Birmingham City manager Chris Davies: “We might never be the same team away from home”

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies believes his team “might never be the same team away from home” but acknowledges improvement in their road form.,The team has secured only eight points from 27 away games this season, contrasting sharply with their strong home performance.Birmingham City manager Chris Davies has stated that his team “might never be the same team away from home” but indicated that their form on the road is showing signs of improvement.

Blues are set to play Southampton away on Saturday, having collected only eight points from a possible 27 in their away matches so far. This record places them among the lower-performing teams away from home, with only Watford, Sheffield Wednesday, and Portsmouth having secured fewer points on their travels. The team’s away performance stands in stark contrast to their strong record at St Andrew’s, where only the league leaders, Coventry City, have achieved more wins and scored more goals.

Davies highlighted the last two away performances, a 2-1 defeat against Middlesbrough and a 1-1 derby draw with West Bromwich Albion, as encouraging signs. “There were good signs against a good team [Boro] that we were more than competitive,” he told BBC Radio WM. “Against West Brom, we get something out of the game and showed a bit of resilience. If you combine those two together, you’ve got a decent formula for getting something from an away game.”

He emphasized the importance of maintaining their playing style: “We have to try to be ourselves. If we change and sit on the edge of our box for 90 minutes we’ve got less chance of winning the match, there’s no doubt about that. We might never be the same team away from home but we obviously need to improve our results.”

Davies dismissed the idea that the difference in home and away results is due to psychological issues, asserting that “the messaging around the games remains the same.” He added, “Possibly earlier in the season there was maybe a bit of trepidation around some of these games – ‘are we good enough?’ but I think our confidence has grown.”