BRUM IS BLUE!

Love it or loath it, international duty has come and gone once again. Blues have had several players involved in this international break so I thought I’d have a quick look at how those who were called to perform for country fared and what this could mean for club, specifically for those who sustained injuries during the break.

Blues saw call ups for Willum Willumsson for Iceland, Grant Hanley for Scotland, Luke Harris for Wales U21, Paik for South Korea and Jay Stansfield for England U21 before withdrawing due to injury.

Willumsson

Willumsson found himself an unused sub in the first of Iceland’s double legged UEFA Nations League Play Off against Kosovo but featured for 65 minutes in their second leg. Iceland lost the fixture over the two legs meaning they’re dropped into League C and will no doubt be an outcome Willumsson would rather not spend too much time on.

I’ve had a look around the internet and can’t see anything to suggest that Willumsson had either a fantastic of a comparatively poor game given the result. It does of course mean that he’ll have played an additional 60 odd minutes as we go into the next fixture.

Hanley

Hanley linked up with Scotland who were also fighting to survive relegation, this time from League A to League B. As with Iceland, they failed in their attempt but this time there were one or two scenes of pure frustration from the Scots.

Hanley featured in both games and being a Home Nation Team there is feedback available for his performance being described as habving been “ran ragged by the Greek forward line” by The Scotsman for his involvement in the 3-0 thrashing. He was rated a measly 4/10 for his involvement in the defeat. This is a stark contrast to his 7/10 for the first leg.

All in all therefore it was a mixed bag for Hanley.

Harris

Welsh rugby may be suffering but the football is growing so the U21s is definitely somewhere you want to perform with an eye on the future. Harris featured in both the U21 fixtures coming on as a substitute in the second half of their 1-0 victory over Andorra U21 and playing over 80 minutes in Wales 1-1 draw against Sweden U21.

Paik

So to the bad news, many fans will be aware by now that Paik went off injured in the first half of South Korea’s World Cup Qualifier against Oman with what appeared to be an injury to his left calf. He was assessed and didn’t feature in their second qualifier against Jordan yesterday and returned to the UK for treatment.

Further update has suggested the injury isn’t too serious but it does mean he will be out for approximately two weeks. This would mean that the Vertu Final would potentially be the first game he’d be fit for which could mean he’ll feature as a substitute rather than start. It’s a blow to our double hopes but hopefully he can come back on fire, just in time.

Stansfield

For Stansfield he withdrew prior to a ball being kicked with nothing more than “knocks” reported. I anticipate we will see Stansfield rested this weekend but it was reported the injuries weren’t too serious.