Birmingham City's Chris Davies Defends Luis Vazquez's Viral Miss

Chris Davies is not interested in the memes.

While social media gleefully replayed Luis Vazquez’s miss at Derby County from every angle, slowing it down, stitching it into compilations and comparing it to the great howlers of Roger Davies and Ronny Rosenthal, the Birmingham City head coach saw something else entirely – a moment to protect his striker, not punish him.

‘A freak’ – and a line drawn

To everyone else, Vazquez’s late miss in the 2-1 win at Pride Park was a viral clip. To Davies, it was an anomaly.

“He could do that 100 times and score 100 goals,” he told BBC Radio WM, brushing it off as “a freak”.

No rebuke. No public shaming. Just a manager making it clear that one wild moment will not define the 23-year-old Argentine, who is still waiting for his first league goal for Blues.

“He’s a tough cookie. He’s shown no signs of fragility,” Davies said. “I made a point to talk to him straight after the game last Saturday. And, when he scored a good goal in training this week, he got a big cheer from the lads.”

That detail matters. A striker who has not yet started a league game, who has been used only from the bench, finally sees the chance to open his account, only to miscue in front of an open goal. That can bury a player if the dressing room turns cold. Instead, his team-mates roared when he hit the net at the training ground.

The message inside the camp is clear: the miss lives online, not in this squad.

A striker desperate for lift-off

Vazquez is still waiting for that first competitive strike in a Birmingham shirt. Last weekend’s miss would have wiped the slate clean in an instant. It didn’t. The wait goes on.

“He’s so desperate to score,” Davies admitted. “And we so want him to score. As soon as that first one goes in, it will all be forgotten about.”

That is the tension around St Andrew’s as Middlesbrough arrive on Saturday. A forward itching for a breakthrough, a fanbase that has seen the clip a hundred times, and a manager determined to keep his faith unshaken.

The narrative is obvious. If Vazquez’s next big chance falls in front of the Tilton, how heavy will the ball feel?

Strong away, searching at home

While the Vazquez miss grabbed the headlines, Birmingham’s broader picture under Davies is quietly promising.

Seven points from a possible 12 on the road – at Sheffield United, Wrexham, Norwich City and Derby County – underline a side that travels well. One defeat in those four away games, at Carrow Road, is the only blemish.

Home is a different story. St Andrew’s has not yet seen a league win this season. Bristol City, Southampton and Wolves have all escaped with draws, each time Birmingham having to settle for a share of the points: 2-2, 1-1, 2-2.

Davies knows that has to change. The away resilience has bought him credit, but not immunity.

Even so, he is content with the trajectory, especially given the fixture list that greeted him.

“We’ve got the same amount of points as we did this time last season, but we’re a better team,” he said. “We’re more of an attacking threat, but we also look a bit more solid and more of a team.”

That last line is telling. Results matter, of course, but managers live and die by the feeling that a group is taking shape, that patterns are bedding in, that the work from Monday to Friday is visible on a Saturday.

Identity built on commitment

Davies does not pretend Birmingham are the finished article.

“There’s still room for improvement in a few areas,” he admitted. But he is not apologising for the foundations he is laying.

“Our love of defending is clear to see. It’s as good as scoring a goal. That takes you a long way. So much gets talked about systems but you can’t get away from commitment.”

That is the spine of his argument. Shape, tactics, rotations – all of it comes second to the willingness to run, block, compete. He wants a side that relishes the ugly work as much as the pretty patterns.

Birmingham have already shown flashes of that dual identity: more adventurous going forward than last season, yet, in their manager’s eyes, more secure and more unified without the ball.

Now comes the next test. Can they turn sturdy performances into home wins? Can they transform a viral miss into the moment that hardened a striker and tightened a squad?

Middlesbrough will find out soon enough whether that “freak” at Derby was just a clip for the internet, or the spark that lit something inside this Birmingham team.