here <\/a>to buy.<\/p>\nRyan Allsop 7<\/strong><\/p>\nBlues\u2019 pursuit of speed in the transfer market means Allsop will have more runners to hit with his laser-like long passes and he whipped out the seven iron to find Gray in behind in the first half. Allsop was confident with his hands when Forest managed to work him.<\/p>\n
![\"Ryan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS376894334.jpg\")
Ryan Allsop of Birmingham City<\/p>\n
Bright Osayi-Samuel 8<\/strong><\/p>\nOsayi-Samuel appears to have beaten Laird to the starting berth at right-back and he was very impressive against Forest. He flew forward at speed and never neglected his defensive duties to keep the dangerous Hudson-Odoi quiet.<\/p>\n
Phil Neumann 7<\/strong><\/p>\nThe German wasn\u2019t overly worked but he did have to react sharply to clear the danger at the start of the second half. Neumann looks set to beat Cashin to a start against Ipswich.<\/p>\n
Christoph Klarer 8<\/strong><\/p>\nKlarer looked comfortable on the left side of Blues\u2019 defensive pairing but he wasn\u2019t always keen to play out with his left foot. He was dominant aerially and pressed aggressively into midfield in the first half to retrieve possession.<\/p>\n
![\"Nottingham](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS376895628.jpg\")
Nottingham Forest’s Dan Ndoye (left) and Birmingham City’s Christoph Klarer battle for the ball<\/p>\n
Alex Cochrane 7.5<\/strong><\/p>\nCoped well with \u00a334million man Dan Ndoye, with a little bit of help from Anderson. Cochrane crunched into one midfield challenge in the second half to win the ball cleanly and delight the crowd.<\/p>\n
Tomoki Iwata 7.5<\/strong><\/p>\nIwata was dependable at the base of Blues\u2019 midfield and stepped forward aggressively at points in the first half to press Forest and push them back. The Japanese midfielder\u2019s head is constantly scanning out of possession to cut off passing lanes.<\/p>\n
Paik Seung-ho 8<\/strong><\/p>\nPlayed up to the level against Premier League opposition and looked at home. The midfielder, who donned Blues\u2019 number eight shirt on the day, took the ball under pressure and ghosted past Forest\u2019s midfielders when he had to.<\/p>\n
Tommy Doyle 7<\/strong><\/p>\nThere is so much to like about Doyle in possession, be it from a deep-lying midfield position or in the number 10 spot. He took up some clever positions and combined well with his teammates.<\/p>\n
Demarai Gray 8<\/strong><\/p>\nThere were a couple of flicks in the first half that showed Gray\u2019s Premier League class, particularly the one which set Stansfield away in the build-up to the game\u2019s first real chance.<\/p>\n
Keshi Anderson 7.5<\/strong><\/p>\nOne nutmeg to wriggle away from Anderson inside his own defensive third was wonderful. Anderson provided superb support to Cochrane to prevent the Blues left-back from becoming isolated by Forest\u2019s big money signing Ndoye.<\/p>\n
![\"Birmingham](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_blues4.jpg\")
Birmingham City’s Keshi Anderson (centre) in action during the pre-season friendly against Nottingham Forest at St Andrew’s.<\/p>\n
Jay Stansfield 8<\/strong><\/p>\nThe striker opened the scoring at the third attempt with a tidy finish after missing two chances. Stansfield pressed superbly and looked sharper than you would expect in his first game in three weeks.<\/p>\n
SUBS<\/p>\n
Eiran Cashin (for Neumann, 57) 6<\/strong><\/p>\nThe left-footed centre-back fizzed the ball about and generally looked more comfortable after a full week\u2019s training with his new club.<\/p>\n
Marc Leonard (for Paik, 57) 7<\/strong><\/p>\nLeonard snapped into tackles in front of Blues\u2019 back four and was always available for a pass. A good cameo from the Scot.<\/p>\n
Willum Willumsson (for Doyle, 57) 6<\/strong><\/p>\nWillumsson is getting a fair crack from Davies in pre-season but needs to show his best form at the beginning of the season to avoid Blues dipping back into the market.<\/p>\n
Kyogo Furuhashi (for Stansfield, 57) 6<\/strong><\/p>\nMade some decisive movements in behind Forest\u2019s defence and was almost found by Anderson. Kyogo is similar to Stansfield in the way that he sets the press.<\/p>\n
Ethan Laird (for Osayi-Samuel, 65) 6.5<\/strong><\/p>\nIt wouldn\u2019t be a surprise to see Laird and Osayi-Samuel become a regular substitution to ensure Blues always have an energetic option down their right side. Laird played well when introduced.<\/p>\n
Taylor Gardner-Hickman (for Anderson, 65) 6<\/strong><\/p>\nStarted on the left before switching to his preferred midfield position. One misplaced long ball frustrated Gardner-Hickman and Davies behind him.<\/p>\n
Lyndon Dykes (for Gray, 65) 5.5<\/strong><\/p>\nDykes almost inadvertently helped Forest equalise late on with a poor pass that resulted in a big chance for Wood that he didn\u2019t take.<\/p>\n
Krystian Bielik (for Klarer, 77) N\/A<\/strong><\/p>\nAlfons Sampsted (for Cochrane, 77) N\/A<\/strong><\/p>\nGeorge Hall (for Iwata, 77) N\/A<\/strong><\/p>\nNot used: <\/strong>Beadle<\/p>\nAttendance:<\/strong> 18,269<\/p>\nAre you confident Blues will fare well in the Championship? Let us know your thoughts HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jay Stansfield scored the only goal as Birmingham City beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 in their final pre-season fixture…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":313659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,55206,393,4884,1206,109335,81676,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-313658","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-demarai-gray","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-jay-stansfield","15":"tag-paik-seung-ho","16":"tag-tommy-doyle","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114963025123225021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313658","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=313658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Alex](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Alex-Dicken-Birmingham-Mail.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jay](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_JS376895246.jpg\")
Jay Stansfield celebrates his goal for Birmingham City against Nottingham Forest<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0_Article-Image-2.jpg\")
You Ready for this?<\/p>\n