Nigel Pearson will have no hesitation playing Sam Bell at right wing-back in the future and instead hit out at his team-mates after the defeat to Birmingham.
The 19-year-old endured a tough afternoon up against the pace of Onel Hernandez and was taken off at half-time as the manager switched to a back three with Alex Scott moving into the right wing-back role.
A forward by trade, it is the third time Bell has been shoe-horned into a wing-back following the home win over Middlesbrough and the defeat to Coventry last month.
Bell did show glimpses of his quality going forward, in which Pearson was eager to point out at the full-time whistle, but admitted he took the player off to protect him.
He said: "Sam’s got nothing to be worried about, I took him off to protect him because his teammates didn’t protect him. Sam did alright but he didn’t get a lot of help did he?
"I said to him at half-time it was no reflection on him. Rather than say that the young lad didn’t play well, I didn’t think he had any help."
When asked whether he would consider keeping him in that position, he added: "Yeah, he’s really good at it, very creative.
"We were playing against a team playing the same way, he needed to look after his man but unfortunately, he had to do more because the players alongside him didn’t do their job."
With Rob Atkinson's return from injury, there was no space in the squad for Zak Vyner who was left out of the matchday squad.
Pearson was also bullish on his stance of Danny Simpson's future and said: "I’m not considering him at the moment
"I’m looking at who’s going to be here next year. I don’t intend on making short term decisions for us at the moment. I make decisions which I think are right to the team and that’s whether players are included or not in the matchday squad or whether they start or don’t start."
Taith Chong opened the scoring after just two minutes before Nico Gordon headed home from a corner to expose City's weaknesses defending set-pieces.
Pearson was critical of Antoine Semenyo's role in Birmingham's second and his failure to pick up his man from the corner.
"It was Antoine’s problem, his man," he added. "If players have a job to do and don’t do it, simple. Man-to-man, don’t let your man score. But it happens too often with us."
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