Birmingham City manager Chris Davies chatted with BBC Radio WM ahead of their FA Cup third round game at League Two’s Cambridge United on Saturday (17:45 GMT).
Here’s what he had to say:
“It was a very intense four games in 10 days,” Davies said about the busy holiday period. “Everyone was feeling it. It’s been good actually to get a win [against Coventry] to finish off that run on a high and have this week to get that balance of rest and recovery.”
Going up against Cambridge will be “very similar” to their League One matches last season. “Neil [Harris] has done a good job there,” Davies added.
He went on: “They’ve been strong in League Two. Good defensively, they’ve got some threats going forward. We’ve been here many times, these type of games where you’re expected to go and get a result but it’s not always straightforward so we have to use that experience of last season.”
Birmingham have managed only two away wins across all competitions this season, so improving performances on the road is “an area we need to improve, so we’ve got an opportunity”.
On the January transfer window and the status of Marc Leonard and Lyndon Dykes, he said: “There’s a lot of moving parts around these players at the moment. No news as such. There is a lot of uncertainty, there’s a lot of moving parts, ins and outs and we will have to see how it goes in the next few weeks. How close we are [to a signing], I’m not sure but there’s a few names we’re looking at, trying to see what we can do to get them in.”
The Blues have only won once in their last eight matches and Davies remarked: “This last six weeks has been challenging, no doubt about it. I, like quite a few of the players, will have grown through that and be an even better manager now. I have learned a lot in 18 months but particularly these six weeks. We’ve been, I believe, really successful in that time [since he took over] and I’m very optimistic about where we’re going in the future.”
