Blues will be seeking success at their happy place on Saturday – St. Andrew’s.
Chris Davies is demanding that the side replicate their stock in trade on home turf, and feed off their confidence levels and the crowd against Charlton Athletic.
And then Davies can prepare in earnest for their next away examination.
Blues have been free-flowing and free-scoring at St. Andrew’s. Only leaders Coventry City have won more home games in the Championship.
Away, it’s a different story and back-to-back defeats at Southampton and QPR, the latter a passive, poor performance, put Blues under pressure to maintain their home form.
“It’s somewhere the players enjoying playing,” he told Richard Wilford, of Radio WM during an insightful pre-match press conference interview.
“You can feel pre-game the confidence and the aggression in the team and even as they walk out onto the pitch in that home support, it’s all blue, Keep Right On is being sung . . . home comforts and we are very confident at home, that always gives us a big push to start the match.”
Davies is expecting Blues to be on the front foot and impose themselves as they normally do before the faithful.
Charlton are on a wretched run of form – five straight defeats – and are contending with injury problems.
But due to the in your face way the Addicks go about it, Blues can’t afford to be anything but on point.
Davies said: “We played them three times last year, twice away and once at home. We feel like we know them pretty well.
“In terms of their style of play, very aggressive, pressing, a lot of energy, quick transitions forward. I can imagine the game on Saturday will be like the games we’ve had against them previously which were difficult to control and very physical, so we’re going to have to be good at that.”
Davies knows he has to come up with a solution to Blues away day malaise and it’s something he is confident that can be arrested.
He reflected: “At Southampton, there were periods where we played really well. We got off to a poor start, it was an open game, it got away from us.
“QPR, we were below our level, across the board. As I said to the players I don’t think there was one of them who could say they were at their best. And as a team we were certainly well below our normal level. It culminated in nearly getting a point, but we lost the match.”
“I have to coach the players through this. Because there is room for us to grow and improve away from home.
“We have to develop our game. I think we need a little bit more personality on the road.
“Be a bit braver. We are maybe five yards deeper than we are at home and we are not maybe taking the ball as much.
“And we don’t really show ourselves as much and I think that little bit of devilment, that little bit of enjoying silencing the home crowd, that kind of psychology would really help us.
“That’s something we need to take more into away games to get better performances and results because it’s obviously something we are aware of and needs to pick up.”
Blues were ‘second best in the duels’ too often in London.
“The bigger picture is our approach to the game (away from home). Being braver, having more confidence and assertiveness in what we do.
“Because we are good at what we do.
“QPR, as an example, are a very physical team. And I felt because we weren’t good with what we do, in terms of how we play, the game became quite scrappy and they overran us.
“They were stronger in midfield with the second balls, a big front two, they were causing us problems.
“There’s an arm wrestle tactically in football now in who can make the game more like the way they want to play it and we lost out against QPR. Something we definitely need to improve across the board.”
In terms of selection for Saturday, Davies may have Willum Willumsson back and on the substitutes bench as an option after his lengthy injury absence.
And from the manager’s pre-match press conference hints, he looks set to stick with James Beadle in goal.
