Birmingham City manager Chris Davies delivered a frank assessment of his team's performance after they suffered a 3-1 defeat away to Southampton in the Championship on Saturday afternoon.
A Costly Slow Start at St Mary's
Davies pinpointed a disastrous opening period as the root cause of the loss. Southampton raced into a two-goal lead within the first 20 minutes, with strikes from Finn Azaz and Adam Armstrong putting Blues on the back foot from the outset.
"It was always going to be a challenge but in the first 20 minutes we weren't strong enough physically or quick enough onto the ball and we paid the price," Davies admitted. He lamented that the sluggish start contradicted the team's pre-match plans for solidity, especially in a difficult away fixture.
A Recurring Away-Day Problem
The defeat highlighted a concerning trend for Birmingham City on their travels this season. This was the ninth time in ten Championship away games that they have conceded the first goal. Of those nine opening goals, eight have been shipped in the first half, consistently leaving the team with a mountain to climb.
Davies analysed the goals conceded, noting that his team had numbers back in defence but lacked the necessary resilience. "We had a lot of blue shirts back on both the goals so it wasn't that we got opened up. We were there in numbers, we just didn't do enough to keep the ball out of our goal," he explained.
Fightback Falters After Moment of Hope
Following the poor start, Davies acknowledged a significant improvement from his side. Birmingham grew into the game, began moving the ball with purpose, and were rewarded with a goal from winger Demarai Gray in the second half.
However, any hope of a comeback was swiftly extinguished. Just four minutes after Gray's goal, Adam Armstrong scored his second to make it 3-1, a strike Davies described as "the absolute decisive goal" that "takes the stuffing out of us".
Reflecting with hindsight, the manager suggested his team should have managed the game better after scoring. "If we keep it at 2-1 for another 10 minutes it could grow, the home crowd would get nervy and we could put the pressure on," he said. Instead, Blues were drawn into a frantic, end-to-end battle that played into Southampton's hands.
Despite the result, Davies was keen to stress there was no lack of effort from his players, who fought until the final whistle. The focus now will be on solving the persistent issue of slow starts away from home as Birmingham City look to climb the Championship table.
