{"id":434974,"date":"2025-09-19T01:59:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T01:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/434974\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T01:59:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T01:59:20","slug":"birmingham-citys-frustration-laid-bare-and-why-chris-davies-isnt-panicking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/434974\/","title":{"rendered":"Birmingham City’s frustration laid bare – and why Chris Davies isn’t panicking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birmingham City have endured two frustrating defeats either side of the international break\"Alex<\/p>\n

Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive and the Birmingham Mail<\/p>\n

EDITORIAL USE ONLY No use with unauthorised audio, video, data, fixture lists, club\/league logos or “live” services. Online in-match use limited to 120 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club\/league\/player publications.
\nMandatory Credit: Photo by Lindsey Parnaby\/Shutterstock (15481281av)
\nChris Davies, manager of Birmingham City in action.
\nStoke City v Birmingham City, Sky Bet Championship, Football, Bet365 Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent, UK – 13 Sept 2025<\/p>\n

It is quite apparent what Birmingham City\u2019s<\/a> problem is \u2013 and it is something that can go hand-in-hand with their style according to Chris Davies.<\/a><\/p>\n

Blues have barely threatened the goal in the past two Championship matches and have recorded three straight defeats in all competitions without scoring.<\/p>\n

The opposing goalkeeper has been worked once in those three matches \u2013 Leicester\u2019s Jacob Stolarczyk saved from Ethan Laird<\/a> after the ball ricocheted favourably to the Blues full-back inside the box.<\/p>\n

Blues have dominated the ball in their last two league defeats and have had the lion\u2019s share of possession in all of their five Championship matches to date.<\/p>\n

But what does that add up to?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the defensive numbers and remember that a large part of this philosophy adopted by Davies is about pragmatism. By having possession for so much of the game, you minimise the risk of the opposition scoring.<\/p>\n

Blues’ xG (expected goals) against is just 3.29 which is the best of any team in the Championship. While xG is by no means the be all and end all, it is designed to illustrate the quality of chances a team creates or concedes. Judging by this statistic, Blues are doing a lot right defensively.<\/p>\n

Where they fall short against that number is on set piece errors. Blues have conceded three set piece goals in the Championship, and they conceded from a recycled corner against Port Vale in the cup.<\/p>\n

The lack of height in Blues\u2019 team is no doubt contributing to this issue. Davies fielded an XI against Stoke that only included two outfield players over six feet tall. It is, according to Davies, a consequence of Blues\u2019 XI being filled with technicians to excel in their playing style.<\/p>\n

Blues have only allowed 31 shots against them in the Championship which is again the best in the league.<\/p>\n

In short, if Blues could tighten up on set pieces then their defensive record would give them a solid platform to sort out their shortcomings at the other end of the field.<\/p>\n

So, what about those chance-creating and goal-scoring issues?<\/p>\n

\"KyogoKyogo Furuhashi’s wayward finishing hasn’t helped Birmingham City<\/p>\n

Despite having the third lowest shots tally in the Championship, Blues\u2019 xG for is 7.26 which puts them ninth in the xG league table. With only four goals, one of which came from the penalty spot, they haven\u2019t lived up to that number and the finishing of Kyogo Furuhashi against Oxford \u2013 where he missed two clear-cut chances \u2013 explains some of it.<\/p>\n

According to FBREF, Blues have only had eight shots on target in their five Championship games \u2013 again, the lowest of any team in the league.<\/p>\n

One criticism that has been levelled at Blues is that they don\u2019t take enough shots from outside the box but their average shot distance is 18 yards. That suggests they are one of the teams in the Championship that shoots from further out.<\/p>\n

Davies is only too aware of his team\u2019s problems. He is the one who has to find the solutions to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do find the underlying statistics are a good barometer of where you are,\u201d says Davies. \u201cWith one eye I look at the data, with one eye I look at the subjective feel and intuition. It\u2019s a combination of both.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a good place to go and what I always look at with xG is the xG differential \u2013 so it\u2019s what you\u2019re creating versus what you\u2019re conceding. We\u2019re strong in the xG differential which is encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

By that, Davies is referring to what is essentially xG goal difference. The actual league table has Blues on -1 but xG puts them at 3.97.<\/p>\n

Davies references these numbers to his players in monthly meetings.<\/p>\n

\"RyanAt the other end of the pitch, Ryan Allsop hasn’t been over-worked<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt\u2019s the attacking side that we\u2019re a little bit down on despite having a lot of possession and control. It\u2019s something we need to keep working on.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team that plays like us has this exact same problem, pretty much. It\u2019s not unfamiliar territory, it\u2019s definitely not overreacting to it, it\u2019s just a case of trying to really impose box action, box entries, danger on the opposition to create more chances.\u201d<\/p>\n

This weekend\u2019s opponents Swansea City support Davies\u2019 point. They play in a similar way to Blues and have almost identical numbers for and against. The seventh-placed Swans have just produced more actual goals than Blues to record an extra victory.<\/p>\n

But Southampton, Coventry and Ipswich \u2013 three more teams that dominate the ball \u2013 are posting much better attacking outputs. Those three teams are all Championship leaders in terms of shots and xG, albeit two of them are currently below Blues in the table.<\/p>\n

Are teams opening up more against those three sides and allowing them more opportunities to create? Surely not.<\/p>\n

Just like last season, Blues\u2019 success will be based around a solid defence in a system that has always been better equipped to stop goals than create them. Their numbers support that.<\/p>\n

But what Davies needs to \u2013 and probably does \u2013 understand is that supporters are in the entertainment industry and grinding out wins as they did last season is very palatable, when the results dry up the spotlight quickly shifts to performances \u2013 and style.<\/p>\n

Is it a case of trusting the style and process for Blues? Let us know your thoughts HERE<\/a>Get the latest Blues headlines sent straight to your phone<\/p>\n

BirminghamLive has its very own Birmingham City<\/a> WhatsApp community to deliver the latest headlines straight to your phone. Just click this link<\/a> to receive daily Blues content and breaking news. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don\u2019t like our community, you can check out any time you like. Click on the name at the top of your screen while in WhatsApp and click ‘Exit Group’. Read our Privacy Notice.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Birmingham City have endured two frustrating defeats either side of the international break Birmingham City reporter for BirminghamLive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,1205,748,8372,393,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-434974","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-fc","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-chris-davies-football-coach","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115228493281332971","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}