Latest Birmingham City news from BirminghamLive includes John Eustace on Jay Stansfield’s position.
John Eustace insists Jay Stansfield ‘can play anywhere across the front four’ for Birmingham City after fielding him on the left wing at Norwich City.
Eustace ignored calls to play Stansfield as a centre-forward in the 2-0 defeat to the Canaries, and he also opted against starting the 20-year-old in his usual number 10 position. Stansfield started out wide before switching to his favoured role behind Scott Hogan in the second half.
The on-loan Fulham man almost netted his fourth Blues goal shortly after that positional change. He was denied a goal by a combination of Shane Duffy’s studs and Angus Gunn’s chest after being played through by Koji Miyoshi.
“It’s important that we keep feeding him the ball and getting him in the right areas,” said Eustace. “He certainly makes things happen.”
Eustace was without Keshi Anderson – who has played left wing in recent weeks – due to a hamstring injury, while Siriki Dembele wasn’t fit enough to start at Carrow Road after only recently returning to the squad. That no doubt contributed to Stansfield playing out wide.
“I think you can see he does the work off the ball,” explained Eustace. “He gets in defensively and keeps his shape. And also we signed him off the back of him doing very well on that left side for Exeter last year.
“He is a threat from that area. He can create and score from there. He has proven that already. I think he can play anywhere across that front four.”
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