Lukas Jutkiewicz has been “banging on the door” to get a start in Saturday’s crucial matchup against Norwich City, pressing Gary Rowett.
If Birmingham City want to escape being demoted to League One, they must defeat the Canaries at St Andrew’s. After recovering to play 15 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Huddersfield Town the previous Saturday, 35-year-old striker Jerzy Jankiewicz is now keen to start the season’s penultimate game.
Rowett stated on Thursday that “he has already been banging on the door.” That provides all the information you require on Lukas Jutkiewicz. He has frequently saved this club, and he wants to do everything in his power to support it going forward.
Jutkiewicz has been involved in all of Blues’ final day brushes with relegation since 2014, when he scored for Bolton Wanderers before Paul Caddis saved the day in the 93rd minute. He was integral to the Blues sides that escaped relegation under Harry Redknapp and Garry Monk.
Marc Roberts, a former Blues player who made a comeback at John Smith’s Stadium last weekend, is another who has participated in far too many relegation battles over the years. Roberts and Jutkiewicz, who have both recovered from lengthy injury absences, provide some physicality to the Blues or, as Rowett describes it, a backup plan.
“With players like Marc Roberts and Jukey, it’s very clear to me that both are very good players and both give you an opportunity to do something slightly different within the game,” the acting head coach continued. Jukey has aerial presence, while Marc possesses the long throw. That alone doesn’t even begin to capture the depths of those two players, but it does give you an extremely solid backup plan.
However, they would most likely only be in the game for an hour or so. That equation is quite basic. Do you begin with Plan B and end up back at Plan A? Do you begin with Plan A and work your way down to Plan B? That is the actual state of affairs. I’ll have to make wise choices depending on what I’ve observed in training as well as what the game requires of me.
It offers us choices. The game will consist of three or four distinct scenarios that we have attempted to prepare in advance. They might endure 90 minutes, or I could get them through 90 minutes, if they had both been fit three or four weeks ago.
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