Wrexham keep having the ball. Opponents keep having the points

Two points from three games and 20th place is not the Championship start the Racecourse wanted, and the Birmingham defeat carries the diagnosis. Wrexham held 61 per cent of possession and still lost 2-1 at home, out-created on the metric that matters: 1.42 expected goals to Birmingham's 1.85. All that ball produced nine shots, four on target, with Kieffer Moore's four attempts the most of anyone in red.

The visitors also supplied the best player on the pitch, with Phil Neumann's 8.9 rating towering over the game after both Birmingham goals, on 13 minutes and 63. Wrexham's best was Callum Doyle at 8.2: the centre-back scored the equaliser on 54 and won nine duels, more than anyone else at home. Possession without penetration is a familiar early-season pattern for promoted sides finding the level; the fixture list now offers a run to turn territory into goals before the table hardens.