Opinion: Are we seeing a rejuvenated Emilio Nsue?

It was another defeat for Harry Redknapp`s men on Tuesday night at Leeds United – but all is not doom and gloom.

In fact, our performance at Elland Road was excellent and really encouraging. We need to start winning games, yes, but the signs are there and we certainly didn’t deserve to lose.

One point of interest was the individual performance of Emilio Nsue. I genuinely thought that his Blues career was over, particularly as we signed two right-backs in the transfer window.

Redknapp clearly didn’t think much of the 27-year-old and his performances have been very much up and down since he joined the club.

However, he returned to the team at Leeds and put in his best performance in a Blues shirt. Indeed, the Birmingham Mail revealed yesterday some quotes from Redknapp saying that it was Nsue`s ‘last chance`.

The Blues boss has not been impressed by the former Middlesbrough man but after his display on Tuesday, he may well have just prolonged his St. Andrew`s shelf life.

I saw a performance from him that was energetic, determined and he looked a player that wanted to prove a point. Redknapp`s talk with him certainly looked to do the trick.

I’d have to question, why have we not seen that from him previously? Sure, he hasn’t been terrible but he looked a man on a mission.

First to every ball, difficult to handle going forward and completed his defensive duties stoutly – are we about to see a new and reinvigorated Emilio Nsue?

Take Carl Jenkinson out of the equation (he’s out for a while), Maxime Colin is the best full back at the club, he looks terrific at left back even though he’s out of position.

This means that Nsue could be set for a run in the side on that right hand side and judging by his last performance, he deserves to keep his place.

What he needs to do though, is maintain this form and take it into the upcoming games and further.

We need players to be on their game in every single match, there’s no room for passengers and Nsue has shown previously that he can be just that at times.

But, if he maintains his level from Tuesday night, he won’t have any issues and Redknapp won’t need to worry about whether or not he`ll get a performance out of the Equatorial Guinea man.

Follow me on Twitter: @luke96turner.