Carsley: Blues recruits will need time to shine Caretaker boss calls for patience to see best of newcomers
CARETAKER manager Lee Carsley has called for Birmingham City’s new boys to be given time to prove what they can do.
Blues brought 13 new faces to the club in the summer and rather than bleeding them into the side on a caseby-case basis, they were all thrown in at once.
Six debuts were handed out in the first match after the transfer window closed and so in his first game in charge Carsley made a point of keeping changes to a minimum.
He was rewarded with a 1-1 draw at Derby on Saturday.
And Carsley says since succeeding Harry Redknapp he has been trying to mould the new recruits into a team.
He has been using technology to glean their strengths, looking at scouting platform Wyscout which provides video and statistical analysis.
“I have spent a lot of time watching them on Wyscout, getting an understanding of why we signed them, seeing their best bits from their previous clubs,” he said.
“There is a lot of ability there. I know myself coming into a club it’s difficult to settle in, especially if you are a foreign player, not speaking the language and then expected to perform.
“At the top clubs they generally write off the new signings for maybe three or four months and maybe drip them in slowly.
“But we have gone the other way and thrown six or seven in straight away and expected it to work straight away, which is not the case.
“So it’s important we don’t write these players off too quickly, they have shown in the past they can do it so it’s important we are patient with them.”
Five of the new men are on loan but Carsley included just two of them – Jeremie Boga from Chelsea and Sam Gallagher from Southampton – in his 18-man squad at Pride Park.
“You’ve got to remember I am only interim so I am not making decisions based on the rest of the season,’’ added Carsley. “In my opinion loan players are an addition to what you have got rather than being the main ones.
“I think when you do bring a loan player in it is an addition to the squad rather than the team.
“I think it’s important you have got your eight or nine core of the squad you working week in, week out with – and then you are adding to that.
“Rather than if we are putting ourselves in a position where we are massively reliant on loan players we won’t be in a strong position.
“Whereas you look at Sam – a young player from Southampton still learning his trade – to expect him to come into the Championship and fire week in, week out is a big ask.”