Chris Davies issues Birmingham City warning - Blues' Championship struggles may continue | OneFootball

Birmingham City have won two of their opening five league games this season

Birmingham City manager Chris Davies has claimed it could be until the October international break before his squad have settled due to the number of fresh faces.

Blues were quite active in the summer transfer market following their promotion from League One, adding no fewer than 14 players on a mix of permanent and loan deals.

The Midlands outfit are aiming to fight for a place in the Premier League straight away, with their sights set on a return to the top flight for the first time since 2011.

Davies oversaw an impressive first year with Birmingham, with his side earning a record points tally of 111 to clinch the third tier title on their way back to the Championship.

Chris Davies urges patience at Birmingham City after slow start to life in Championship

Davies admitted that the step up to the Championship has made it harder for him to bed in new players while still getting positive results.

But he believes the radical change in the squad was needed in order to be as competitive as they could be, instead of sticking with what they had.

“Last season, due to the level of the opposition, it was easier to go along that process while still winning games and finding out what you need to know,” Davies told Birmingham Live.

“For example, I changed the goalkeeper last season after a win.

“This season, the games are tighter, opposition is stronger and it’s even more important that I find out what we’ve got and how it’s all going to fit together quickly, but it’s even more of a challenge than last season because of the level.

“We felt we had to upgrade the squad and improve it.

“We could have just kept everyone the same and known where we are.

“But we had a few loans going back and then a few players probably lost their motivation, so they had to go, then there were a few more we needed to add to really push this team on.

“By the nature of that you do need to find the cohesion again.”

Davies is hopeful that the team will start to gel well after this current block of games between now and the next international break in October, with some potentially tricky encounters against the likes of Swansea City and Midlands rivals Coventry coming up.

“I’m hoping it will become a lot clearer in the next block of games," Davies added of how Birmingham's current set of players are performing.

“That first four games was like, ‘Right, what’s this league about? How’s our system and style going to stand up?’

“I think that is a reasonable time to look at it.

“The team I started last season to the team I finished with felt so different.

“The Ipswich game to where it ends up this season is probably going to be different. We have made a lot of changes.

“I don’t think too many have made as many changes as we have, which is positive, but the cost of that is you’ve just got to find that cohesion.”

Birmingham have enjoyed a mixed start to life back in the Championship, winning two and losing two of their opening five games, drawing the other.

This has left the Blues with seven points from a possible 15, with the side sitting 11th in the table.

Given it is still early days in the campaign, no conclusions will yet be drawn as to whether or not they can compete for promotion again, but many will be looking on at events at St. Andrew's with surprise, given the investment that has been made into Davies' squad.

Davies is being realistic by saying it could be seven or eight league games before the team gets settled given how many new players have come through the door over the summer.

The big spending is not a guarantee of success, and there is a risk that it will never gel, and it will be up to the 40-year-old to ensure that doesn't happen.

The manager is under a lot more pressure to deliver success this season given the investment being made by the ambitious Birmingham owners, and it will be interesting to see how patient Tom Wagner will be if results remain mixed.

As things stand, the Blues could struggle to fight for promotion unless they can figure out their best 11 quickly and start playing to the level required of a top six finish in the Championship - and that may only come in a month's time.