Chris Davies expressed delight at a ‘complete’ Blues performance.
The 4-0 trouncing of Portsmouth was a display that had been coming, the Blues boss insisted.
Blues didn’t break stride after Jay Stansfield’s early penalty miss as Pompey were swept aside.
Three goals came from set-plays, an ironic twist considering the amount of scrutiny and criticism Blues have received over this particular aspect of their repertoire, particularly at corners.
But there was much more to it than that, as Paik Seung-ho, Tomoki Iwata, Christoph Klarer and Keish Anderson got on the scoresheet.
Said Davies: “I think it was really complete from our point of view. I was really pleased with a lot of it. I think we started really well, really bright, really aggressive, a lot of quality. The best we have played, obviously, this season.
“I can’t remember them having a shot at them goal and we had probably five, six, seven big chances. So there was a lot in there. And a lot I’m happy about because, you know, I think it’s been coming.
“We’ve been close in games, we’ve been tight and there’s been fine margins, but I’m pleased that the managed to bring it all together.”
Davies opted to throw Marvin Ducksch back into the fray, despite not being entirely sure how long he would last following his injury lay-off. He made a difference, for sure.
“With two changes from the last match, with Demarai (Gray) coming in with Marvin coming in, I think both showed their quality.
“I think others are building rhythm. Tommy Doyle’s finding a bit of rhythm now and a bit of strength and sort of fitness that was probably missing a few weeks ago, and you can see him growing alongside that Patrick Roberts as well.
“I just think it was a solid performance but really fluid and dangerous.
“Marvin’s link up (play) and cleverness helps us in the final third with touches, and the way he wins the penalty . . . I’m pleased for him because he’s come in and had a couple of injury issues.
“It was close whether to play him because obviously he hadn’t trained a lot, but I just felt that he could give us that little bit of something different.
“He can lay the ball off, one touch. He’s clever and he’s got that personality on the pitch that can sort of shine as well.
“So I was really pleased with him. He lasted well. I wasn’t sure if we’d get more than 45 minutes out of him, but I thought, let’s start him and get him going. So we’ll see how he recovers, but I think he can be really pleased with his performance.”
Davies, during the recent spell, has steadfastly expressed his belief that Blues were doing the right things and all would come good.
And chairman Tom Wagner, before the international break and at the Open House, said he had confidence in the manager because of the ‘process’ they were following, even if results didn’t always reflect such.
Davies said: “I’m a football manager, a coach, I will look at it sort of from (the standpoint of) are they doing what we’re working on? And are we close enough? And I have felt we are.
“I’ve just felt we’ve been coming up short in areas.
“We have had at times things go against us and it’s been a important period to stay really consistent and I’ve tried to veer the players away from just, ‘we have to win, we have to win’, and focus on just the process of the energy, the intensity, the fluidity, knowing that that it will lead to more wins.
“So I’m just really I’m pleased for everyone.
“But I said to the players in there (afterwards), it’s just one game. It’s when you lose a game, it’s just one game. When you win a game, it’s just one game. So we can’t get carried away.
“We just have to understand that we bought it all together today and it gets a bit of a benchmark of where we need to get to, to win games at this level. That doesn’t mean we’re going to win the next one. We have to get ready for that.”
That next one is Millwall on Tuesday, once more at St. Andrew’s.
The Pompey result edged Blues into the top half of the Championship table, four points from the play-off zone.
