Birmingham City have big plans. Chairman Tom Wagner talks about them as if he’s not minded to wait for the future to come to him. Sitting in the top seven of the Championship in December is sure to convince him that the impetus is there on the pitch too.
That’s where the Blues’ win over Watford put them: one place outside the play-off places and five points off automatic promotion.
There’s a long way to go but a positive performance in increasingly difficult conditions will set them up nicely for the challenge ahead.
Birmingham City are holding their own in the Championship
These three points were the reward for two spectacular first-half goals. The first was scored by Paik Seung-ho, a player flourishing into his prime in England’s second tier.
After rising through the junior ranks of football in South Korea, Seoul-born Paik was spotted on a national stage by a scout from Barcelona.
15 years before Birmingham’s win against Watford on a miserable Monday night, Paik was months into life at La Masia. He went on to play professionally for Barcelona B before playing two seasons with second-tier Peralada and making a handful of La Liga appearances for Girona.
He arrived in the Championship in January 2024 via two seasons in the German second division with Darmstadt and a brief but successful return to Korea with Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
England, he said, was a dream move. Birmingham were relegated in his first season but bounced back into the Championship at the first time of asking with Paik starting 36 times in League One.
Paik’s enhanced role has its basis at least partially in the way Blues manager Chris Davies is deploying Tomoki Iwata.
The Japanese international is operating more explicitly to the right of the Birmingham team than the disciplined midfield position that became so familiar in League One last season.
28-year-old Paik is no revelation in the Blues team in the Championship but his influence from one season to the next has crystallised and taken root. He has become central. He is key, not just in his own right but in a blossoming partnership with Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Tommy Doyle.
Paik offers attacking thrust from the middle of the pitch and a suite of skills at which he is seldom the top Birmingham player one by one but is trusted by Davies to contribute to a high standard in totality.
“What I loved about it was he's they were up against two good midfielders today,” Davies told the media after the win over Watford.
“It was a good battle in there and I would say that we got the better of him with Tommy and Paik. To go up and win the ball is one thing but then to drive forward… he takes the space and shoots.
“Paik is two-footed, he's technical, he's quick, he's strong. He's got strong mentality.”
Birmingham’s win over Watford was Paik’s 16th Championship start of the season and showed every face of his game, good and bad. He screened in front of his defenders but was an active part of the press. He received the ball well and linked with Doyle frequently.
His ball recoveries in the second half were vital but the one that mattered most was when he won it back in the attacking third in the first half, strode forward, and cracked the game opener with his thunderous fourth goal of the season.
Only Jay Stansfield has scored more league goals this season than Paik and Demarai Gray, who scored Birmingham’s second against the Hornets. Paik is making his presence felt and helping the Blues win their home games.
Davies will be keen to start replicating that away from the second city. If they do, you can bet Paik will be at the heart of it.
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