This article is part of Football League World's 'The Verdict' series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Birmingham City have endured a torrid run of recent form, winning just one point from a possible 18 and suffering an agonising narrow defeat against rivals West Bromwich Albion on Friday night.

During these six matches, they have scored once, conceded 12 and dropped down 15 places in the second tier, tumbling down the table after a promising start to the 2021/22 campaign.

Rewind to the Derby County game last month - and the atmosphere couldn't have been any different as they climbed up to fourth place with a 2-0 win against Derby County.

 

 

At the time, reliable goalscorer Troy Deeney had just arrived at St Andrew's and was tipped to make a real impact, with Manchester United loanee Tahith Chong potentially forming a formidable partnership with the 33-year-old.

However, Deeney hasn't played as much as he would have wanted to thus far on his return to the West Midlands and it remains to be seen whether he will feature at the John Smith's Stadium against Huddersfield Town on Wednesday night.

Manager Lee Bowyer will be going into this tie in West Yorkshire under a little bit of pressure after recent results - but should he really be fearing the sack already? Or should he at least be feeling the heat after a winless spell?

We asked three of our writers at Football League World for their verdict on this subject.

Jordan Rushworth

At this stage, Birmingham City need to find some stability and they should not be considering making a change in the dugout despite them suffering a dip in form over recent weeks.

Lee Bowyer still seems to have the majority of the Blues’ supporters behind him and he seemed himself to acknowledge earlier in the season that this term needed to be more about progression than a real push for the top-six.

The Blues have made far too many managerial changes in recent times and although their history suggests that Bowyer has to start picking up results again soon, they have to at some point allow a manager time to build something at St Andrew's.

Bowyer knows the club inside out and he has shown his managerial credentials at Charlton Athletic and also during his time with Birmingham at the end of last season.

Birmingham should remain calm and not be panicked into making a rash decision over Bowyer at this point.

Billy Mulley

It is a real shock to see Birmingham in this position after such a strong start to the season.

They looked very tough to break down during their opening few games, but also attacked with clear purpose with threats coming from all over the pitch.

The front two of Scott Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz brought pace and physicality, Tahith Chong was unplayable, and Maxime Colin and Jeremie Bela were causing all sorts of problems from wing-back positions.

And now, they are in a place where they have not scored in five Championship outings, and have picked up just one draw in their last six games.

There was a real sense of positivity around Birmingham during the first few games of the season, as they were not just getting the results, the performances were of a very high level too.

Somewhere along the line it has all gone wrong, but I still think he has a lot of time to rectify things.

Ned Holmes

No, I don't think Bowyer should be feeling the pressure.

Birmingham's recent form is obviously an issue, as is their lack of goals, but there were plenty of positives to take out of the West Brom clash, in my eyes.

For 75 minutes, Bowyer's game plan worked and the Blues created many of the best chances of the match.

Just as it was important not to get overexcited about their start to the season, it's vital we don't go over the top amid a drop in form.

Things were never going to be sorted overnight at Birmingham and it's important that Bowyer is given the patience to change things.

It's been a dreadful recent run but I've got confidence that things will come good.