In it to try and win it.
That’s the message from Chris Davies as Blues prepare for their Carabao Cup clash against Sheffield United.
The Blades visit St. Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park on Wednesday, August 13 (kick-off 8pm) in the first round.
And whilst Davies is mindful of the forthcoming trip in the Championship to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday as well as the energy Blues players expended in the pulsating draw against Ipswich Town, the manager won’t treat the tie lightly.
Last season Blues basically went all-in on the cup competitions despite promotion from League One being the ultimate priority.
So there’s no chance of Blues being anything but fully focused and full pelt, even if some changes are made.
“I find it difficult with the way we are, my approach here every day and everything that we talk about, to suddenly just sort of go half-hearted into a game,” the manager said.
“It just doesn’t fit with how we are, how we work, how everything around their mindset since I’ve been here has been the next game’s the most important, let’s go and try and win every competition that we go into.
“People might laugh at you and say you can’t, but we can try to.
“And that’s what I said to the players in training. That’s we’re in this competition to try to win it, otherwise we might as well not be in it. So let’s go for it. Let’s go for this next game.
“We’re at home, which is good. We’re against a really good side. But if you can get through this round, get a bit of luck with a draw and maybe a couple of home games then, before you know it, you can be in the latter stages.
“It’s exciting for us. So, you know, I want to make sure that we are getting the balance right between freshness, energy levels and putting a really strong team out.”
Davies knows his history, too.
“This particular competition is a special to our club for obvious reasons, winning the trophy 14 years ago, and the players are fully aware of that. And, as I’ve said, we want to go as far as we can in all the competitions.
“We had a little run in the FA Cup as well last season. We got off to a good start in this equivalent game last season against Charlton away, and then we had the Vertu Trophy.
“You can start thinking about the league or start thinking too far ahead. My past experiences in coaching tells me if you do that, it trips you up. If you go too far ahead and change too much and everything’s quite off then you wonder why you did it, basically. So my theory is we need to make sensible decisions around freshness and energy, especially with Blackburn and a very intense game coming up, and away from home.
“I’m really aware of that, conscious of that. But, at the same time, we need to go for this one that’s next. Really focus on it, then we can go from there.”
Marvin Ducksch will miss out as well as Kanya Fujimoto, although the Japanese attacker is making good progress.
“Marvin is in sort of intensive rehab at the end-stage of his injury now,” reported Davies. “He’s going to be joining with the training group hopefully by the end of this week and then he needs to get up to speed.
“Sadly, for Marvin, he came back for his pre-season with Werder Bremen and picked up an injury almost in the first week. And it’s only a small injury, but it’s obviously delayed him, so he needs to kind of get a real block of training in.
“Kanya is a bit further along than that. He’s two, three weeks training with the team now, he’s played for the under-21s.
“There’s another chance that he can get some more game time for them as well, to sort of complete his return to play. And then I think he’ll be ready to go.”
Sheffield will pitch up at Blues smarting from a surprise 4-1 opening day defeat in the league by Bristol City at Bramall Lane.
Davies noted: “They’ll want to put that right. I’ve watched that Bristol City game in great detail. And you would be a very foolish to take and read too much into that. That was a very harsh scoreline. They’re an excellent team with excellent players, and no doubt it’s a big test for us.”
