‘A Transitional Season For Blues’ – The Lowdown On Birmingham City
- Birmingham Mail journalist Alex Dicken provides an overview of Birmingham City’s current standing
- The Blues have struggled for form under new manager Wayne Rooney, winning just twice
- They welcome Leicester City to St. Andrew’s Stadium this Monday (8pm GMT kick-off)
The Blues host Leicester City at St. Andrew’s Stadium on Monday evening looking to triumph in consecutive Sky Bet Championship matches for the first time since Rooney took charge of the Midlands club.
A 1-0 victory over Cardiff City in Wales on Wednesday, courtesy of Juninho Bacuna’s goal, offered encouragement that they may be turning a corner following a testing few weeks for the club.
“It’s been a very difficult start,” Dicken explained. “It's 10 games in now - two wins, two draws, six defeats. The first two games were very worrying, and Blues could have lost quite handsomely to Middlesbrough and Hull City but ended up conceding just three goals.
“Things didn’t really get a great deal better before the November international break. The draw against Ipswich was promising. They were 2-0 up with around 10 minutes to go, but there were signs in that game of the way Rooney wants to play.
“They beat Sheffield Wednesday but there were bad performances against Coventry and Rotherham recently and they could have quite easily lost both. They were fortunate to get a point and shot themselves in the foot at Blackburn with a really poor defensive display, conceding three goals.
“It’s only in the most recent game against Cardiff City where we’ve actually seen a style and structure which has worked under Rooney. It was quite a convincing 90-minute performance. They created more chances and could have taken those at a ground they’d never previously won at.
“It was easily the best performance of the Rooney era and has given them a little bit of a reprieve with some fans. It’s now just about replicating that consistently as he said after the game.”
A dramatic shift in the way Birmingham set up has led to some teething problems, but Dicken did identify some areas of improvement as the players get to grips with the style Rooney is looking to implement.
“He’s been trying to change the playing style and it’s been tough,” the reporter continued. “He’s probably tried to change too much too early. The style long-term will be something like [Enzo] Maresca’s at Leicester – an expansive game playing out from the back.
“It was clear in the early games that Blues don’t have players who are comfortable doing that yet. I expect there to be a lot of changes to the playing personnel. It’s very different to how they played under John Eustace.
“They were more of a counter-attacking team, defending quite deep with a clear back four and two sitting midfielders in [Ivan] Šunjić and [Krystian] Bielik, who were very effective. It was a low-risk strategy.
“They made good decisions and had decent attacking players to cause damage. Rooney went to a new style that caused Blues a lot of issues.
“They were giving goals away and didn’t look comfortable. John Ruddy has never really been that sort of goalkeeper. That sets the tone for the defenders. It has become a transitional season.”
Standout performers during the Rooney era, the likes of Welsh midfielder Jordan James, forward Siriki Dembélé and Fulham loanee Jay Stansfield will look to cause the Leicester backline problems come Monday night.
The journalist added: “Jordan James has really been a star under Rooney in a midfield role. He’s probably the one player whose game has gone to a different level straight away. He really suits this passing style that Rooney put in place.
“In the game against Cardiff, they used a 4-3-3 and he played slightly further forward as a box-to-box player and looked as good as he has in the deeper-lying role. He’s one to watch and only turned 19 in the summer.
“In the front three, Siriki Dembélé has been a bit of a star this season. He’s got five in the league and got two in a game against Blackburn recently. He’s a very good player on his day. Jay Stansfield is a great finisher, he’s finished off some lovely moves. He’s a very good attacking player on loan from Fulham.”