Who’s been the standout player for Birmingham City this season?

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00:00Charlie, looking at Birmingham City and obviously an amazing start to life in League One, a

00:07sort of start, a reset that a lot of fans are happy with going down. They've got the

00:11backing from the owners, a lot of money spent in the summer and it has warranted this start

00:18to the season, this sort of upwards trajectory at the top of League One. How good have the

00:26midfield partnership of Paken and Watford actually been? There's certainly whispers

00:32of them certainly being better than League One quality.

00:35Oh, absolutely. I think those two could arguably be top of the championship kind of quality.

00:40If you whack them in a playoff contention midfield in the championship, I don't think

00:45the fans of those clubs will be complaining too much because their quality is clear to

00:48see every time they step foot onto that field. Not only do they work incredibly hard to win

00:52the ball back and progress possession, but also their passing range, their ability to

00:57shoot as well. Iwata has scored some fantastic goals for Blues so far in his early career

01:02at the club. The fact that Mark Leonard, a summer signing who was Northampton Town's

01:07best player last season, he's been on the bench because Iwata and Pake have been that

01:12strong. A really formidable partnership and one that is without doubt the best in League

01:16One and one that Blues will probably carry forward for the next two or three seasons

01:19if they are promoted back to the championship.

01:22Yeah, and how important is having big players, you know, top quality players when you do

01:27go down to League One? Because they do tend to see you over the tougher games and just

01:32get you through with that extra bit of quality.

01:34Yeah, it's huge. Obviously a lot of money spent in the summer. Jay Stansfield being

01:39the big name addition and the big money addition as well, absolutely smashing that League One

01:42transfer record, scoring plenty of goals for Blues already, showing just how prolific

01:47he is. He's another player that is just absolutely levels above League One, let's be honest.

01:51And it was quite a surprise that he took that drop down, but he loves the football club.

01:55The fans have already got a great connection with him as well, and a good partnership being

01:59formed with Alfie May up top. Although May, last season's top scorer in League One, hasn't

02:03started every game, he's been a bit more creative playing a role just in behind Stansfield.

02:08They can swap around as well. You've got Lyndon Dykes, the Scottish international, who can

02:13also play minutes if Chris Davies wants to rotate. And having this much depth allows

02:17him to play well in a variety of competitions. I think Blues fans will be very happy with

02:22those guys. And Willem Willemsen as well, and Christoph Klarer, two other big name additions

02:27in the summer, costing around £2 million each. They are, again, players of championship

02:32quality and those that can probably expect to remain in the squad for many years to come.

02:36And then Christian Bielik being the new captain. Dion Sanderson was the skipper last season,

02:42had a drink-driving charge and was dropped away from the captaincy. He's since dropped

02:46down the pecking order of starts altogether, so Bielik's stepping up. A lot of responsibility

02:51for him, but he's done very well in that role. Just the way he leads from the back, he's

02:54got the experience. And then once again, he is a player that is definitely of a championship

02:59standard.