England U21s striker Jay Stansfield has come under significant criticism amongst Birmingham City fans as of late due to a bad run of form despite the Blues’ turnaround in season so far.
Birmingham find themselves in 11th place, eight points off the playoffs with a game in hand as they face off against Middlesborough at home in a massive game for both teams.
Amongst this fine form, Stansfield has only found the back of the net once in the last 18 appearances, which has left fans asking questions, especially after his expensive price tag.
The striker boasts a good goalscoring record across his two spells at Birmingham City, scoring 46 goals in 126 appearances and is still their top scorer this season at nine he is still considered one of the best young strikers in England and will play in the Premier League soon.
Davies said: “What I know with Jay, any challenges and criticism [he gets] will always strengthen him in the long run if he’s going to get to where he dreams of.
“That’s life as a striker, you get questioned and scrutinised around everything.
“He presses like no other striker in this league. He will work and do everything he can for the team.”
This criticism has increased following Birmingham’s 3-0 defeat away at Millwall in midweek, where Stansfield missed an opportunity to send his side 1-0 up.
However, with important signings in January such as Martin Ducksch and August Priske, they no longer need to solely rely on Stansfield’s goals.
Davies said: “Yeah, sometimes he’s not on his top form, but he’s played a lot and you’ve got to remember he’s still young.
“He’s had to keep going and going recently – the good news for Jay, with August (Priske) in now, we can add some rotation in there to keep him fresh.
“He’ll score goals again, (there’s) no doubt about that, but we’ve got the players in our squad now to give us the depth that we need and to keep him fresh.”
Despite the last 18 games not being easy for the striker, it happens to the best strikers in the Championship and he is likely to bounce back into form between now and the final 12 games.
The striker will look to return to his fine goalscoring form on Monday night as they host second place Middlesborough at St. Andrews.
