Birmingham City's Lukas Jutkiewicz offers indirect response to Wayne Rooney outburst | OneFootball

Birmingham City striker Lukas Jutkiewicz has discussed where the club must improve under Wayne Rooney, appearing to back up recent comments made by the Blues' boss.

Rooney took over from John Eustace in October, but so far, has struggled to achieve results, winning just one of his eight matches in charge.

In the other seven, the Blues have drawn twice, and lost five times, leaving them sitting 15th in the Championship standings - nine places lower than when Rooney took over.

Jutkiewicz: Blues must perform in matches like in training

Speaking to the media about how the club can improve their current results, experienced striker Jutkiewicz suggested that players must step up in matches and perform how they do in training.

The 34-year-old explained, via BirminghamLive: “It’s all well and good us talking about how good it is on the training pitch, and it is, because people are really desperate to do well and they want to be part of the grand plans this football club has."

"If you want to be part of it you have to improve, and everybody has to improve, whether it’s the older players like myself, or the younger players.

"The most important thing is translating it into the match day to make sure we can get results as well as playing good football.”

Rooney: Birmingham City need to grow a pair

As touched on above, Jutkiewicz's comments appear to indirectly address Wayne Rooney's recent outburst regarding his players and 'growing a pair'.

The Blues boss was furious last weekend following their 0-0 draw with Rotherham and called for his players to step up and perform in matches in front of crowds as they had been on the training patch.

“I think some players in there need to grow a pair of balls, basically, because I’m watching what they do in training and the minute there is fans out there they become a different player, a different person,” fumed Rooney last weekend, via BirminghamLive.

“That is football. You are going to have to play in front of fans, wherever you play.

“It is okay doing things on the training pitch but you have to take that into the games. We are still a young team but then the leaders in the team… that’s where Jukey (Jutkiewicz) has been brilliant. He is frustrated he doesn’t play all the games but you can see he is a leader, he is talking in there.

“But there are some players who have got enough experience to stand up and be leaders. They are trying but it’s silly errors, decision making. Game management is a big part of the game we need to improve on.”

Can Birmingham City improve under Wayne Rooney?

Of course, the Blues have some good players at their disposal, and their recent run of form does not reflect that.

Everyone at the club must come together, though

That includes the manager, the players and the supporters.

Realistically, Wayne Rooney isn't going anywhere any time soon, so either he gets it right, or the club are in for a really painful season.