Birmingham’s Rowett: I can play both these players

Gary Rowett says he is ‘100 per cent certain’ that Jon Toral and Diego Fabbrini can play in the same side, but it has to be in the ‘right circumstances’.

Following Fabbrini’s return to St. Andrew’s at the end of January, him and Toral have alternated, with one starting whilst the other sits on the bench.

They are considered to be two of the squad’s most creative and talented players, but many blues fans voiced their concerns about how playing them both at the same time might alter the shape of the side.
“It’s not that I’m not sure that they can play in the same team,” said Rowett. “I’m 100 per cent certain we could play them in the same team and I know exactly how we would do that. But it has to be the right game and it has to be the right circumstance.
“You have to remember we always play with two wingers. A lot of teams will maybe play with one winger and a midfielder one side.
“I’m surprised we haven’t scored more goals because we always play with a striker, a number 10 and two wingers.

“But I think if you were to add another ’10’ into that mix and take away one of your defensive midfielders then you’re certainly going to have to score goals because you’d be a little bit open when you lose the ball.

“I think there is going to be a time when it will be appropriate, but I’m not going to give that away at the moment.

 “But you could definitely play them both in the same team because they are both good footballers and I think with good footballers you want to get as many of them in the team, but it has to be the right circumstance.”

Meanwhile, Rowett also commented on the unfair treatment that Fabbrini has received from opposition players since he came back into the side

Certain players have looked to target the Italian, although Rowett insists that should result in Blues getting more space elsewhere on the pitch.

 “We saw that with Demarai Gray towards the end of his time with Blues,” continued Rowett. “Sometimes you would have two/three players across trying to block up space on his side of the pitch.
“I think players just have to be clever, don’t they? If a player is marked that closely there has to be space on the pitch somewhere else. That’s what good players have to do.
“If Diego takes a couple of players with him, or players are so preoccupied by his position that they have to get that tight to stop him playing, then that means that one of our other players are going to have space. And I think that’s where we are going to need to do better.
“We’ve seen more and more teams do that at home where they’ve sat on our number 10 because of the way we play. But I see that as a positive because if teams are looking at our players in that way then there has to be space somewhere else, but you’ve got to be clever enough to exploit that.
“When you watch Diego and Jon in training, they both get kicked from pillar to post every single day but they are pretty robust.
“I was never fortunate enough to be in that situation! Nobody ever kicked me because I had no tricks whatsoever, although I would have certainly kicked a few of those players, although that’s a compliment ultimately.”
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