Birmingham City suffered yet another defeat in the Championship last night.
Birmingham City succumbed to a 2-0 defeat away at neighbours Coventry City yesterday evening, handing Wayne Rooney a sixth defeat in nine games in charge of the club.
Blues drop a place into 16th with Coventry City leapfrogging them, leaving Rooney’s side just three points ahead of Huddersfield Town in 21st and seven ahead QPR in 20th.
Times are tough for Birmingham City and indeed for individual players too.
A number of players have slowly dropped off since Rooney came in, with summer signing and fan favourite Koji Miyoshi being one of them.
Koji Miyoshi criticised after ‘most lacklustre’ performance of season
Whilst the likes of Siriki Dembele and Jay Stansfield saw their form drop in Rooney’s early games, Miyoshi retained a level of consistency which further cemented his status as a fan favourite.
But even he is starting to put in some poor performances with last night’s at the CBS Arena one of his worst in a Birmingham City shirt.
Birmingham Live rated the 26-year-old’s performance as a 5/10, with journalist Alex Dicken adding:
“The Japanese playmaker produced one of his most lacklustre performances of the season. Miyoshi’s passing is usually so precise but his end product was poor when he worked his way into promising positions in the second half. It was no surprise to see Rooney take him off.”
Why is it going so wrong for Rooney at Birmingham City?
Just a couple of months ago, Birmingham City were a top six side.
Their players were performing well as a group and as individuals, and Miyoshi was one of several attacking players giving a new lease of life to the side.
But since Rooney replaced John Eustace, and drastically changed the style of play, Blues have dropped off.
It seems like this set of players simply isn’t built for the way that Rooney wants to play, but given the fact that he and the board are desperate to implement new methods, a reverse in style seems highly unlikely.
And it’s leaving players like Miyoshi and Dembele to name a couple, who are obviously gifted attacking players, in a poor vein of form and struggling to shine in this new system.
Something has to give at some point. But given the board’s bold decision to sack Eustace and bring in Rooney, and with January around the corner, it seems like the players might have to give before the manager does.
Up next is a trip to Cardiff City on Wednesday night.