Krystian Bielik’s controversial Birmingham City comments

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies believes Krystian Bielik knows how difficult it will be for the club to get out of League One at the end of this term despite his recent comments.

Speaking to Football League World in Saturday’s post-match press conference, Davies reinforced how difficult it is to get out of the division, even with the money his team spent to secure some excellent additions during the summer transfer window.

Blues have made an excellent start to the season, going unbeaten in all but one of their league games so far this season and only dropping five points, with two of these points being dropped on the opening day against Reading, when the Midlands side were still getting into their stride.

The other points dropped came in their 1-0 loss against Charlton Athletic at The Valley last weekend.

On paper, it wasn’t a terrible result for Davies’ side, but it gave opposition fans a chance Blues the team after Krystian Bielik’s comments during the latter stages of last month.

Birmingham seem to be the team to beat in League One this season, considering how well they have done during the early stages of the season, though many people expected that.

Speaking at the end of last month, Bielik admitted that he thinks his team are too good for the third tier, comments that created controversy.

He told BBC Radio WM: “We’re League One but I don’t think there are any players in this team who are League One players.

“All of them are at a higher level. In six months time we’ll be a Championship team and a different animal.

“We stay humble and keep our feet on the ground and we don’t want to choke on it. But the reality is we’re too good for League One.”

Chris Davies and Matty Godden react to Krystian Bielik’s claim after Charlton Athletic clash

Birmingham boss Davies revealed that he didn’t know Bielik had made those comments – but said that the Poland international knows how difficult competing in the third tier will be this season.

After Saturday’s game, the 39-year-old said: “No idea that he’s said that, to be honest with you. I think from our point of view, we need to understand that it’s going to be a big challenge and Krystian completely understands that.

“I’m not sure completely what the interview was or what he said but he understands the challenge that we face. Every game is a big one and a different test for us and that’s what we need to focus on.”

“From my point of view, as I said to the players, we’ve had an excellent start, they’ve had an excellent start, with what they’ve achieved and what they’ve done.

“But as I’ve said since day one and I’ve continued to say all the way through, this is a very difficult league and if you think you’re better than League One or anyone does, it can be a real challenge.

“I’m not saying that we do but that’s the challenge we face. We come to grounds like this that aren’t easy and against teams that are hungry and work hard and have quality themselves.

“We need to reflect on this, we need to recover well and make sure that we put it right in the next game.”

Despite Davies’ comments, Charlton striker Matty Godden, who scored the winner, admitted that Bielik’s comments were used as motivation before the game, saying: “Yeah, it (the comments) was all over the dressing room.”

Birmingham City must remain humble in their quest for promotion

Birmingham don’t need to give teams any extra motivation.

Blues are the team to beat at the moment and other sides are likely to naturally raise their games against the Midlands outfit.

Third-tier teams will have extra motivation to beat Birmingham if they are perceived as arrogant, so all of their players must be careful when making comments to the media.

Confidence is a great thing and if they can retain their confidence after their defeat on Saturday, that can only be a good thing.

But they can’t be seen to be arrogant. Arrogance and complacency is likely to cost them, even with the team they have, so they need to keep their heads down and keep working.

Davies’ comments post-match were very wise.