Opinion: Who Replaces Maghoma?

I’m not usually the type to think too much into the future but with the lack of wingers that we seem to have, it has been bothering me that we will be reduced even further when Maghoma heads off to play in the African Cup of Nations in January 2017. He will probably be in the DR Congo squad to play in Group B for the competition and therefore will not be able to play for Birmingham City during this time.

If we add all of our wingers together, we could say that Cotterill, Viv, Maghoma and maybe Stewart are our only real out and out wingers. Yes, you could put Fabbrini or even Brown out wide but they don’t naturally play there and I am even debating whether Stewart is more of a striker who has been moved such as Theo Walcott for Arsenal. So that leaves us with 3 wingers. It is likely that one will get injured or hit a bad run of form such as Cotterill recently and the management aren’t ready to give Viv a start so it just leaves Maghoma as a regular performer. When he leaves to compete for his country, we are relying heavily on Viv and Cotterill to maintain form and to be fit throughout.

It is just not sustainable to have so few players in key positions. We use our wingers a lot because when we had Grounds and Caddis at full back, they weren’t the quickest to get beyond the wingers so a lot of the time the wide men were doing all of the work. We utilise them an awful lot and it will be easy for tiredness to creep in especially after the hectic Christmas period. So what do we do?

The first suggestion would be to promote players from the U23 squad in order to come into the side and play a part. But this is an awful lot to ask because the U23 league is not as competitive and is played in a different style. I have seen numerous players stand out in these leagues and then fail to make an impact in the football league. Macheda a perfect example as is Tyler Blackett for that matter. However, the likes of Raheem Sterling have made a massive impact and he did stand out in the reserves so it can be done. Viv always is head and shoulders above everyone so I can’t see any other winger at this current time other than him being able to make the transition.

So we have to look to loan in players as I feel that will be the only option to fill the gap. But teams often get desperate in January and so other clubs put the prices up on their players even for loan agreements and often players aren’t available so it is a risky strategy. But something has to be done to fill that void, that’s for sure.