Opinion: Maghoma Is Becoming Our Key Man

When Birmingham City have spells of good form, it is often down to a couple of key players also hitting good form which in turn nurtures confidence throughout the whole team. Last season, I thought Cotterill was the key man. Not necessarily the player of the year, but the one player who made others tick. He was instrumental in creating a lot of goals for Donaldson whilst also bringing the central midfielders into play.

On the other side we had Gray. As we all know, he was a terrific player and it just shows how good our youth structure is enabling the likes of Gray to transition into the first team squad so well. When he left, it was hard to see who would be able to fill this void and at first, I wasn’t too excited by Jacques Maghoma.

I had heard that he was injury prone, particularly when he was at Burton with a recurring knee problem, and due this unreliability, I was a bit sceptical about what he could offer to the team. But as always, as soon as they are welcomed into our club, I will give them time and then make a judgement and in this case, hold my hands up and say that I wasn’t correct with my initial thoughts.

The thing that I like most about him is how direct he is. Sometimes he does try and bulldoze his way through defences a bit with a lack of finesse but it gets the job done and I must say, it is refreshing to see. Ever since Cristiano Ronaldo burst onto the seen, it has changed the way that wingers want to play. They want to be tricky and always try and put a fancy skill into a move when a simple pass would have been sufficient. You very rarely get powerful wingers; they tend to be very slight and agile which is good if that is the style that the team plays. But what I like about Maghoma is his power.

He is slightly bigger built but this means he is able to outmuscle players more easily as well as being able to put more power on shots when he cuts inside. I also think it’s a benefit because if Cotts has the ball on the far side, Maghoma can get himself into the box to try and win the header. His strength will allow him to do this. Most wingers don’t want to head the ball or get pushed off it too easily in situations like this so it’s good to see his determination to try and get goals.

Goals, is another thing that he has added to his game. He seems a much more composed finisher to when he first came to the club. Often, at the start, he would rush his finishing but now he seems to go for accuracy over power and this is a real asset for a winger as often they have more acute angles in which to find the back of the net.

Overall, he is one of our main threats and if he stays fit, he could be pivotal to our campaign.