Big-spending Birmingham are free scoring at St Andrew’s where Pompey, Millwall and Norwich have all been hit for four, but it’s one win in nine away from home which keeps them frustratingly shy of the play-off places - @MatthewBlue1875 takes us through it.
How’s the season started for Birmingham?
It’s been a bit of a mixed one. The initial start was promising, but things seemed to derail pretty quickly. I think it was a combination of new players settling and Davies still working out his best side. The players were playing within themselves and there appeared to be a lack of bravery or ambition when we had the ball. A lot of sideways and backwards passing with a lack of creativity. Whether that was instruction or not, I don’t know. Things have picked up since the start of November, coinciding with summer signings Tommy Doyle, Philip Neumann, Marvin Ducksch and Patrick Roberts all starting. We look great at home, but away from home is a definite problem for us.
Blues in the league so far…
Birmingham 1-1 Ipswich Stansfield 55 – Hirst pen 90
Blackburn 1-2 Birmingham Cantwell 50 – Dykes 90, Stansfield pen 90
Birmingham 1-0 Oxford Seung-Ho 40
Leicester 2-0 Birmingham Fatawu 8, Pereira 88
Stoke 1-0 Birmingham Lawal 21
Birmingham 1-0 Swansea Dykes 90
Coventry 3-0 Birmingham Thomas-Asante 16, Osayi-Samuel og 49, Torp 78
Birmingham 2-2 Sheff Wed Stansfield 9, Gray 90 – Lowe 37, Brown 76
Wrexham 1-1 Birmingham Dobson 13 – Roberts 46
Birmingham 2-3 Hull Stansfield 27, pen 90 – Robinson og 11, Slater 45, Gelhardt 90
Preston 0-1 Birmingham Neumann 33
Bristol City 1-0 Birmingham Armstrong 42
Birmingham 4-0 Pompey Seung-Ho 9, Iwata 56, Klarer 61, Anderson 88
Birmingham 4-0 Millwall Seung-Ho 28, Gray 45, Cochrane 49, Stansfield 66
Boro 2-1 Birmingham Fry 17, Hackney 45 – Gray 29
Birmingham 4-1 Norwich Ducksch 3, 44, Stansfield 21, 54 – Kvistgaarden 33
West Brom 1-1 Birmingham Mowatt 12 – Ducksch 78
Birmingham 2-1 Watford Seung-Ho 31, Gray 43 – Maamma 61
Southampton 3-1 Birmingham Azaz 6, Armstrong 24, 58 – Gray 54
We talked in the summer about how the team would change style, because all League One sides just sat in for 0-0 and the Championship wouldn’t do that, so how’s that gone?
In my opinion early doors we didn’t really change the style. We were too slow in possession and not very ambitious. Teams got wise to this quickly and we struggled to create anything significant. More recently the system and style has been tweaked with the help of the summer signings and we are getting a lot more joy going forward, especially at home.
Our away form is poor. Earlier in the season, you could point to lack of chances created. Now we are creating plenty and looking dangerous, but just look a bit exposed at the back.
And what do we think of Chris Davies’ performance so far?
I think it’s been good. He’s learning on the job. He’s a 40-year-old in his first job as a head coach. Add in that he’s under enormous amount of pressure with from the expectations of the club and I think we can say he’s doing a very good job. He’s a very astute and intelligent coach who is willing to adapt and change things. My only concern is that sometimes I think he could adapt and change quicker, but I’m sure that will come. Again, he’s young and roughly 18 months into his first ever head coaching role.
Big summer, more to spend in January? How aggressive will they be?
I think as the summer went on it became blindingly obvious that they had spent more than they had planned, or at least more than they should have on some players. This left us with not much money to play with in order to strengthen other areas of need. Meaning we missed out on another forward, a proper left-back and a combative midfielder and ended up signing players like Jack Robinson and Lewis Koumas who really add very little to the strength of the squad.
Ins >>> Kyogo Furuhashi, 30, CF, Stade Rennais, £8m >>> Marvin Ducksch, 31, CF, Bremen, £1.5m >>> Taylor Gardner-Hickman, 23, RB, Bristol City, £1.5m >>> Bright Osayi-Samuel, 27, RB, Fenerbahce, Free >>> Kanya Fujimoto, 26, AM, Gil Vicente, Free >>> Demarai Gray, 29, LW, Al-Ettifaq, Free >>> Phil Neumann, 27, CB, Hannover, Free >>> Alfons Sampsted, 27, RB, Twente, £1.4m >>> Jack Robinson, 32, LCB, Sheff Utd, £150k >>> >>> Tommy Doyle, 23, CM, Wolves, Loan >>> Eiran Cashin, 23, CB, Brighton, Loan >>> James Beadle, 20, GK, Brighton, Loan >>> Patrick Roberts, 28, RW, Sunderland, Loan >>> Lewis Koumas, 19, LW, Liverpool, Loan
Outs >>> Romelle Donovan, 18, RW, Brentford, £3m >>> Ayumu Yokoyama, 22, LW, Genk, £2.5m >>> Alfie May, 32, CF, Huddersfield, £1m >>> Krystian Bielik, 27, CB, West Brom, £1m >>> Brandon Khela, 20, CM, Peterborough, £500k >>> George Hall, 21, CM, Port Vale, £200k >>> Emmanuel Longelo, 24, LB, Motherwell, £100k >>> Myung-jae Lee, 31, LB, Dajeon Hana, Free >>> Emil Hansson, 27, LW, Blackpool, Loan >>> Bailey Peacock-Farrell, 28, GK, Blackpool, Loan >>> Grant Hanley, 33, CB, Hibs, Free >>> Lukas Jutkiewicz, 36, CF, Retired >>> Dion Sanderson, 25, CB, Derby, Loan >>> Taylor Gardner-Hickman, 23, RB, Blackburn, Loan >>> Tyler Roberts, 26, "CF”, Mansfield, Loan >>> Alfie Chang, 22, DM, Bristol Rovers, Loan
Where is the team strong and weak?
Bit of a cop out here, but strong at home and weak away.
How’s your latest former QPR contingent getting on? You do love shopping at Westfield…
Ethan Laird is out until February with a bad hamstring tear. Huge miss and really annoying situation. He signalled to the bench that he felt something, Davies made him stay out there and also go out in the second half. He was done for fairly quickly in the second half.
Bright has had the odd good game, but I don't think he's fit and he really lacks the directness and creativity of Laird. I find that wild for a former winger.
Lyndon still really divides opinion, but I think he always does really well when he comes on and always makes an important contribution. Has a habit of popping up with late winners. I think it is possible he might start on Tuesday as Ducksch looked absolutely knackered against Southampton. It's possible Dykes will leave in January if we find another striker. Almost left in the summer.
Revised expectations for the season?
I think expectations are much the same. I think and expect us to be in and around the playoff picture. It wouldn’t be a complete disaster if we missed out though, as long as we remain competitive and look like we’re in with a shout as the season comes to a close. That said if we do go out and spend big in January (I’d be surprised) there will be obviously be heightened expectations.
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