'I'm confident' - Chris Davies jumps to misfiring Birmingham City star's defence as goal drought continues
Were Birmingham City wrong to splash the cash on this big-money striker, or is he just getting going?
Chris Davies has allayed fears over Kyogo Furuhashi’s goalscoring capabilities after Birmingham City’s marquee summer signing extended his goal drought to six Championship matches.
Kyogo has scored just one goal in eight appearances for Blues in all competitions since joining from Stade Rennais, and that was in the Carabao Cup first round against the struggling Sheffield United. As a result, concerns have been growing about whether Kyogo was worth the hefty undisclosed fee Blues paid.
Unlike many of Birmingham’s other forwards, including Jay Stansfield and Marvin Ducksch, Kyogo isn’t particularly versatile. The Japan international has played on the left wing numerous times before, but his best returns have come as an out-and-out centre-forward. Herein lies the problem when Kyogo isn’t scoring goals; he isn’t able to contribute quite as much as Davies would like.
Birmingham boss backs misfiring striker
Kyogo was benched against Swansea City in favour of Ducksch and Stansfield, and it was a different striker - Lyndon Dykes - who netted the last-gasp 94th-minute winner. Dykes has now scored two Championship goals this season despite playing merely 26 minutes. That’s what you call an impact.
It was a good job Dykes converted his header as Kyogo had missed a great opportunity beforehand. It was the fifth big chance Kyogo has squandered in the Championship this season. Despite Kyogo’s poor form, Davies isn’t losing faith in Blues’ number no. 9 and predicts he will hit the back of the net sooner rather than later.
“He gets chances, that’s what I say about Kyogo,” Davies told Birmingham Live after the Swansea win. “There was another one that came back to him and he’s done an overhead kick, and it’s hit the guy in the face.
"He will score. He will score, I don’t doubt it. You just have to look at the stats, look at the amount of goals he scores. He does know how to score goals. What I love about Kyogo is whenever he is on the pitch, I’m very confident he’s going to get a chance and that’s an exciting player to have. “I have no worries about Kyogo. I thought he injected good speed and good energy.”
Blues back on fringes of play-offs
Saturday’s three points were enough to propel Birmingham up to eighth in the Championship standings, leapfrogging Swansea in the process. Blues are outside the top six on goal difference alone, bettered by fellow West Midlands outfits West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City, who are in seventh and sixth respectively.
The gap to second - an automatic promotion spot - is now just two points following Stoke City’s surprise defeat to Queens Park Rangers. League leaders Middlesbrough are rather out of reach at this stage, however, unbeaten after six games with 16 points out of an available 18.
It’s been a stop-start beginning to the campaign for Birmingham with very few goals at either end of the field, but it’s promising to be in and amongst the play-off fight already, despite failing to fully click into gear. The good times are coming. Both for Kyogo and for Blues.