Leif Davis is currently the only fit left-back at the club, but the Town defender has declared he is feeling good physically after the opening three matches of the season.

The 25-year-old, who has committed his future to the Blues amid reported interest from Nottingham Forest, missed the pre-season friendly at AJ Auxerre on the eve of the season with a hip injury but started both of Town’s opening two league games and last week’s Carabao Cup clash with Bromley.

Davis came off at half-time in a pre-planned substitution in south London while he has completed the full 90 minutes in Championship draws with Birmingham City and Southampton, something the left-back knows he is required to do with limited numbers in his position.

“I’m feeling good,” he said. “I’ve completed two 90s and a 45 which I’m pleased with. I didn’t feel tired in any of the games either, which means I’ve done everything I can to be ready for the season.

“I know for a fact I can keep pushing when the season starts kicking in even more with the Saturday-Tuesday games.

“I know that’s my type of football where I can just run people into the ground Saturday and Tuesday nights. I’ve felt like I’ve started well so I’ve just got to keep driving and pushing on.”

Conor Townsend’s pre-season injury has dealt a major blow to the Blues’ depth in the left-back position, with Townsend expected to be out for the rest of the season with an ACL problem on which he has undergone successful surgery.

Davis was keen to express his disappointment at the former West Bromwich Albion man’s misfortune for both the impact he has on and off the field.

“I’m gutted for Conor,” he said. “An unbelievable person, an unbelievable player. He pushes me harder every day in training and I’m going to miss that. But it’s football, stuff like this happens and I’m absolutely gutted for Conor.

“As a person, I love him. He’s always there for me, last season if I had a bad game he would always come up to me and keep my head up and keep pushing me.

“I’ve got to be available every game I can be because I’m really the only left full-back at the minute that is fit. I know I’ve got to step up to the challenge and try and do everything I can to knock off the 90 minutes every game.”

During pre-season, Davis was often seen moving into midfield from the left-back position in a tactic that has not yet been utilised in competitive outings under Kieran McKenna.

“It was one that shocked me, to be fair,” the former Leeds United defender said of the experiment. “When I first came back for pre-season, the manager said he can probably improve me as a player.

“Playing more positions can make you a better player instead of just getting the ball on the touchline and crossing it in. Also, it helps out Jaden [Philogene] as well, who is a very good one-v-one player.

“If I’m in the middle, it leaves him one-v-one to get at the full-back. I like it in there, you get a lot of the ball, I can probably score and get on the end of more crosses in that area as well.

“That’s one thing that will take time, it doesn’t just happen overnight me getting used to that position so it will take time.”

New signings have arrived at the club this summer, with Azor Matusiwa adapting to life as a Championship midfielder having never previously played in England.

Davis stressed it will take time for new additions to settle in, but is in no doubt about the quality that some of the Blues’ acquisitions during the transfer window possess and compared the current group to the squad that were promoted two years ago.

He said: “Azor especially is a very, very good player. He even said to me he didn’t realise how quick the Championship was but he’ll soon get used to it. It will take time but 100 per cent we’ll start getting the results.

"That’s football for you, but the team we’ve got now is probably as strong as we’ve ever had. We’ve just got to stick together as a team and work together as a team.

“People come and go, that’s their choice and we wish them all the best, but the players that come in know they have to do the job to fill the role as well.

“We had good players back then but I think we’ve got better quality now. We had players that worked hard, ran hard and knew how to play with each other.

“The team two years ago was incredible but I think we’ve got that little bit more grit in the team to push on and know what we can do this year.”

On his own performance levels, Davis added: “Last year I personally didn’t think I was good enough for what I knew I could do. This year I want to get back to the level I know I can be and what I was like in the Championship the last time.

"I know what I can do in this league, I’m just pushing myself and I’m fully committed to everything I do at the club.”

Photo: Matchday Images

TownSupporter added 10:01 - Aug 19 Hopefully we see promotion season Davis soon. Has been ok, but not at how we know he can play so far.
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Rimsy added 10:09 - Aug 19 Good man. Well on the way to becoming a proper Town legend.
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Gforce added 10:40 - Aug 19 "The team we've got now is probably as strong as we've ever had". With Taylor in the centre,I don't think so !
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BlueArmy999 added 10:43 - Aug 19 Nice one Leif. Happy to have him stay and glad to hear he is committed to this club despite rumours. Would love to see him cut inside into the no.10 area like he did in pre season. So gutted for Townsend, great player, didn’t let us down at all last season when relied upon. P
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flykickingbybgunn added 10:44 - Aug 19 Thank goodness for that. Stay fit Leif
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Bazza8564 added 11:11 - Aug 19 Great to read about the new tactical shift, suspect we will see that when the oppo aren't so strong right sided and in home games when they are parking the bus a bit more. Good player, didnt have a great season last up and this level seems more suited to him but he's been an absolute diamond for us over the years and he wasnt alone. Stay fit you fella, for everybody's sake!

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BlueWax added 11:23 - Aug 19 GForce I'm not the biggest Taylor fan but sometimes it's too easy to have a negative mindset about someone so I for one was very pleased with his performance on Sunday. He was bang at it and I hope he continues in that fashion as of course one swallow doesn't make a summer but fingers crossed, well done Tayls.
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PortmanTerrorist added 11:28 - Aug 19 Leif needs promotion and another year's growth and then not be left so exposed in the Prem next season. The fact he sees this and trusts this is so refreshing. Starting to think McKenna missed a trick not making him captain !
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bucket99 added 11:32 - Aug 19 He's very honest, isn't he? Looking forward to seeing the new role.
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Dissboyitfc added 11:37 - Aug 19 G force I agree, when I heard him say how strong the team is. We are weak and thin in areas and we need another 3 or 4 in ! Nice to hear the loyalty!
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TownSupporter added 11:40 - Aug 19 Leif coming inside only works if we have a left footed winger out there to keep the width. It wo t work otherwise in the Championship as we would too narrow with the full back and winger trying to go into the same space. You either need wide wingers with inverted full backs or inverted wi gets and wide full backs. Doesn’t work very well otherwise. Maximise creativity and width with having both full backs capable of overlaps so the wingers can go inside to drive at the box themselves or get into the box for crosses.

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Bluewhiteboy added 12:10 - Aug 19 Gforce been marked down but completely true, we are certainly weekend than last season. I don't think many would be to suprised by that, although level of decline with 3 of best players gone and a few others good players with limited additions. I think the biggest concern is that we don't look better than the team that got promoted (especially post the jan transfer window). I do believe we will sign at least 2 big players by close of this window and same again jan, if not I think even play offs will be a stretch.

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SamWhiteUK added 12:14 - Aug 19 Leif is such a mesmerising player to watch when it comes to stamina. He just doesn't slow down through the whole 90+ minutes. I think he was something like the 2nd or 3rd quickest player in the Premier League last year. Crazy attributes to have - it's paramount we keep him fit.
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Westover added 12:15 - Aug 19 Great person and a future legend IMO.
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Bluedocker added 13:04 - Aug 19 Still say we should have gone in for Brandon Williams for back up..
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Dissboyitfc added 13:22 - Aug 19 Bluedocker lot of stuff going on with I believe, maybe not the required ingredient!
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darkhorse28 added 13:23 - Aug 19 Wish people would leave Taylor alone.., works his socks off, very good player at this level, played out of position. He’s never played in that role, for a reason, it doesn’t suit any of his qualities, his engine, his ability to break the lines, and an eye for a goal.., literally every strength he has is a different role to the one he’s playing. Why don’t we evaluate why he’s been asked to do it, we spent a lot of money on lots of players, and he’s got to play there because we have ONE CDM for 50 odd games. Where our manager always likes to play 2.., in fact every game I’ve seen we play too. It’s the strategic planning, the talent ID. The recruitment and contingency aspects that are to blame.., and he’s responsible for none of them. Even if Ashton and McKenna we’re 100% convinced we’d stay up, and Phillips was the answer, with Sam and Mass 34 and 35, it’s been a bizarre way to go about squad building ling term. Our one player in that position, looks a good buy, easy to see his quality and potential, but he’ll obviously need patience too. Effectively we have no players ready for what are probably the two most important roles in a McKenna team.., at best it’s certainly unusual. Jack can’t be coached for that role, he’s just not comfortable on the half turn, and that’s not his fault. It’s like Jack Clarke is really struggling to invert when his strength is getting wide. McKenna is clearly a talented coach, but seems to want to develop players in ways that perhaps isn’t ever going to work.., it mitigates their strengths and it’s not really what a team dynamic is about. Could talk about Sam Morsy all day .., what he can’t do. But we okayed to his strengths, and mitigated his weaknesses, and that’s what successful teams do. At sitting, breaking up play, leading, organising, taking the ball under pressure, starting our attacks with simple ball retention. He was the best we’ve had in over a decade. Jack Clarke can’t invert, Leif can’t get goal side, Taylor can’t play CDM. We play to their strengths.., get Leif wide and forward, get Clarke chalk on his boots, Taylor sadly doesn’t fit any McKenna role.., and again, that’s in the club, why sign him if we don’t have an 8? Jens will be interesting, he wants to be further forward and in the ball, and that might be a bigger problem than even last year, because there’s even less time in this league.., his quality like Philogene and Clarke, needs a ball to play with. No idea how we win and retain possession and start to control games with this group. Young is probably the best at reading the game and keeping possession.., and he’s 40, that’s not a green flag. We’ve built a team of talented players. But (so far) it’s not a team that will ever get close to fulfilling the sum of its parts.., 23/24 the took pleasure in being a team, round legs in round holes.., Massimo like a duck to water for CDM he was born for it!!! They were everything this group isn’t in terms of team dynamics. Teams get promoted, quality a bit less so …, that’s why a Leeds and possibly even Southampton sides, with more quality, were left in our wake. We have more quality. We are light years away from being a better team. I’d put my life on 23/24 to kick this group in to cocked hat.., 14/15 would have more desire, belief, desire, and quality too. A quality striker and CDM in the next week or so and that could all change though.., aww for Mcburnie.., 5 goal contributions in his first 2 games.., and WANTS to win above everything. He’d run his granny over for 3 points, probably after a drink (unfortunately) - we need players who want to sweat blood for 3 points.., we simply don’t have it. Johnson, Clarke, Philogene, Ogbenne, even Jens, they don’t .., no doubting their quality, but you need to run through walls before you can play in this league.

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darkhorse28 added 13:33 - Aug 19 Also love Leif to bits, and I get that inverting him creates space.., but I’d note, Leif has maybe the worst right foot in football, it’s for standing on, when inverted, it’s even more of a problem, he won’t even give a simple pass on his right. I get the tactic. It just doesn’t work with our players and their strengths. Get Leif wide where he literally broke the league record for assists!!! And if Phil or Clarke need chalk on their boots, get the over load. It’s like we have to over think the coaching and Leif isn’t as two footbed as Rico Lewis etc who can do that. We don’t need to over complicate things…, we don’t even need to get players to be more dimensional and test attributes they don’t have. We have the quality, to play to players strengths and do MUCH better results wise than trying to be Pep and PSG. No crime to have zero right foot.., Ashley Cole was even worse and he did ok.., but then his coach didn’t make it his life’s work to prove he could ‘build a better player’ Football is a simple game. McKenna is a football obsessive, a coach first and last…, we have massive gaps at the club, off the pitch, that’s now obvious. That’s Leif and Jack Clarke who talk endlessly about learning new things, whilst not getting the basics right of what they’re actually brilliant at. That’s not a coincidence.

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Monkey_Blue added 14:42 - Aug 19 People forget that McKenna had 6 months with most of the league one squad to get them working how he wanted. Most of the championship squad had worked with him for more than a year. The amount of changes last summer and the amount we will probably end up with this summer as first teamstarters means and have to be patient. Omari took several months to be a regular starter. This is why players like Davis are so crucial

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BobbyBell added 14:54 - Aug 19 I would rather see Clarke or whoever is wide left coming inside and threatening the defence and pulling the full back in with them to allow Davis to overlap in free space. I you run at a full back and cut inside then he has to go with you. Too often the wide men face a full back and then play the ball back but I rather see them run the full back either inside or outside to keep them guessing. Stopping and playing the ball back just gives the full back an easy time.

1

del45 added 15:32 - Aug 19 Darkhorse28 do you write books?
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wischip added 16:31 - Aug 19 It's a new dawn, It's a new day It's a new life, For me, And I'm feeling good There's a new song for Leif in there somewhere. But I can't think of it.
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Scringe added 16:44 - Aug 19 del45 I think he just has
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armchaircritic59 added 18:01 - Aug 19 darkhorse28, posts are always interesting even I don't often agree with the content ( sometimes I do, for some of them! ), it's what the website is about, opinions, hopefully expressed politely. One thing I don't agree with you about is " Jack Clarke not getting the basics right " etc. In my opinion there's a good reason for that. He was signed as a chalk on boots wide left player. He's frequently being asked to do anything but that. If you want a wide right player then sign one! If I really need a shirt, I don't buy a pair of trousers! The curse of modern day managers, they love square pegs in round holes. If a player is genuinely equally as good in more than one position, fine. If not, play one in his proper position, give him a proper run of games. If that doesn't work, get another one, and blame whoever bought the player to the club in the first place, not the player himself. Oh and I thought LD was our best player Sunday, a couple of others did well too, AM especially.

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