Birmingham City’s four match unbeaten run was brought to an end at St Andrews on Wednesday night, with the Blues falling to a 2-0 defeat against Queens Park Rangers.

Pep Clotet’s side were looking to build on their 3-2 win at Reading on Saturday, which secured the Blues their first victory since the Spaniard was named the club’s permanent head coach, but they conceded a goal in each half to fall to their ninth defeat of the campaign.

The defeat leaves Birmingham in 15^th place in the Championship table, having dropped bellow QPR, but they are still only six points adrift of the play-off places in what is a very congested table, although they will need to find greater consistency if they are to build any promotion push.

Here then, we take a look at THREE things we clearly learnt about the Blues following their defeat against QPR…

Birmingham continue to struggle in the final third

 

Birmingham’s 3-2 win at Reading last weekend saw the Blues register three goals in a league game for the first time this season, but having failed to score a goal for the seventh match this season Clotet’s side have now managed just 22 goals in their opening 21 Championship games which is the fourth lowest tally in the division.

The Blues, as they have done on numerous of occasions this season, controlled the majority of possession at St Andrews against QPR, but they struggled to create any real clear cut chances having registered just two shots on target - and apart from a period of pressure at the start of the second half they did not look likely to find a way back into the game.

That highlights that Birmingham are in need of some reinforcements in the January window, to bring in some players to provide more creativity in the final third, and Clotet will be hopeful that if he can find some more creativity in the winter window then his side can start to find the net on a more regular basis.

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St Andrews dip coming at a bad time

Birmingham’s solid start to the season under Clotet was built on their solid form at St Andrews, with the Blues having picked up five wins from their opening seven Championship matches on home soil, but having been beaten by QPR on Wednesday Clotet’s side are now winless in their last three at home.

That run has seen them score just once in a 1-1 draw against Millwall, while they have been beaten by both Fulham and now QPR without scoring, which will be a concern for the Blues with teams starting to sit a little deeper and be hard to break down at St Andrews and looking to punish the Blues on the break.

Birmingham’s next two matches at home in the Championship are against the top two in Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion, which will make it a real challenge for Clotet’s side to get back to winning ways at home and start to build some momentum again.

Marc Roberts’ presence being missed

Birmingham’s defence has looked a little vulnerable in the last few matches, with the Blues now having conceded five goals in their last three Championship matches, since losing Marc Roberts to injury in their 1-1 draw against Millwall a few weeks ago.

Roberts had formed a very solid partnership with Harlee Dean during the opening weeks of the campaign, with the pair complimenting each other and offering a real balance to the heart of the Blues’ defence, but that partnership has been broken up recently by Dean picking up a suspension and now Roberts picking up an injury.

Clotet will be hoping to have the defender back as soon as possible to try and get his side to become more solid at the back again, but he will need to find a way to tighten up his defence in Roberts’ absence over the next few weeks.