Davies adds physicality and set-piece coach to Birmingham's promotion push
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- Chris Davies is shifting Birmingham's style from possession-heavy "total football" toward a more direct, physical approach after a 10th-place Championship finish — their best league position since the 2011/12 season when they were in Europe.
- Birmingham City has sold over 20,000 season tickets with 14,000 more on the waiting list and posts the biggest Championship revenue of any club not reliant on parachute payments.
- Winter signings August Priske, Jhon Solis, and Carlos Vicente added physicality and all scored in a pre-season friendly win over Barcelona at a packed St Andrew's, with Davies calling their half-season Championship initiation crucial.
- Davies hired specialist set-piece coach Scott Fry, targeting 6-7 set-piece goals and 2-3 counter-attack goals to bridge the 13-goal gap between last season's 57 and the ~70 he calculated the top six hit.
- The opening Carabao Cup win at Swansea — 1-0 with just 39% possession, Priske scoring from a set-piece routine — already validated the tactical shift ahead of Saturday's Championship opener at Sheffield United, live on Sky Sports.
Why it matters: Davies has identified the exact statistical gap — 13 goals short of the ~70 he says the top six scored — and built a concrete plan to close it through set-pieces, counter-attacks, and added physicality. In a division where promotion races routinely turn on double-digit goal margins, hitting even half that target could be the difference between another mid-table finish and a genuine playoff push.
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