Developing a killer instinct is on the agenda as Blues brace themselves for the festive period.
On Saturday they head to Sheffield United and will be trying to shake those away day woes.
Then it’s home games on Boxing Day against Derby County and December 29 against Southampton, before a New Year’s Day trip to Watford. Then Coventry City pop down the A45 on January 4.
The away form is a hot topic, understandably. Blues have lost seven of 11 games on the road and whilst Chris Davies is open to change to elicit an uptick in fortune on the road, his players need to be more ruthless.
“From our point of view the away form we have dug into a lot more this week, and the results,” he reveals.
“The points return we have got is not really where we want to be, there’s not doubt about that. We need to have picked up more points from those games.
“There’s been a couple of games we have been off it, but there have been some close games where I think we could have got something out of them.
“Getting those three, four, five (extra) points would make things look a little different.
“But we haven’t. We are where we are and we compare the home and away form and it’s a big contrast.
“So we have spoken a lot this week about the idea of really using our moments when they do arrive in games because you can go back – even to games like Southampton – where there were moments when we needed to have had that killer instinct because away from home in this league we’re going to need to capitalise in those situations to maybe get in front, then we can hold onto a lead type of thing, rather than always conceding the first goal.
“Capitalising on these moments is what we have been speaking about and having a strong mentality obviously, you need to enjoy playing away from home.”
Due to Marvin Ducksch’s recent ineffectiveness when not at St. Andrew’s, it could mean a start for Lyndon Dykes or even Kyogo.
Davies accepts Blues don’t really play with or to an imposing, powerful frontman, as many rivals in the division do.
“We have got different kind of strikers, at times we have played really well and combined really well, but we have lacked a bit of that in certain games and situations.
“Against Sheffield we can try to use our strengths.
“What we do have is speed and technique. And we have to try to be a little bit braver getting on the ball, play forward more.
“Conceding goals is one thing, but we haven’t scored enough away from home.
“I think we have conceded a similar amount to Coventry away from home, in terms of goals, but it’s the goals scored. So we need to make sure we’re bringing our A game when we are getting around their back four. And using these moment we are going to get.”
“I need to look into what players are suited to which games,” Davies adds. “We’ve got a lot of technical players across the board. We’ve got a very technical team.
“There are some teams that are really big and physical and we’re not that. We miss that a little bit at times, definitely within games and situations, so that is something we have to look at.
“But picking players suited to games is ultimately what we’re going to need to do to be more effective. That’s my decision-making.”
