OWEN Coyle knows Championship managers and players complaining of tiredness less than two months into the season will cut little ice with supporters.

But, in a week in which Nottingham Forest head coach Philippe Montanier stated his side needed a break, Coyle does have empathy with one of his managerial rivals.

The Blackburn Rovers boss fielded the same starting XI for the third match running for the midweek home match with Sheffield Wednesday.

After watching what he firmly maintains was an undeserved 1-0 defeat, Coyle expressed his belief that some members of his side were lacking sharpness.

That is likely to lead to changes for tomorrow’s trip to Birmingham City for what will be Rovers’ seventh game in the space of 21 days.

“In terms of tiredness, it’s not just a physical tiredness, I think there’s that mental capacity as well,” said Coyle.

“Every one of us wants the players to be peaking mentally and physically in every game we play.

“But with the demands of the Championship, allied with cup competitions, that it is a big ask of players, especially because the game is played at such a frantic pace now. That’s why we sometimes look for that freshness in the team.

“Having said that we crave continuity and consistency of selection so it’s trying to get the balance.

“But I do understand the fans who ask, ‘how can you be tired?’ Fans are doing a real job. They’re the ones getting up at seven in the morning and grafting away all day.

“You look at it and think, ‘right, do we go again’, which we did on Tuesday, and we could easily have won the game.

“But because we didn’t you look at it in a different set of circumstances. That doesn’t mean, however, that they didn’t do well enough.

“We could have been that little bit sharper, yes, but we could have made five, six or seven changes and went and lost 2-0 or 3-0.

“It’s the old hindsight’s a wonderful thing. The bottom line is we didn’t get points from a game we could and should have.”

Coyle has no fresh injury concerns for the visit to Birmingham and he said: “We have players champing at the bit wanting to play.

“Danny Graham is desperate to start games, as is Wes Brown, as are some of the lads who just missed out on the 18 on Tuesday.

“That’s good for us because whoever comes in has to be ready to step in and show their quality.

“Darragh Lenihan has come in the last couple of games and done very well but he’s got to accept that Danny Guthrie and Corry Evans have been playing very well in the middle of the park.

“We’ve got real competition for places. I would much rather have that than everybody out of form.”

Birmingham are bang in form. They are unbeaten in six matches and have lost just once in the league.

And Coyle said: “They are a good side who are sometimes quite happy to soak up pressure and try to hit teams on the counter attack because they’ve got pace.

“We know we’re going to have to make sure our passing is incisive and quick and if we do that we’ve shown we can open team ups.

“But we’ve also got to be aware they come quickly on the counter attack.”