How will Maghoma’s absence affect Blues?

The African Cup of Nations kick off again in Gabon next month where 16 countries will competing to be champions of Africa.

One man who is likely to be heading to them is Birmingham winger Jacques Maghoma. His DR Congo side have been drawn in a group with Ivory Coast, Morocco and Togo.

Their first group game begins on January 16th whilst their final group game is on January 24th. This means that Maghoma is likely to miss at least three Blues games whilst he is away.

However, if Congo manage to get out of their group and into the knockout stages, then Maghoma could be away for a little bit longer.

The final is on February 5th and, if Congo get that far, then Maghoma could miss up to five Championship fixtures which would be a huge loss for the team.

He hasn’t featured as much for Blues in recent weeks due to illness but he has been a crucial part of the side since he arrived at the club.

With new manager Gianfranco Zola only just arriving at the club, it isn`t great timing for Maghoma`s sake that he will be away for a while next month.

He will have to work hard over the coming weeks and games to show Zola that he can play a key part in his side and that there won’t be any need for strengthening in his position over January.

Maghoma`s absence will leave us with just two out and out first team wingers. This adds pressure to both David Cotterill and Greg Stewart to deliver the goods and ensure that we don’t feel any real impact whilst Maghoma is away.

You could add Viv Solomon Otabor and Che Adams into the category but I am still not sure whether the former is ready for Championship football yet but he does have a chance to impress under Zola.

Although we haven’t seen much of Maghoma recently, we have definitely missed parts of his game that would’ve aided us in various situations.

His pace and power down that wing is something that Cotterill and Stewart don’t really have and, when David Davis plays there, he provides a completely different dimension.

I would be surprised if Zola opts to play Davis in a wide role as we all know that part of the reason he was appointed was to play a more attacking style.

Maghoma also offers the option of having a right footed player playing on the left hand side. He is very capable of doing this and probably works better on the left than on the right.

It is clear that, when Cotterill occupies the left hand side, he struggles a lot more due to his lack of pace and failure to get around his opponents.

It will be interesting to see how we cope without Maghoma in January and, indeed, if Zola does delve into the transfer market in search of another winger.

He will be a great miss to the side and he’s an option that, unfortunately, we won’t be able to call upon if needed.