Birmingham show promise as they remain unbeaten after Stoke stalemate

Four games into their Championship campaign and Birmingham City still find themselves unbeaten in the league after a string of decent results under new manager Aitor Karanka.

The Spaniard will feel aggrieved, however, that his side’s current tally of six points doesn’t stand at eight as Blues conceded an 86th minute equaliser from Stoke’s Nick Powell on their visit to the bet365 Stadium on Sunday.

In fairness, Stoke showed promising signs, particularly in the second half and were unlucky to go behind to Harlee Dean’s header direct from a corner. 

Based on the flow of the game, it’s a point gained for Birmingham as their opponents missed a handful of good opportunities, although when you’re only minutes away from three you can’t blame Karanka and his team being disappointed.

Despite missed chances from Stoke, Karanka’s side showed resilience and discipline, something that was paramount when the Spaniard got Middlesbrough promoted in 2016. I’m certainly not saying that Birmingham can be promotion contenders this year, but they’re certainly showing good habits in the early stages of Karanka’s tenure.

A season of mid table obscurity and a possible sniff of the top half would surely be welcomed by Blues fans after previous seasons of managerial casualties, lacklustre football and flirtation with relegation to League One.

For whatever reason, it simply didn’t work under Pep Clotet last term. It was well publicised that the Spaniard had, apparently, stabbed previous manager Garry Monk in the back as the then assistant manager replaced the Englishman after his sacking.

From an outside view it also seemed odd that the 43-year-old announced a month-and-a-half before the end of the season that he would leave St.Andrews at the end of the season ‘to explore other coaching opportunities’, only to leave a month later by mutual consent with four games remaining.

City have failed to finish higher than 17th in the Championship over the past four seasons, with their 20th place finish last term their worst in six years, narrowly missing out on relegation by two points.

However, Birmingham can turn a blank page now under Karanka. Sure it didn’t work out at Nottingham Forest the way the 47-year-old would’ve wanted it to, but having a manager with experience at this level, especially one who has overseen a promotion to the Premier League, will only prove beneficial for the Blues this season.

Who knows what they will achieve this season? One thing is for sure though, with Karanka at the helm they’ve got a great chance of a more enjoyable season than they’ve endured in recent campaigns.