By Tony Alvarez

Birmingham have been handed the worse possible news in that their star centre back Scott Dann will be out for the rest of the season following surgery on his hamstring which he damaged in Birmingham’s Carling cup semi final against West Ham.

To compound the misery a Dann less Birmingham were hammered away to Manchester United with their usual water tight defence conceding five.

Birmingham have often fielded the same back five for the most part of this season consisting of Steven Carr, Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Liam Ridgewell and Ben Foster behind them, even last season their backline was much the same although Joe Hart was the man between the sticks.

In the early stages of Dann’s lay off Liam Ridgewell has moved into centre back the position he used to play in at Villa and David Murphy has taken the left back slot.

However Birmingham have been a side that have prided themselves on being miserly at the back and picking up points although they don’t score too many goals.

But the early signs show that without Dann and a back line that has very seldom played together show that this defence may no longer be as hard to breach .

Although this article could be a bit harsh considering it was away at Old Trafford where they conceded five, something that could happen to any team if United are on a good day.

But and at the moment it’s a big but, should Birmingham lose their defence record with the loss of Dann it could also signal the end of their time in the Premiership.

With the club lying in 17th place in the division just one point outside the relegation zone these are dangerous times for the Midlands club.

They may have been fortunate in that the loss of Dann came during the transfer window, of course they would not of wanted to lose a star player but at least at the moment they have a chance to replace him with a signing or a loan deal.

However should the potential problem not be sorted and the goals start flying in and the problem of scoring isn’t rectified then Birmingham will do well to avoid relegation.

What do you think? Is Scott Dann as big a loss as I make out? Will Birmingham get relegated should they start shipping goals? Would you replace him if you were in charge? Who would you bring in as cover for him? Let us know your thoughts.

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