Midfield duo could set the platform for Gary’s plan

GARY Rowett comes with a reputation of being a good organiser, a trait he showed in his first tenure at St Andrew’s, and with a reputation for building solid teams. That’s certainly something he did at Blues first time round and also at Millwall in his last job.

Rowett has said he has come up with a plan about how to get the best out of the Blues squad, and will spend the international break trying to implement those changes.

But what might they be? Well, he spoke with BirminghamLive’s Keep Right On podcast at the end of last year, when Wayne Rooney was trying to change from John Eustace’s more pragmatic style, and his comments give an insight into what he might try to do now.

It’s only fair to point out the interview was done in a different context, but Rowett’s admiration for two Blues players in particular might be instructive even now.

As a basic principle he feels management is about ‘trying to not take players out of their comfort zone too far and trying to do something that they can build their confidence doing’.

That could see Krystian Bielik – when fit – and Ivan Sunjic restored to the middle of the park, hinting towards a 4-2-3-1.

Rowett said: “If you’re going to try and take on Leeds and Leicester in a passing game, you probably are always going to lose that.”

Rowett then drew on his own experiences of facing Eustace’s Blues at St Andrew’s in a 1-1 draw in September: “The first thing that struck me when we played them, they have got good energy, they’ve got good athleticism.

“Particularly one of their strengths early season, watching them play Sunjic and Bielik in the heart of midfield, I think just gave them a little platform.

“If you’re asking them play higher up the pitch, I didn’t think that was probably their strengths.

“But I think they’re two players that can sit in there and give you a nice base. They’re probably going to sit a little bit deeper and you’re probably going to end up being a little bit of a counter attacking team because of the players you’ve got in the side.”