Birmingham City earned their first win under Wayne Rooney last weekend, beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at St Andrew’s.
Birmingham City are finally off the mark under Rooney following a hard-fought, comeback win against bottom club Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.
It was a real must-win for Rooney who’d taken just one point from his opening five games in charge, and who currently finds his side sitting in 16th place of the Championship table.
The Owls certainly made things hard for Blues. But Birmingham City scored a quickfire equaliser after going a goal behind, with Juninho Bacuna firing him a volley from the edge of the box.
Juninho Bacuna’s ‘incredible talent’
Bacuna is a huge favourite among the Blues faithful.
There was a concern that he’d picked up an injury whilst on international duty with Curacao earlier in the month, but the 26-year-old started and shone vs Sheffield Wednesday.
And he’s since drawn praise from Danny Cowley who previously managed Bacuna at Huddersfield Town.
Speaking on talkSPORT’s EFL All Access podcast, the former Huddersfield, Lincoln City, and Portsmouth boss said of Bacuna’s goal vs Wednesday:
“Wow. What a volley that was. He’s a boy that Nicky (Cowley) and I worked with at Huddersfield, and got incredible talent. Real unbelievable ability and certainly if Wayne can harness that and get the best out of him, he’s a match-winner.”
How can Rooney get the best out of Bacuna at Birmingham City?
Bacuna is certainly a player in this Birmingham City side who has the skillset and the attributes to be a really key player for Blues.
He had a good campaign last time round, albeit with inconsistent spells in there, and he’s started this season relatively well too.
The change in managers though, and the subsequent change in styles won’t do attacking players like Bacuna too many favours, as he’ll have all new styles to learn.
But playing on either the left or right of an attacking midfield three seems like Bacuna’s best position right now.
Rooney has other names like Koji Miyoshi to fit in, and Jay Stansfield too who seems to be still finding his best role under Rooney, but if the Blues boss can figure it out then he’ll have a fearsome front line.
Up next for Birmingham City is a trip to Blackburn Rovers tonight.