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Birmingham City face Blackburn Rovers later today and Chris Davies is going to have to leave at least one key player disappointed when he announces his starting XI for the game.
Having been one of the busiest teams in the transfer market this summer, it’s safe to say Birmingham City are now blessed with brilliant squad depth.
The Blues are going all out to try and earn promotion to the Premier League at the first time of asking after a rousing march to the League One title last season.
They’re looking for their first win of the Championship 2025/26 campaign today against a Blackburn Rovers side that find themselves in disarray at the moment, but Chris Davies will surely be struggling to land on the perfect starting line-up.
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Is there room for Tommy Doyle in Birmingham City line-up?
On the opening night of the new season, Davies opted to play a front four of Demarai Gray, Jay Stansfield, Keshi Anderson, and Kyogo Furuhashi through the middle. A midfield pairing of Tomoki Iwata and Paik Seung-ho sat behind them for the 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town.
Star man Stansfield bagged the goal on the night, but was then dropped from the starting line-up for the Carabao Cup tie with Sheffield United in midweek.
For that game, Willum Thór Willumsson, Tommy Doyle, Gray, and Furuhashi were given the nod. However, Stansfield came on for the final half an hour, and again got himself on the scoresheet to win the game for the Blues.
It will be interesting, then, to see whether Davies finds a spot for Doyle in his starting XI this weekend. The midfielder got 67 minutes under his belt on Wednesday, but given he was tipped by many to be the signing of the summer in the Championship, the 23-year-old will surely be wanting more.
The problem is, when you’ve got Demarai Gray, Jay Stansfield, and Kyogo Furuhashi to fit into your forward line, someone is going to end up unhappy. Furuhashi and Stansfield must surely start given their recent form, which means either Doyle misses out, or Stansfield plays out wide.
Chris Davies will have the same problem all season, but there is a solution
Obviously, having so many quality options to pick from is not a bad problem to have for Davies. It’s the very reason he and the Birmingham City board have been so aggressive in the transfer market, knowing that this 46-game season will likely come down to which sides can consistently perform across the campaign; squad depth will be crucial to that.
Fitting all those Birmingham City signings into one line-up, alongside the players that got them to the Championship in the first place, was always going to be the catch-22 for Davies.
He will be hoping that his ambitious and talented squad is happy enough to rotate throughout the season, sacrificing their own minutes at times for the greater good.
In many ways, as long as the players were told frankly beforehand, they can have no real complaints with the methods of chopping and changing. It may be that Davies eventually finds the combination that works most effectively for Birmingham, but until then, it will likely be a case of trial and error for the Blues.