Blues’ future looking good, insists skipper
HARLEE Dean sees signs that Birmingham City will be ‘a force to be reckoned with’ next season.
Speaking after his team’s 3-2 loss to West Bromwich Albion the Blues captain, who scored his side’s second goal, pointed to the relative youth of Pep Clotet’s team.
Blues had homegrown players in goal, at centre-half and in midfield – and youngsters sprinkled throughout the starting XI.
That has been the case all season as the likes of Jude Bellingham and Connal Trueman have been joined by new recruits Ivan Sunjic, Dan Crowley and Fran Villalba – all of whom are at an early stage in their careers.
Dean thinks that bodes well for the future.
“We are a really young team,” he said. “These are learning curves, it might not be this season but next season we will be a force to be reckoned with.
“We played well against Reading, QPR was a real flat game.
“The way QPR played, just real slow and never let us get into any rhythm or any fight – that was a disappointing one for us.
“Saturday was more like ourselves, more like the fans, when they get going and support us it does spur everyone on and we gave them something to support which I think was a difference. Hopefully they are not too disappointed, everybody watching it can see we gave it a real good go and we are fighting for the shirt and we are trying.”
Dean felt his side showed they could compete with a team that is romping away at the top of the Championship and who could afford to introduce £4million striker Charlie Austin from the bench.
“Anybody who does not know football watching that from the outside would not be able to see the gap in the league,” Dean continued. “Obviously we are disappointed to go in front twice and concede and end up losing the game. I thought we were a bit more like ourselves, we changed our style a bit we went from what we have been about this season and a bit more direct, a bit more aggressive – a bit more what I think we stand for.”