Three new Birmingham City formations for Chris Davies after summer transfers

Birmingham City might have completed just four transfers, but the starting lineups available to Chris Davies scream Championship, not League One.

The Blues have revamped their goalkeeping department with the signings of Ryan Allsop and Bailey Peacock-Farrell and added 2023/24 League Golden Boot winner Alfie May at the other end of the pitch. The arrival of Emil Hansson gives the Blues another wing option. Apart from John Ruddy, who turned down a new deal in favor of a lucrative deal at Premier League club Newcastle United, the Blues have yet to lose anyone.

That means Davies can still call on Krystian Bielik, Koji Miyoshi and South Korea international Paik Seung-ho, who is due to join his pre-season team-mates shortly after being granted extended service leave military.

The Blues will add more players to a squad that is ugly in central defence, unreliable in midfield and in need of surgical intervention in attack. But they already have some interesting lineups.

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If we settle for a 4-2-3-1 formation, which is what three managers have agreed has been the Blues’ best formation of the last term, and the way Davies’ former club Tottenham Hotspur set up, then the Blues have a variety of options.

The Blues have a live battle for their number one spot which will be decided in pre-season. Allsop has been first choice in the Championship in each of the last three seasons, but Peacock-Farrell has form and a higher ceiling based on his previous employers.

In defence, Ethan Laird is currently unchallenged at right-back and Lee Buchanan is a shoo-in for left-back. Dion Sanderson defaults to starting as the club’s only recognized centre-back, and Bielik is the best bet to pair with him at the moment. They formed a solid partnership at the end of last season which saw the Blues keep three clean sheets in their last four games.

The middle of the team is up in the air right now. Imagine a partnership between Jordan James and Paik in League One. James, 19, looks certain to leave with Premier League clubs and Atalanta courting him, and Paik also has a decision to make.

“My message to the players around me is that I’m a symbol of exactly that,” says Davies. “I’m someone who could be a manager in the Championship now, maybe even bigger who knows, but I’ve chosen to come to a club that’s going somewhere.

“It’s for me to make the vision, the project and where we’re going with this crystal clear for them, so they can see that yes, we’re in League One, but we’re going somewhere and you want to be part of that. That’s exactly the message I’ll be sending to those players who may be thinking about where they are now versus where they want to be.”

In front of James and Paik the Blues have a lot of players. Miyoshi, Juninho Bacuna and a betrothed Siriki Dembele behind May would be terrifying for League One defences. However, Bacuna seems to be on his way and Hansson will surely come in and show the desire we wanted to see from Dembele last season. A fit and dismissal of Tyler Roberts, George Hall, Keshi Anderson, Romelle Donovan and Lukas Jutkiewicz wouldn’t exactly weaken the Blues’ attacking arsenal.

Possible formations

(4-2-3-1): Allsop; Laird, Bielik, Sanderson, Buchanan; James, Paik; Miyoshi, Bacuna, Hansson; May

(4-2-3-1): Peacock-Farrell; Laird, Bielik, Sanderson, Buchanan; Chang, Paik; Miyoshi, T Roberts, Anderson; May

(4-2-3-1): Peacock-Farrell; Laird, Bielik, Sanderson, Buchanan; James, Paik; Miyoshi, Hall, Hansson; May

Who do you think is the best Blues line-up right now? Tell us in the comments HERE