Birmingham City are really falling behind under Wayne Rooney, who looks set to make yet more changes to his side tonight.
Birmingham City host Bristol City in their final game of 2023 tonight.
It marks the end of another turbulent year for Blues, though this season started as one full of hope and optimism following the club’s takeover and subsequent strong start to the season.
But since John Eustace was sacked and Rooney was hired, Blues have fallen well off.
The club has gone from 6th to 19th under Rooney, with Blues now looking a million miles away from challenging for a potential promotion to the Premier League.
And the defence has been particularly poor under Rooney, conceding 27 goals in his 13 games in charge compared to 11 in Eustace’s opening 11 games of this season.
Rooney tipped to make defensive changes for Bristol City
Last time out, Blues were thumped 3-1 at home by Stoke City.
It was yet another torrid defensive display for Birmingham City who, in fairness, are low on numbers due to injuries, with Manny Longelo, Marc Roberts, Dion Sanderson, and Emmanuel Aiwu making up the back four, but coming under criticism after the game.
Skipper Sanderson has been a talking point over the past few weeks; he started the season well but under Rooney, he’s been very poor, whilst summer signing Aiwu has been hit and miss among the fans, playing in a number of roles so far.
So with few options to rotate and freshen things up at the back, Rooney might have to try something news.
Could Krystian Bielik be the answer to Birmingham City’s defensive woes?
Bielik, like Sanderson, has faced criticism this season.
The 25-year-old is under-fire, with journalist Alex Dicken recently saying that it’s simply not working for Bielik under his former Debry County boss Rooney this season.
His main criticism is that he’s too slow and not able to properly compete in this new-look, fast-paced Blues side.
But the former Arsenal man remains a hardened player who is good in the air, winning 2.5 aerial duels on average per game this season (66% of his aerial duels, as per Sofascore).
Bielik then could well be a better option at the back than one of Roberts or Sanderson, but given his lack of mobility, Rooney would have to cater to his weaknesses and strengths.
Potentially deploying a back-three with Sanderson and Bielik winning the battles and starting attacks, with the more mobile and pacy Roberts playing as a sweeper could work, and having two wing-backs running up and down the flanks could suit the attacking mantra that Rooney is trying to don.
Expect the Birmingham City boss to keep on trialing new set ups and selections as he vies to turn his fortunes around.