Wayne Rooney claimed his first win as Birmingham City boss on Saturday, beating Sheffield Wednesday at St Andrew’s.
The visit of bottom club Sheffield Wednesday presented Rooney with his first must-win game as Birmingham City boss.
He went into yesterday’s game at St Andrew’s without a win in five and with just one point from a possible 15.
But he and his players got the win.
It wasn’t easy, though. Wednesday made it hard work for Blues who had to come from a goal behind, scoring through Juninho Bacuna and substitute Jordan James.
There were some good individual performances for Blues, with two coming from Krystian Bielik and Siriki Dembele.
Both were key players under John Eustace but both had seen their form drop under Rooney, with both losing their place in the XI and coming under criticism going into the international break.
Back to their best
But Bielik and Dembele both gave a good account of themselves yesterday; and, according to journalist Alex Dicken, their best performance of the Rooney era so far.
Writing for Birmingham Live, Dicken said:
“Bielik and Dembele were restored to the line-up against Wednesday and both produced their best performances under Rooney. Bielik was commanding as the pivot in Blues’ midfield, while Dembele sprinkled star-dust in attack.
“For the first time under Rooney, Bielik didn’t look completely exposed in midfield whenever Blues conceded possession. The return of the brilliant Lee Buchanan – who was Rooney’s man of the match – no doubt contributed to that.”
More of the same from Birmingham City
This first win for Birmingham City will do the player and Rooney a world of good.
It was a much-needed win and it ease some growing pressures on Rooney during this early part of his tenure.
However, Blues will really need to up their game if they’re to get more wins. They go up against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Wednesday and with Blues having taken just four points on the road all season, another win will be hard to come by.
Having Bielik and Dembele in form will be key for Rooney, and he’ll be delighted that they both repaid the faith shown to put them back in the XI.
They performed well yesterday and on their day, they’re arguably Blues’ best players, so having them in form and confident is key to any success that Rooney and Birmingham City have this season.
Wednesday’s game vs Blackburn kicks off at 7:45pm.