Chris Davies is expecting a tight knit affair in the Championship all season long.
The Blues manager doesn’t feel there is going to be a runaway leader this campaign.
And he remains optimistic as Blues return to action on Saturday that his side will make the necessary adjustments to ensure they are at the forefront of the promotion race.
Blues take on Hull City at St. Andrew’s, a team who are above them by one place in 15th due to goal difference.
Blues are only four points from third place Leicester City in a table that has a concertinaed look.
“I think you can throw a blanket over a lot of teams,” he said. “There’s a couple of points separating I don’t know how many teams (10, to be exact, from Blues position).
“It perhaps will be the tightest Championship for a while, I’d say. There’s not going to be a runaway leader from what I have seen.
“There are a couple of teams I have seen I think are very strong.
“But I am not sure they are going to create the sort of margin that Leicester did a few years ago, and teams like that.
“You can see one week teams win 3-0 and next week they lose 3-0. So that is the Championship.
“As I have said to the players, it’s a different league, it’s a different challenge for us.
“We are not going to win every game like we did last year and we have to be really ready to react but build more consistency.
“I think, from my point of view, we have conceded the fewest shots in the league so our general pressing and intensity I have been happy with, but we have had to be probably inch perfect at the back because we just haven’t quite created the chances we need to.
“It’s a big focus for me and a challenge for all of us – and obviously I bear the ultimate responsibility for it – is the creation of meaningful chances.
“If we can just increase that a little bit in our game then we will really be a force. That’s how I feel. And that’s something we will be aiming to do.”
The next international break comes in November, giving Blues a run of six matches to get their teeth into.
What does Davies want to see, therefore, in that spell?
“I want us to maintain the intensity we’ve shown without the ball. I want us to increase a little bit our intensity with the ball.
“Create more danger, more often, with our attacks. Create more chances. And be as efficient as possible from set-pieces.
“Without being the biggest team in the league, obviously, we have got a lot of technical players in relation to how we play.
“But be more efficient both defending and attacking set-pieces. If we can make those gains, as well as keeping what we are good at, then if we can do that in these (next) six games, then we are going to have a good six games.”
Davies reckons that leaders Coventry City are among the teams he feels are strong, and he expects Ipswich Town to come good.
“I look at Ipswich and people say they dropped down, we gave them a good game. But the depth of their squad and the way they play . . . Coventry have started very well.
“But there’s a real pack of teams I find it hard to separate too much.
“What we need to focus on is ourselves and improving our level of performance.
“I am excited and probably more excited and optimistic than I was pre-Ipswich (Blues first match). And I mean that in that I wasn’t sure what to expect (from the league).
“Well now I have seen it and there is an excitement there, but what we have all seen and hopefully it is pretty clear, is how challenging it will be. And how different it will be to last season and how hard the games are and the ups and downs of the Championship.
“But I feel if we can make the improvements to our game I want us to, then we can push on and be a more effective team at this level.
“That big group will probably be quite tight most of the season by the looks of things, so we have just got to make sure we do our best and don’t focus too much on the others.”
Blues received a boost with the news that Demarai Gray’s groin issue, that kept him out of involvement for Jamaica, is not serious.
Davies said: “Demarai is fine. It was a more precautionary issue that he had so he’s absolutely fine.”
Marvin Ducksch, Ethan Laird and Willum Willumsson remain sidelined. On Bright Osayi-Samuel, who has been nursing a foot injury, Davies commented: “Bright is close but we’ll see how he goes.”
Davies rang the changes in Blues last outing, at Wrexham.
James Beadle made his league debut in goal and Marc Leonard started, as Tomoki Iwata was used at right-back.
Leonard has worked away all season quietly yet impressively to earn his chance.
Davies said: “Marc been exceptional this season in training. One of the best training players most days.
“He is incredibly hard working, his professionalism . . . he comes into the gym pretty much before anyone else is here and he’s doing his work. He’s really trying to maximise his career as a footballer and I can see that.
“He has really earned the opportunity by that work. It’s a bit of a battle at Wrexham, with bouncing balls, and you have to do the dirty side of the game, which he does, and we know he can play.
“With Tomoki at right-back, I felt he was the (ideal) defensive six to replace him (in midfield).”
