Davies shares tactical detail & audition passed as Birmingham City wait for their shock

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies celebrates the win at Rotherham United
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Birmingham City continued their fine start to the season by brushing aside fellow pre-season promotion favourites Rotherham United on Saturday.

Tomoki Iwata and Jay Stansfield grabbed the goals again, just as they did against Wrexham, to extend Blues’ League One winning streak to five games. Blues have also won all four of their away games this term – as many as they managed in the entirety of last season.

Only a late goal from Wrexham to defeat Crawley Town prevented Blues from ending the day top of the pile. Blues do, however, have a game-in-hand on Wrexham and it feels inevitable that they will reach the summit on current form.

Here are our talking points after Rotherham 0-2 Blues…

READ: Chris Davies highlights unseen Willumsson skill before setting him a challenge

READ: Birmingham City player ratings after Iwata and Stansfield blitz Rotherham

The system delivers (again)

Press conferences allow Chris Davies to provide nuggets of tactical information and he didn’t disappoint post-Rotherham. He analysed the goals in a way that most of us in the stands couldn’t.

“They were two exceptional goals,” he began. “What we’ve done there is we’ve managed to get in good positions to stretch the opposition to provoke movements off the back-line and we’ve penetrated that with runs. On both occasions it was Jay who made that run into the space but Lyndon (Dykes) created the space for Jay. One was a shot and a follow-up and one was an expert finish from Jay over the goalkeeper.

“They were good moves and everyone had a part to play, even Taylor Gardner-Hickman on the right side in terms of his position, being disciplined and creating the space was really important there.”

The point about Gardner-Hickman is particularly interesting. By hugging the touchline, he afforded Willum Willumsson the space to create Stansfield’s goal. The system works and goals like this will only strengthen the players' belief in it.

A clean sheet at last

One thing Blues’ all-conquering start to the League One season had lacked was a clean sheet. Not any more after Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Blues’ defenders, even without captain Krystian Bielik, kept Rotherham at bay.

If Peacock-Farrell did need a confidence boost after a few errors in recent weeks, a clean sheet could work wonders.

To his credit, Peacock-Farrell commanded his penalty area well on defensive set pieces with Rotherham putting the ball and bodies on top of him in the same way Wrexham did on Monday.

‘Full credit to Ben Davies’

The words of Chris Davies should be echoed by the rest of us. Coming into any game without many minutes under your belt is tricky, but Rotherham present a more awkward task for defenders than most in League One.

The direct nature of Rotherham’s attack, which Ben Davies sampled in the first minute when it was lumped into his vicinity for Jonson Clarke-Harris to attack, makes life uncomfortable for opposing centre-backs. Davies dealt with the aerial assaults and proved he can play the Blues way in possession.

His manager was suitably pleased. Chris Davies said: “Full credit to Ben because it’s not easy coming to a new club and then having to wait, I know he played against Walsall but he hasn’t had that league start. It’s not easy but he showed what type of calibre of player he is.

“He marshalled that back three very well and his decisions on the ball and when to carry it forward was excellent. Then when he had to defend he was physical and competed really well.”

If Davies fluffed his first audition against Walsall two weeks ago, he passed his second with flying colours. Dion Sanderson might no longer be first reserve.

The shock won’t come at this rate

The ironic chant of ‘We’re in for a shock’ is fast becoming the theme tune for Blues’ season. For the final 75 minutes at the New York Stadium, after Iwata had found the net, it felt like Blues fans were playing that tune on loop – with the occasional sprinkling of ‘Stanno, Stanno…’ and ‘what a waste of money’ after a moment of magic from Stansfield.

At this rate, Blues aren’t going to be shocked by anything League One has to offer. Upsets happen when standards slip and the opposition executes a game plan to perfection.

So far, we have seen no evidence to suggest that Davies will let standards slip at any point, and we haven’t seen anything to suggest a rival League One manager might outwit him tactically.

Blues surely can’t go unbeaten across a 46-game season. Surely not.

Can Blues go the whole season unbeaten? Have your say in the comments HERE