When Pep Clotet was appointed as Birmingham City's caretaker head coach this summer following the departure of Garry Monk, the club's supporters would have had every right to feel slightly concerned about his suitability for the job.

Although the 42-year-old had enjoyed a relative amount of success during his time in Spain, he was sacked from his most recent managerial role at Oxford United in 2018 following a poor run of results in League One.

Having bolstered his squad by bringing in the likes of Ivan Sunjic, Dan Crowley and Alvaro Gimenez, Clotet led the Blues to a 1-0 victory over Brentford on the opening day of the season.

Since this clash, Birmingham have managed to amass a further 13 points in the Championship from a possible 30 on offer.

Currently 12th in the second-tier standings, it will be intriguing to see whether the Blues can push on over the coming months.

Here, we take a look at three lessons that Clotet will have learnt at Birmingham over the past 11 league games...

His Blues side have to pick up their form away from home

Since clinching victory on their travels against Brentford in August, the Blues have been extremely underwhelming away from home.

As well as suffering damaging defeats to the likes of Nottingham Forest and Reading, Birmingham also failed to deliver the goods in their clashes with Derby County and Wigan Athletic.

In order to resolve this particular issue, Clotet may have to adopt more of an attacking approach in the Blues' upcoming away games against Leeds United and Cardiff City.

Placing his trust in youth could lead to success

Having witnessed Jude Bellingham produce a number of stunning displays in recent weeks, Clotet decided to give his team-mate Odin Bailey a chance to impress last Friday against Middlesbrough.

The winger, who is a product of the club's youth academy, duly headed home the winner for the Blues.

With this particular duo illustrating that they have more than enough talent to thrive at this particular level, Clotet may find it extremely beneficial to play both players on a regular basis alongside the likes of Sunjic and Crowley.

He needs his players to improve defensively

Whilst Birmingham have managed to score some stellar team goals this year, they have been far from convincing defensively.

Having kept just three clean-sheets in the Championship during the current campaign, it is imperative that Clotet finds a solution to this particular issue over the international break.

Providing that the Blue boss can make some serious defensive improvements, there is no reason why his side cannot go on to achieve a relative amount of success in the second-tier this season.

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