Alex Dicken rates the Birmingham City players after the 3-2 defeat to Championship leaders Leicester City at St Andrew’s
Leicester City just outfoxed Birmingham City in a five-goal thriller at St Andrew’s on Monday night.
The top-of-the-table Foxes secured a 3-2 victory over Wayne Rooney’s side despite Jordan James’ brace for the hosts. Stephy Mavididi scored a double for Leicester either side of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s strike.
Blues almost scored three times before Leicester raced away to open the scoring in the 10th minute. Siriki Dembele was first to test Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen with a low strike inside the box.
Leicester failed to clear their lines completely. Marc Roberts hurled the ball into their six-yard box and Krystian Bielik flicked it goalwards. Hermansen was on hand to save Leicester again.
When the goalkeeper didn’t come to Leicester’s rescue from the resulting corner, the woodwork prevented James Justin from putting through his own net. The ball ricocheted off the post with such force that it set up a Leicester counter-attack.
In fairness to Abdul Fatawu and Mavididi, there was still lots to do. Fatawu fed Mavididi and he sprinted away from Blues’ back-tracking defenders to chip the advancing John Ruddy.
Blues hit back quickly through James. An incisive passing move saw Dembele find Ivan Sunjic in space 20 yards from goal, rather than shoot the Croatian found James, who turned and fired into the far corner to equalise.
Leicester hit the front again on 21 minutes. Fatawu was again the creator with a superb pass between Roberts and Dion Sanderson for Dewsbury-Hall to stride on to. Dewsbury-Hall rounded Ruddy and slotted home.
The Foxes’ class at Championship level was abundantly obvious. Dewsbury-Hall was particularly impressive and the midfielder teed up Patson Daka shortly before half-time but he couldn’t convert from eight yards out.
Leicester didn’t need the helping hand Bielik offered them four minutes into the second half. The Poland international inexplicably gave the ball away under minimal pressure in midfield and Leicester shifted it to Mavididi who, via a deflection off Emanuel Aiwu, finished another devastating counter-attack.
A raft of changes for the final 20 minutes reinvigorated the hosts. Koji Miyoshi was one of those introduced by Rooney and he teed up James to net his second in the 74th minute. James made the most of Miyoshi’s pass and looped a shot over Hermansen with the help of a deflection.
Rooney even threw on Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz to aid Blues’ assault on Leicester’s goal. But Enzo Maresca’s side held on to clinch their ninth victory from 11 away matches this season.
John Ruddy 5.5
Ruddy appeared a tad lax in possession at times and threw the ball away to Leicester at one stage in the second half. He couldn’t have done much about Leicester’s three goals though.
Emanuel Aiwu 5.5
The Austrian was fighting a losing battle against Mavididi, who is undoubtedly one of the best players in the Championship. Aiwu found himself in some good positions going forward but he crossed like a centre-back playing at right-back.
Roberts was partly culpable for Leicester’s second goal, but he didn’t do much wrong against the Foxes’ plethora of attacking talent. The veteran defender’s long throw-ins were a useful weapon on the night, too.
Dion Sanderson 6
Sanderson has looked much more assured alongside Roberts in the last two matches. Admittedly, the ball that split him and Roberts for Dewsbury-Hall’s goal wasn’t pretty from a Blues perspective.
Lee Buchanan 6
The left-back enjoyed a good battle with Fatawa in and out of possession. Buchanan was on the end of a nasty challenge from Fatawa in the second half that could have resulted in a card.
Krystian Bielik 5
Bielik must hold his hands up for Leicester’s crucial third goal. He gave the ball away needlessly and Blues paid the ultimate price. Bielik was disappointing in possession throughout.
Ivan Sunjic 7
The dynamic midfielder is often criticised for his quality in possession, but his pass for James’ first goal was perfectly weighted. Sunjic has done himself no harm in the last two matches.
Jordan James 8
Rooney is a huge fan of James and Blues fans are seeing the best of the Wales international at club level. James scored his third and fourth goals of the season in another hugely encouraging performance.
Siriki Dembele 7
Dembele offered dancing feet and the occasional bit of substance going forward. He played his part in Blues’ first goal and was the team’s most dangerous attacker whilst on the pitch.
Juninho Bacuna 6.5
The Curacao international wasn’t as effective as he was in Cardiff last week. He showed glimpses of his considerable talent without troubling Leicester’s goal.
Jay Stansfield 6.5
Stansfield produced another workmanlike performance without any rewards. The striker chased everything and caused Leicester’s experienced defenders the occasional problem.
SUBS
Koji Miyoshi (for Dembele, 71) 7
The Japanese playmaker gave Blues some added creativity in the final 20 minutes. He set up James’ second goal and almost put Jutkiewicz through on goal.
Romelle Donovan (for Stansfield, 71) 6.5
Donovan has the potential to become a real star at Blues. He was aggressive and full of endeavour in his latest cameo off the bench.
Oliver Burke (for Bielik, 71) 6
Burke gave Blues some speed and physical presence in attack.
Scott Hogan (for Bacuna, 81) N/A
Lukas Jutkiewicz (for Aiwu, 86) N/A
Not used: Etheridge, Longelo, Oakley, Gardner
Attendance: 18,823 (2,654)
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