Football League World
·2 October 2024
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·2 October 2024
The centre-back has enjoyed a fine start to his Birmingham City career
Christoph Klarer has issued his message to Birmingham City supporters as the club's unbeaten start to the campaign continues.
Klarer was one of many new additions to Blues' squad after Chris Davies' appointment in the summer, and the former Southampton man has enjoyed a fine start to his career in the Second City.
Birmingham have so far lived up to their tag as title favourites in League One, having accumulated 22 points out of a possible 24 as October begins, with their latest victory coming in the form of a 1-0 victory against Huddersfield Town at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park on Tuesday night.
Birmingham had recorded six successive victories coming into the encounter with Michael Duff's side who were relegated alongside themselves just five months ago, and were looking to make it seven in a row for the first time since December 1946.
And despite only emerging victorious by a one-goal margin through Alfie May's 63rd minute strike - his fifth for the club since moving from Charlton Athletic - Davies' side were once again the superior outfit all across the park with 18 attempts, whilst limiting the Terriers to just seven of their own, with only two of those remotely testing Ryan Allsop on his league debut for the club.
Klarer, alongside club captain Krystian Bielik, have formed a strong partnership at the heart of the Blues' defence as they recorded their second clean sheet of the season in the process.
After recording their seventh win in the first eight league games, which extended their early-season lead at the top of the table to five points over Wrexham, Klarer took to his Instagram account to post a simple, yet clear message to Bluenoses.
Although Tuesday's success represented a first shutout of the season in B9 for Blues, Klarer has been one of several new additions who has made an instantly strong impression on supporters.
It was initially claimed that Klarer, alongside fellow summer recruit, Willum Thor Willumsson, had both broken the transfer record for League One, before reports from Germany suggested that his summer move from 2.Bundesliga side SV Darmstadt wasn't quite at those levels, despite still being a sizeable figure for League One standards.
However, that price tag has been more than justified to date, with his presence key in Birmingham's unbeaten start, which has been reflected by a number of personal statistics in the opening two months of the campaign.
Based off Sofascore ratings, Klarer and his defensive partner, Bielik, have been the club's two-strongest performers so far this campaign, with the Austrian recording an average figure of 7.33.
Klarer has been imperious when up against opposing forwards, being dribbled past just 0.1 times per 90 minutes throughout his first seven league appearances, as well as being dominant in aerial and ground duels and his fine finish against Walsall in the EFL Trophy.
The early signs are that Blues and Klarer are performing at levels rarely seen by teams in this division, which many would have argued is what they expected from the club based off their summer activity.
But, kudos must go to the respective parties for their start to the campaign, whilst supporters, players and the management team would still argue that this team has plenty of more gears to go through before they hit their peak.