Assistant manager Stuart Taylor believes Andre Dozzell is “technically fantastic” and is one of a number of very talented central midfielders at the club at present.

Dozzell, who scored the goal which set up Wednesday’s replay at Lincoln, has been in and out of the side this season and Taylor says, like anyone else, the midfielder needs to find consistent form.

“It’s the message to everybody,” he said. “The games are there. It’s just a case of churning them out and get through them.

“We’ve all got a goal here at the football club and everybody is exactly the same. Yes, there will be individual goals of playing as many games as they can, scoring as many goals as they can and getting as many clean sheets as they can.

“But ultimately we’ve all got the same goal which we all know what it is and it’s just a case of when they are in the team doing as well as you possibly can and helping achieve that goal and hopefully the success will be there at the end of the season and we’ll be happy with it.”

Reflecting on the 20-year-old’s ability, he added: “Technically he’s fantastic, he’s got an unbelievable left foot on him, but upstairs the intelligence he’s got for football is incredible.

“The passes he can see, he’s a couple of steps ahead of himself and knows what’s around the corner, knows how he wants to get the play up the pitch and then go and receive it to get on the ball again.

“Technically and in footballing intelligence, he’s very very good and I think he fits in well into the rest of the team because there are a lot of good players that play alongside him, and you can tell when he plays he really enjoys it because he wants to get the ball down and play it about.

“If we were a team that went back to front he wouldn’t enjoy it and you wouldn’t see the best out of him, he has to go and play in a team that plays football. But Andre’s certainly a top-class player.”

A number of observers - including ex-Blues and England midfielder and one-time U18s coach Kieron Dyer - have said Dozzell, who is currently away with the England U20s squad, desperately needs a run in the side.

“Everybody is the same, and everybody wants to go and play football,” Taylor continued. “Everybody wants to start, and if you don’t want to start games, then you shouldn’t be a footballer.

“He’s no different from anybody else, but you can only pick 11 players and you can only pick t10 outfield players as we all know, and it’s just a case of picking the players for that team for that game, which I think we’ve done quite well up until now. It’s just a case of long may that continue.

“Players have responded fantastically well to it and when they’ve been called upon they’ve done the job and at times you’ll keep your place through merit or it might be a case that the manager was going to change it anyway.

“But they’ve all responded really well to it and they’ve accepted it really well, and they know it’s the way forward. As I’ve said, it’s the bigger picture and the goal that we want to achieve at the end of the season and everybody has bought into it really well.”

In addition to Dozzell, the Blues management also have the likes of Alan Judge, Emyr Huws, Cole Skuse and Jon Nolan at their disposal for the central midfield roles, a nice headache for them to have.

“There’s a few more you’ve missed out there as well - Flynn [Downes] and Idris [El Mizouni],” he continued.

“There’s loads of talent there and nobody has ever doubted that it’s just a case of picking the right team to go and play that fixture and win the game, whether it be to go through to the next round or get the three points — the intentions are there to go and pick that right team.”

Regarding Huws playing back-to-back 90 minutes in the space of four days last week, Taylor said: “It’s massive. He’s got huge talent as we all know, but it was building him back up to where we wanted him to be, and it’s still part of the process of building him up.

“He’s gone and played back-to-back games which was massive for him and it was absolutely huge for us as a football club to have players of that talent on the football pitch.

“He’s one that’s going to go from strength to strength without a shadow of a doubt. He’s also a great influence on the pitch as well, it’s not just what he can do on the ball and certainly in and about the dressing room he’s very influential and great with the younger ones, and it’s great to have him back on board.”

Photo: TWTD

Toronto_Tractor added 18:07 - Nov 18 Cant see him kicking on in this team. Prob could do with a loan, but for some reason thats never discussed. Technical ability is not in doubt but he severely lacks confidence to dictate the play, demand the ball and put himself about. Still time for him though, he's only 20.
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hampstead_blue added 18:08 - Nov 18 I think we ought to get rid of Judge you know. We've got Huws coming back and lots of others to get in the team with youth and vigour.
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brian_a_mul added 22:52 - Nov 18 Dont forget Bish, another very talented midfielder. Cant see Bish making an impact this season. Could be moved on soon
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shakytown added 04:00 - Nov 19 Brian a mul. Forget Bish as he will be loaned or released. Just far to injury prone to make an impact.
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ArnieM added 09:39 - Nov 19 You could almost say we have too many players at the Club, because players can't get a run in the side can they. I'm sure this is part of the reason PL is making so many changes week on week - to give players a run out. But as we all know, one game ( or part of a game here and there), isn't enough for the individual to get up to speed and create understandings between other players in the team , because it's ever changing. There's s lot to be said for SBR use of such a small squad in that potential treble year . That team we extremely tight knit sand there were little “ teams” within the team all over the pitch . And it showed! I personally, hate this rotation shyte.

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Linkboy13 added 10:07 - Nov 19 I agree this rotation system is stupid the only time you make whole sale changes is when your in a relegation struggle. The team should be basically the same 8 or 9 players every week allowing for injuries and loss of form. I know we are doing well at the moment but any one who's played the game can see the performances are very disjointed because of these constant changes. And why is Paul Lambert so worried about playing two games a week when he's got such a big squad.

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BurleysGloryDays added 13:58 - Nov 19 Dozzell a great player, needs to continue to build strength and presence but we need to sign him up, he's part of the future of the club imo. Rotation will pay dividends IN THE SECOND HALF of the season, guys, please don't be so short sighted. We will have fresher legs long after other teams start the inevitable burnout. Please, have respect for our manager's decision making. He's done this all this life. Fans stick to supporting through thick and thin. That's what we're good at.

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Carberry added 16:07 - Nov 19 If he's that good why isn't he playing week in week out. And if he's a confidence player then he definitely needs a good run of games. Burley, 'have respect for our manager's decision making. He's done this all this life' and done it rather unsuccessfully - that's why he's managing in League 1.
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Linkboy13 added 17:00 - Nov 19 Spot on Carberry how much longer have we got to wait for this technically fantastic talent to perform.
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