Birmingham City's two full-backs have been extremely important in their strong start to the Championship season

If Birmingham City’s awards dinner was tomorrow they would have a long list of contenders for their Player of the Year award following their fine start to the campaign.

Christoph Klarer’s stronghold on the trophy is under threat from a whole host of players – including the three men who play alongside him in Blues’ defence.

Phil Neumann’s renaissance has received plenty of recognition, but the glow up of Bright Osayi-Samuel and Alex Cochrane has been equally impressive.

Osayi-Samuel has transformed from a player Chris Davies had seemingly lost patience with to a fixture in his starting line-up.

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Speaking about Osayi-Samuel’s improvement, Davies said: “I remember a conversation I had with him in January and it was along the lines of, ‘We need to work this out. We need to get you going.’

“As a manager, I always take responsibility for the progress of a player or lack of progress, because I play my part in that through either not selecting them or not getting the best out of them. I always look at myself first and us as a coaching staff and what we can do better, and I ask the players to do the same honest reflection.

“At the end of the season he started to feel the trust and got more regular game time. He’s actually gone from strength to strength.”

Osayi-Samuel has candidly admitted that his fitness levels fell below the requirement last season and he employed a personal coach to whip him into shape before pre-season started.

Defensively, he has been one of Blues’ best performers across their opening 11 Championship games with his recovery speed a great asset. He has won 24 tackles and recovered the ball 80 times.

But Davies has noticed Osayi-Samuel’s improvement in possession of late. An interesting statistic to emerge from Blues’ start to the season is that Osayi-Samuel has played more line-breaking passes (42) than anyone else.

“I have felt in the last two games a bit of a development in his game with the ball, and he’s shown real confidence on that side of things,” continued Davies.

“He wants to play and feel that regular belief, that’s helped him, but he’s shown an appetite to get better and I think he’s got a few levels to go. Playing in Turkey and at a good level in European competition, in some ways you could say the Championship is a step backwards, but it’s such a challenging league that it’s not really.”

The fact Osayi-Samuel has completed 90 minutes 11 times in Blues’ 13 matches across all competitions highlights his improved standing in the eyes of Davies better than any other measurement. He was only trusted to complete 90 minutes on eight occasions in the entirety of last season.

Davies added: “I don’t watch much Turkish football but I watch European games and they are different. I want a team with full-backs who are ready to jump up and press, to make overlapping runs, to sprint. I will demand more than most managers at this level in terms of the legs I want in the team and he’s had to adapt to that.

“He’s a bit of a unique player in his style. He’s not the most conventional in some of his movements and his play, but he finds a way to be really effective and that’s a fantastic trait to have. I’ve been really impressed with him this season.”

On the other side, Blues have another full-back who has significantly raised his level in Cochrane.

A year on from being given the runaround by Million Manhoef in a 1-0 defeat at Stoke City, Cochrane has proven himself to be one of the Championship’s best left-backs.

The 26-year-old isn’t as athletic as Osayi-Samuel, but he is a competent defender with a left foot that has been unlocking doors this season.

We all wondered how Blues would replace the creativity of Kai Wagner, who unexpectedly returned to Philadelphia Union in pre-season, but Cochrane has filled the void without fuss.

Cochrane has already registered two assists and created nine big chances for his teammates – more than double any other Blues player – having become the club’s designated set piece taker.

It is credit to Cochrane that Wagner’s exit hasn’t been mentioned once since the season started.

“One thing to say with him is that he’s learnt quickly and had to learn,” Davies commented on Cochrane. “Going from League One to the Championship is interesting. I was talking to someone the other day who’s got great experience in all the leagues and he was saying the jump from League One to the Championship is significantly bigger than the jump from the Championship to the Premier League.

“The first thing I noticed about the Championship was the wingers. In League One you had one winger, maybe one midfielder and you thought, ‘He’s a bit of a threat’, other than that there wasn’t anything there.

“In the Championship both wingers are usually decent or they’ve got multiple threats so I think Alex had to adapt very quickly to every game being a right challenge defensively.

“He was also carrying an overuse injury for the first several months of last season and in the end broke down from that injury.

“He has upped his level. He’s believing that he’s not just meant to be here, that he’s one of the best full-backs that can be in this league and I think he’s starting to play like that.

“He’s got my trust because of what he gives, how professional he is and he’s a leader. He knows what’s required to win."

The evidence suggests Blues have upgraded both full-back positions without spending a penny in the summer.