How Blues may deal with the suspension of Davis

Following his tenth yellow card of the season at Sheffield Wednesday on Friday, David Davis will now sit out the next two games against Preston and Queens Park Rangers.

His suspension will mean that Gianfranco Zola will now have to decide how he sets his team up in the absence of one of his key performers.

The last two games have seen Blues set up with a 4-1-2-1-2 formation which included four natural central midfielders but Zola may decide to shake it up a bit on Tuesday.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he reverted back to the 4-3-3 set-up that will give Blues a lot more protection in front of the back four.

We conceded all too easily against Sheffield Wednesday and I think it’s crucial that we sort out those defensive problems.

Playing a flat midfield of three will give us that solidity but also the control in the centre of the park that Zola will still want us to have.

I also feel that the inclusion of wingers into the side will give us more creativity, more flair and, in turn, allow us to create a lot more on the break.

We could, however, still go with the 4-1-2-1-2 formation and drop Craig Gardner back a bit and give someone like Kerim Frei the chance to play behind the two strikers.

That would give us far more creativity and would allow Frei to use his pace on the turn and play a lot more direct when going up against the Preston defence.

What’s important for Blues though, is that we start the game against Simon Grayson`s side a lot better than we did against Wednesday.

Blues need to be hard to beat and ensure that they stay compact when defending. That must come before the improvement in front of goal.

Staying solid will give us that foundation to build on and then give us the opportunity to be a lot more ruthless in the opposition penalty area.

Conceding early will give Blues a mountain to climb as we are struggling to score goals at present and it’s only really Lukas Jutkiewicz that has been hitting the back of the net.

There’s no doubt that Blues will miss David Davis over the next two games but Zola does have options to chop and change the side and hopefully turn the next two matches in Blues` favour.