blues\u2019 second goal and should contribute more than the two he managed last season in the coming campaign.<\/p>\n

Alex Cochrane<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cochrane made one strong challenge early on and looked assured throughout. He knows the system so well now that it will be hard for Lee Buchanan or anyone else to dislodge him at left-back.<\/p>\n

Tomoki Iwata<\/strong><\/p>\n

Patrolled in front of Neumann and Klarer to offer a bounce-pass for them. Iwata occasionally got involved going forward too.<\/p>\n

Paik Seung-ho<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reasonably tidy in possession and showed for the ball constantly. The one criticism would be that his first-time sweeps to the right from the pivot position didn\u2019t always find their man.<\/p>\n

Willum Willumsson<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were some intelligent passes and movements from Willumsson who is the natural foil for Laird on that right flank in the absence of fellow left-footed number 10 Kanya Fujimoto. Willumsson played his part in Klarer\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

\"WillumWillum \u00de\u00f3r Willumsson of Birmingham City<\/p>\n

Zaid Betteka<\/strong><\/p>\n

His first start for the senior side couldn\u2019t have gone much better. Betteka showed his ball-carrying abilities before playing a deft pass to set up Anderson and he was diligent out of possession.<\/p>\n

Keshi Anderson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anderson won\u2019t hand over the left-wing position to Demarai Gray without a fight and he picked up where he left off two months ago with a lovely goal.<\/p>\n

Jay Stansfield<\/strong><\/p>\n

A typical Stansfield performance; full of energy and endeavour with the occasional bit of the dark arts. He certainly wound a few Sevilla players up.<\/p>\n

Second half<\/p>\n

James Beadle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Beadle was quickly called into action when Rafa Mir galloped in behind and the Blues goalkeeper beat the shot away. He will be disappointed with the lax pass that led to Sevilla’s goal.<\/p>\n

Birmingham City signing James Beadle<\/p>\n

Taylor Gardner-Hickman<\/strong><\/p>\n

A surprise inclusion at right-back with Osayi-Samuel on the bench but Gardner-Hickman is reliable in most positions. He came up against a very lively customer in Idumbo and needed a few minutes to get to grips with him. Fared better in midfield.<\/p>\n

Krystian Bielik<\/strong><\/p>\n

The skipper was aggressive out of possession and retrieved the ball high up the field on a couple of occasions. He had the odd dust-up with Mir too,<\/p>\n

Billy Burrell<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other than one shaky touch that saw him give away a dangerous free-kick and get booked, the 18-year-old held his own at centre-back. This is a level that Blues’ youngsters haven’t been exposed to before and they all acquitted themselves well.<\/p>\n

Alfie Chang<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fair play to Chang for putting in a shift at left-back against ex-Manchester United winger Adnan Januzaj. He stepped inside in possession well and did well defensively.<\/p>\n

Tommy Doyle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Doyle battled away in midfield and showed his quality with one fizzed pass to Hall that resulted in a chance for Dykes.<\/p>\n

Marc Leonard<\/strong><\/p>\n

There was one good tackle inside his own box to prevent a Sevilla player from getting a shot away and plenty of duels contested. The Scot wasn’t able to get on the ball as much as he would have liked against a quality Sevilla XI but he showed his quality with a fantastic free-kick to seal the win.<\/p>\n

George Hall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hall showed plenty of intelligence with his positioning on the right and combined well with May and Dykes in attack. He gives Blues plenty of athleticism so it’s no surprise Davies is having a proper look at him this year.<\/p>\n

\"GeorgeGeorge Hall spent last season on loan at Walsall<\/p>\n

Lyndon Dykes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dykes got on the end of Blues’ best move of the second half to work the Sevilla goalkeeper. He was always available for a pass and demonstrated a good understanding with May.<\/p>\n

Briar Bateman<\/strong><\/p>\n

At 17, Bateman is the youngest member of Blues’ squad out in Portugal but didn’t look overawed at all. He wanted to get on the ball and looked menacing when he got into his flow.<\/p>\n

Alfie May<\/strong><\/p>\n

May produced a good cross for Dykes’ headed chance and worked tirelessly to press Sevilla’s defenders.<\/p>\n

SUBS<\/p>\n

Bright Osayi-Samuel (for Doyle, 72)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A brief debut for Osayi-Samuel but he was able to show his searing speed down the right. We’ll see more of him in the next week or two.<\/p>\n

Cody Pennington (for Hall, 84) N\/A<\/strong><\/p>\n

How did you rate Blues’ performance? Let us know HERE<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n

BirminghamLive has its very own Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. Just click this link<\/a> to receive daily Blues content and breaking news. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. Click on the name at the top of your screen while in WhatsApp and click ‘Exit Group’. Read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keshi Anderson, Christoph Klarer and Marc Leonard scored for Birmingham City in their win over Sevilla Birmingham City…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260016,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,10461,393,4884,99674,39844,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-260015","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-christoph-klarer","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-keshi-anderson","15":"tag-phil-neumann","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114842555860771456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}