‘It’s amazing...’ Pundit shocked by Birmingham City form while missing key man

John Eustace’s side have conceded 11 goals in those four losses with their last clean sheet coming in the scoreless draw with Blackpool on December 10.

Central to those backline woes has been the fact that City are missing one of their most influencial players in Harlee Dean who has been out with a calf injury since early November.

That draw with Blackpool is the only time Bimingham have managed to keep out the opposition since Dean was sidelined and one EFL pundit has admitted his shock at how much they have missed the 31-year-old centre back.

While expressing his belief that Blues will escape the drop - they are currently in 18th place but six points of the relegation zone - former Norwich City striker Dean Ashton belives that have to be tighter at the back, even without Dean to lead them.

“There’s a lot of teams who could feel [they could be sucked into a relegation battle] because it can change so quickly and there’s such a narrow gap,” Ashton said on ITV’s EFL Highlights Show. “It’s amazing how much of a difference it’s made not having Harley Dean. They have only kept one clean sheet since his injury on November 5 and the goals have dried up a little bit for the forward players but I think they’ll be fine. I think there’s enough quality, I like the midfield as well.”

Eustace slammed the performance in losing to Bristol City on Saturday, which saw new signing Reda Khadra get on the scoresheet on his debut.

“It’s the most disappointed I have been since I joined the club,” he said. “We were too passive, too soft and not good enough in or out of possession.

“We looked vulnerable from an early stage and it was a really bad performance. I thought Kevin Long was fouled by Nahki Wells for their second goal, but that is no excuse. The whole team were not good enough. They have been excellent as a group over the first half of the season, but we are going through a poor spell and now we need fighters.”