John Eustace fires message to Birmingham City forwards after ‘not like us’ defeat to Norwich
Latest Birmingham City news from BirminghamLive includes John Eustace’s reaction to the 2-0 Norwich City defeat.
John Eustace has told his misfiring Birmingham City forwards to step up and ease the burden on Jay Stansfield.
Stansfield has been Blues’ biggest goal threat in recent weeks and led the charge during the defeat to Norwich City on Saturday. Blues fell to a third straight away defeat at Carrow Road after second half goals from Gabriel Sara and Jonathan Rowe.
Blues missed a few chances in the second half and failed to score for the third time in five matches. Eustace’s team failed to win in September, thanks in no small part to their lack of ruthlessness in front of goal.
Eustace said: “The players are getting the opportunities so it’s about them stepping up and being the man. Everyone could see we had two or three really good chances again today, but someone has got to stand up and say I want to be the man who scores the goals.
“We have got young Jay Stansfield on loan at 20-years-old, and he is a stand-out performer at the moment in creating and finishing. We need more players to step up and hopefully they can.”
Blues have dropped down to 12th place in the Championship as a result of their latest setback on the road. Eustace conceded his team lost to a better side, although he was frustrated by some of the defending on display.
The head coach added: “We were up against a top team with top players, they will end up in the top two or three I’m sure. That’s the nature of their squad. That first half performance was a little bit passive. Defensively we still looked solid and limited them to very few chances. You could hear their crowd turn half way through the game as well, which is what we wanted.
“We had some good opportunities in the final third as well, but lacked that quality pass, which we haven’t been great all season at. Coming out in the second half we had a fantastic opportunity to go one-nil up.
“The manner we conceded the two goals was really disappointing. It’s not like us. We were sloppy in possession on the halfway line and gave it away. We defended a couple of crosses and then didn’t track the third phase of the attack, which was disappointing.
“We made some positive subs just after the goal, Dembele and Bacca, but we were just loose in possession in the middle of the pitch and they countered on us and punished us. That’s what happens when you have got top players in those positions.
Leave a Reply