Birmingham City are winless in five games under Wayne Rooney, and some changes to the team selection may well be around the corner.
Birmingham City have lost four of their opening five games under new boss Rooney.
He took charge of the club during the last international break in which John Eustace left them in 6th place of the table.
Blues are now in 18th after a 3-1 defeat at Sunderland last time out, in which a number of players put in poor individual performances; one being Dion Sanderson.
‘Overworked’
Sanderson joined Birmingham City on a permanent deal in the summer and has since played every minute of every competitive game for Blues this season.
He started well under John Eustace and looked like he could be the club’s signing of the season, though under Rooney it’s been a different story.
The 23-year-old has looked a shadow of his former self with his performance vs Sunderland perhaps being his worst of the season so far.
Journalist Alex Dicken rated his performance a 5.5/10, adding:
“The Blues captain isn’t getting everything right, but he is trying to adapt to Rooney’s way. Sanderson showed his ability to spot a pass in the first half, but his execution suited neither Miyoshi or the overlapping Laird.
“Sanderson then had the misfortune of scoring an own goal underneath his crossbar in the second half. He is still Blues’ best defender, albeit a bit overworked these days.”
Rooney has a decision to make on Dion…
Something has to change for Rooney at Birmingham City, and soon.
He’s set the players individual fitness regimes for this month’s international break, though what results that might garner remains to be seen.
And what Sanderson’s individual fitness plan might be also remains to be seen; like Dicken says, he’s perhaps overworked at the minute, being asked to play in this new and more forward-thinking system under Rooney, but having also played every single minute of football for Blues this season.
Everyone at Birmingham City knows how good Sanderson is but right now, he’s not in form.
He’s the club captain and the leader of the defence, but the back line has been woeful under Rooney, with that defeat vs Sunderland the worst defensive performance that fans have seen all season.
The break comes at a good time for Blues and Sanderson. Rooney though has a big decision to make; drop his captain, or continue to put faith in him.
His last performance warrants being dropped and Marc Roberts may be the likeliest candidate to come in; he’s more experience and he could be fresher having barely played this season.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how Blues line up when they return to action vs Sheffield Wednesday later this month.