Chris Davies explains why he will keep postponing Birmingham City matches

Chris Davies will continue to postpone games during international windows because he wouldn’t forgive himself if an understrength Birmingham City side dropped points.

Blues’ game against Stevenage next weekend has been called off after five of the club’s players received international call-ups. Unlike those in the Premier League and Championship, League One clubs don’t automatically have international breaks but they are allowed to postpone a fixture if they receive three call-ups.

Davies has cancelled Blues’ fixtures against Exeter City – which will now be played on Tuesday, November 26 – Cambridge United and Stevenage. Blues are already playing catch up on some of their League One rivals and are set to fall further behind.

The prospect of an extended Bristol Street Motors Trophy run will only add to Blues’ fixture congestion and some have questioned why Davies doesn’t utilise his strong squad and play on. Blues defeated Shrewsbury Town 4-0 in the last international break without a chunk of their first team due to internationals and injuries.

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But Davies isn’t willing to take the risk in a League One fixture with the stakes so high for Blues this season.

He said: “If we were to lose four or five players and play a game, and it didn’t go our way, so we were to draw or lose, you would be thinking ‘why on earth did we do that?’

“We do everything we can to avoid injuries and everything else. And to go into a game understrength, with every game being so important, it just doesn’t make any sense to me.

“For example, one of our goalkeepers goes on international duty. Yes, we have Brad Mayo as well, but we’re talking about two experienced goalkeepers we’ve got there.

“I just don’t see the benefit. It means we fall games behind, yes, but there’s a big benefit psychologically when we come back because of freshness. After this one, there’s not another one until March so you’re talking about four or five months of the winter weather and a lot of games, I think they are good opportunities for us to refresh.

“Typically, when we’ve come back from them we have looked fresher. I would continue to take that [stance] and from speaking to people, the Premier League and the Championship are keen on them, and I know other League One managers will take them as much as they can as well.”

Blues’ stacked squad is nearing full health with Krystian Bielik fit again and Lee Buchanan edging closer. Wingers Scott Wright and Emil Hansson are Davies’ only confirmed absentees heading into this weekend’s match against Northampton.

Davies will need to utilise that squad after the international break when Blues face 12 games – including their first BSM Trophy knockout game – in the space of six weeks.

“We’ve had a couple of high volume periods but I can sense December and January is going to be busy,” said Davies. “I do want us to go as far as we can in all the competitions because it’s about winning games of football, and ultimately we want to do as well as we can. Thankfully at the moment we’ve only got a couple of injuries and long may that continue.”

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