Chris Davies has five senior players to choose from in Birmingham City's engine room

Birmingham City’s midfield appeared to be a position of weakness in the opening weeks of the season, now it is undeniably a strength.

Chris Davies had to navigate Blues’ opening eight Championship fixtures with two, sometimes three, central midfielders due to a crippling injury list.

Max Bird and Taylor Gardner-Hickman are now back in the fold, while Paik Seung-ho should come back into contention soon after missing the last three matches.

All three will challenge first choice duo Tomoki Iwata and Jhon Solis for the pivot positions in Davies’ favoured 4-2-3-1 formation.

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Davies has promised a ‘horses for courses’ approach this season and his quintet of midfielders have differing skillsets.

Explaining how he sees it, Davies said: “Iwata is pretty much a six, Solis is a six/eight so he could go back and do that job, Max is probably a six/eight/ten and is really versatile depending on the game and style of play. Taylor would probably go into that category as well. Paik, I played him as a ten, but he's a six/eight really.”

Blues will have to move on from Iwata in the next nine months with Davies recently admitting that his midfield lynchpin has his heart set on returning to Japan. For now, Iwata is a ‘critical player’ for Blues and Davies.

Many presumed Bird’s return to fitness would put Iwata’s place in the line-up under threat but Solis has been the man replaced in the last three matches.

In order for Bird to replace Iwata, Solis would have to perform Iwata’s role. The question is whether Solis can do it well enough for Davies to go into battle without his midfield general.

“Tomoki plays on the right of the two of them and I'm quite distinctive with that positioning,” says Davies. “He's become a specialist on that side. I'm always reluctant to push him over to the left but he could do it. He has incredible discipline, as you know, he's very strong and robust. He's playing some really good football. I think he was one of our best players again the other night (against Preston), we were playing through him so much, he was turning so much, he was playing like a really good six.”

Iwata played even better against Queens Park Rangers on Saturday. The 29-year-old recorded two assists in what will go down as one of his finest displays in Royal Blue.

Solis is different. The physically imposing Colombian is a better ball carrier than he is a passer and Davies often fields him in a role that plays to his strength.

With Iwata positioned slightly to the right, Solis’s heatmap shows a player predominantly playing off the left and his interchanges with Alex Cochrane, Liam Millar and Jay Stansfield have opened doors this season.

Solis, 22, has the highest ceiling of all Blues’ midfield players and the club can expect to make a significant profit on the £6m they paid Girona for his services in the summer.

Davies sees a simple progression for him. “Solis, I really like him. His development is playing even quicker at times. Using the physicality that he's got all the time because that's his biggest strength. But he's a really nice player.”

Bird is an altogether different proposition. The ex-Bristol City man can’t match the physicality of Iwata or Solis, but he is a ball manipulator and takes up positions that should result in him scoring and contributing to goals.

At his best Bird recorded nine goal contributions in a Championship season for Bristol City in 2024/25.

Davies said: “I loved Bird's performance when he came on (against Preston). I thought he was really intelligent. He's a positional player. He gets it straight away. He gets what I'm asking in terms of what position to be in, when to be in it, and why to be in it. He's been well educated and has a great football understanding.

“At Bristol he played as a 10 a lot of the time and even played off the side as an inverted winger. I haven't seen that in this system because I like the wingers to provide more width, but he looks like he wants to score. That's the first thing. I give that left six a bit more freedom to join. I wouldn't want Tomoki going into the box too often but definitely that left-sided one. He looks like he can finish and he's got quality.”

There will be games where Blues expect to dominate possession and Bird is the man Davies turns to.

Likewise there will be minutes for Gardner-Hickman between now and January due to his extraordinary versatility. The only positions Gardner-Hickman hasn’t played for Blues are goalkeeper, centre-back and centre-forward.

“Taylor is Mr Versatile,” Davies said: “He sees himself as a midfielder and someone who wants to get on the ball and play, but knows that I trust him in other positions.”

Davies ended his assessment of Blues’ midfield men by calling Paik an ‘exceptional player’ and it is hard to envisage him not playing a part.

Paik has always been a fixture for Davies and the manager has taken umbrage with any perceived criticism of his playmaker in the past.

What is clear is that Blues’ midfield has now evolved beyond the Paik-Iwata axis. Dating back to January, Paik and Iwata have been paired together only three times and only in emergencies.

Blues’ midfield now has more to offer. “We have a bit of a depth that we didn't have last year in those positions,” according to their manager.

What is Blues' best midfield pairing? Have your say in the comments...