Journalist Alex Dicken says this new-look Birmingham City style doesn’t suit one player.
Birmingham City have now played 11 games under Wayne Rooney.
The former England man has taken just two wins from those 11, and two draws, with seven defeats to his name as Blues boss so far.
But in the last two games, Birmingham City look like they’ve turned a bit of a corner.
An impressive and much-needed 1-0 win at Cardiff City last week was followed up by an impressive performance in the 3-2 defeat vs Leicester City on Monday night.
There’s definitely signs of change and signs of the players starting to get a feel for the way that Rooney wants them to play.
But one man is seemingly struggling to adapt to the changes; Krystian Bielik.
‘It’s just not working’ for Krystian Bielik right now
Bielik was one of Blues’ best players last season. He featured 35 times in the Championship and when he wasn’t playing, Birmingham City looked a lot weaker.
And despite some serious injuries in recent seasons, he seems to be back to his fittest having now played in 21 of Blues’ 22 Championship fixtures so far this season.
But he’s not impressed all that much.
Despite still being a favorite among most supporters, some of his recent performances have come under criticism, and having his say on the 25-year-old, journalist Alex Dicken said on the Keep Right On podcast:
“One of the things that we both really like about him is that he’s 6ft 4in, in front of the two central defenders he mops up so much aerially, as well as on the ground. His positional play is very, very good in that respect… I suppose physically, he’s not the most mobile player in the world when the ball does get turned over, he struggles to get back into position; that’s not because of a lack of effort.”
Dicken added:
“He’s got to obviously adapt to the way that Rooney wants to play. At the moment, it’s just not working and I’d be interested to see if he actually keeps his place at Plymouth.”
How can Wayne Rooney get the best out of Bielik?
Bielik is obviously a player with great quality at Championship level.
He showed that last season under John Eustace and he’s proved it to Rooney at Derby County in the past as well.
But being such a defensive-minded midfielder, playing in this more front-foot and attacking-focused side seems to be leaving the likes of Bielik behind.
Rooney is asking him to play in a role that he’s not that used to and so Bielik has certainly struggled to adjust his game, so it could be a case of Rooney finding a new role for him.
He’s got good defensive qualities and aerial quality like Dicken says, so he could yet make for a good centre-back, or he could be better utilised as a midfielder who solely sits in front of the defence.
The likes of Jordan James and Ivan Sunjic are more mobile and better-able to play further up the pitch, but finding a balance that suits all three and gets the best out of them will be tricky.
But Rooney seems to be getting a bit more out of his players right now, and it should be an interesting game away at managerless Plymouth Argyle this weekend.