Birmingham City have a new dynamic on their left side following the signing of Kai Wagner
09:31, 15 Jan 2026
Chris Davies is ready to bamboozle Birmingham City’s Championship opponents with their newfound tactical ‘unpredictability’ on the left flank.
Blues have been fairly rigid in their system for 18 months under Davies, with left-back Alex Cochrane tucking inside to form a back three in possession and the right-back allowed to bomb on.
The signing of Kai Wagner, who has arrived on a two-and-a-half year contract from Philadelphia Union, has provided Davies with a very different option.
Rather than find a like-for-like competitor for Cochrane, Blues have gone down a different route with the forward-thinking Wagner.
Wagner registered lorry loads of assists in MLS and produced a pinpoint cross for Marvin Ducksch to score six minutes into his Blues debut against Coventry City. The left-back netted his first Blues goal in the FA Cup win at Cambridge United last weekend to further highlight his attacking talents.
Blues now have two very different options at left-back and the balance of the entire XI has changed following Wagner’s introduction.
Tomoki Iwata no longer has free roam from right-back, with Blues fielding two more orthodox full-backs.
Davies commented: “Alex has got the Alex Cochrane role where he plays as a hybrid between a left-back and centre-back, then he joins with surprise runs forward.
“Kai is more natural going forward. He’s not a wing-back but more of an attacking full-back.
“Alex will go into midfield, he’s a passer, whereas Kai will get forward more and get crosses in.
“We have made a little tweak in terms of how we set up to give us a different dimension and a little bit of unpredictability and another string to our bow, basically, because I think we’ve played exactly the same way for quite some time.”
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