This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Time for a sort of celebration? Although there’s a little bit of a caveat to it all, so don’t start signing jubilantly just yet.
Lukas Jutkiewicz is set to make his 400th professional league appearance if he takes on Cardiff City this Saturday. Given that he has started every game for the Blues this season and has played 90 minutes in all but three of them (via Transfermarkt), barring any major incidents overnight, it’s safe to say that number is in the bag.
What’s been said?
And in preparation for such an event, Blues manager Pep Clotet has once again stressed just how important he is for the team, not just in terms of goals but for how he manages to bring other players into the game:
“It is critical for us because he creates a lot of space for us, he keeps the back line very far away from the midfield line, that allows us to use those spaces the best way we can. He is very smart so he creates the space where we need and I think his pressing ability is very good as well because he is smart.”
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Time for change?
As we have discussed on FFC, there are a number of ways that the club could go about helping Jutkiewicz to get a little bit more out of his game and as a result the team. One way is by bringing in more players to play off him so that the team can gain a greater impetus in attack.
If they aren’t going to go down that road though, there may be the need for them to make some drastic changes.
Clotet talking about how important he is brings us back to another talking point that we recently had in regards to Jutkiewicz, and that’s whether or not they are in fact too reliant on him to get goals.
If they aren’t going to change the formation to suit him as we’ve suggested, perhaps the talk in January shouldn’t be about bringing in a forward to play up front with him, but rather to replace him.
That isn’t to say Jutkiewicz is past it but he does need some extra help, particularly when a rest is required during midweek matches.
Not only will it save his legs and he’ll be able to perform throughout the whole season, but supporters won’t have to worry about him suffering from burnout towards the end of the campaign.
