Paik Seung-ho scored his fourth goal of the season in Birmingham City’s win over Watford
Paik Seung-ho celebrates his goal for Birmingham City against Watford
Chris Davies has praised Birmingham City’s new power couple after Tommy Doyle and Paik Seung-ho won the midfield battle against Watford.
Doyle and Paik’s promising partnership continued to flourish in the 2-1 win over the Hornets. Paik and Demarai Gray’s goals clinched a fourth straight home win for seventh-placed Blues.
Paik only scored once in League One last season but he already has four goals to his name in the Championship after 18 games.
Davies commented: “I’ve definitely spoken to Paik since I’ve been here about his ability to score more goals.
“All the coaches would always say to me – because they do the shooting on the pitch before the game – that he’s such a good finisher, whether it’s left foot or right foot.
“They had two good midfielders in there (Hector Kyprianou and Imran Louza) and I would say we got the better of them with Tommy and Paik.
“To go up and win the ball is one thing, but then to go on and take the space and shoot. Paik is two-footed, he’s quick, he’s strong.
“He shouldn’t be there really. Most players would still be in the treatment room with his shoulder. He’s an exceptional player for us.”
Paik had to shake off a knee injury after being on the wrong end of a hefty challenge by Kyprianou. The Watford man’s studs connected with Paik’s knee but the referee only deemed it worthy of a yellow card.
“You don’t want to see people sent off but if that’s in the Premier League and there’s VAR he’s off,” said Davies.
Back to Blues’ engine room and Doyle also earned Davies’ praise.
“I thought Tommy was good,” said Davies. “You see his moments of quality where he can switch the play, he can play forward but he does it quickly. He’s got really good awareness of what’s around him and he does his defensive work – I think he played his part for the second goal where the boy Maamma has dribbled inside and he’s just closed that space, nicked the ball and we’ve gone forward from there.
“I always say to the players it’s defensive first, it’s what you do for the team and you’ve got to be really consistent with that because we know you’ve got the skills going forward.”
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