Boss Mick McCarthy says he understands why Bersant Celina, signed on loan for the season from Manchester City, is frustrated at not having made his league debut so far but points the Kosovo international, who has been unwell for much of his time with the Blues, towards the current Championship table with Town second on goal difference alone behind leaders Cardiff.
The 20-year-old’s only game for Town so far was the 2-0 win at Luton in the Carabao Cup and he will play at Crystal Palace in the same competition tomorrow.
McCarthy says he’s aware that the winger or number 10 is frustrated at not yet breaking into the first team for a Championship game.
"He is, he’s not happy about it, but I’ll send him a copy of the league,” McCarthy said. "And he’s been poorly for six weeks or something on and off.
"So, they can be be as frustrated as they want if they’re not in the team, but I’m not going to change it.
"There’s only one person that can have an effect on that when they’re out of the team, like Myles Kenlock did, like Bersant can.
"They can affect me by what they do and they affect me when they do it positively and they affect me in such an awful way when they annoy me by being sulky and not doing it properly, when they do get a chance not doing it properly. They get custard-pied completely then.
"But, by the way, he hasn’t done, but I know he’s getting frustrated, he wasn’t happy, he wants to be in the team. Well, everybody wants to be in the team. I haven’t met a player yet that doesn’t want to play.”
The Blues boss says Celina, who spent last season on loan with FC Twente in Holland, can get a good idea of what’s expected of him in terms of work-rate by watching Freddie Sears in action.
"For sure, I think there are one or two shining examples in my team, my squad,” McCarthy continued. "I’ve mentioned before, Luke Chambers played 46 games, every single minute of every game last year.
"How he played on having damaged his ankle as badly as he had on Tuesday night at Millwall is beyond me, I don’t know how he did it, I really don’t.
"Skusey, durable, consistent, plays there all the time, and the likes of Freddie, people like that. Even when he doesn’t score all the goals he never stops consistently running, harrying defenders, making it difficult for people. I think there are some really good examples for younger players to follow.”