Birmingham City head coach Wayne Rooney believes there were plenty of positives to take from his side’s 4-2 defeat to Blackburn Rovers.
Having replaced John Eustace at the helm back in October, the former Derby County boss has picked up just one victory so far in seven games in charge which came on Saturday in a 2-1 win at home to bottom-of-the-league Sheffield Wednesday.
Another loss at Ewood Park on Wednesday night dragged the Blues down to 16th, having been sixth when he took over just a few weeks ago. The Midlands club are now merely one point closer to the playoff places than to the relegation zone, with a massive game against Rotherham United to come later this week.
The game was locked at 0-0 last night but a quickfire brace from the league’s top scorer Sammie Szmodics and a goal from James Hill within the first 15 minutes of the second half blew the Blues out of the water.
However, a Siriki Dembele double of his own clawed Rooney’s side back into the game with over ten minutes remaining. Nevertheless, Birmingham City couldn’t find a late equaliser and Harry Leonard scored in stoppage time to seal all three points for the Riversiders.
Speaking in his post-match interview, Rooney criticised his players for “schoolboy” errors but admitted that his side were very good for large parts of the game [quotes via Birmingham Live]:
“The goals were very poor from our point of view.
“For large parts of the game we were very good and caused Blackburn a lot of problems. But the goals are schoolboy. Of course, I take responsibility for that but as defenders, goalkeeper, midfielders, we need to get better. We can’t keep allowing teams to score goals like that against us.
“I felt in the first half we really quietened their crowd and I told the players not to give them momentum and encouragement to get up, and we did the opposite. It’s hard to sit here and take the defeat after such a positive performance.”
Writer’s View
While it’s hard for supporters to analyse performances after defeats, Birmingham City did have more than double Blackburn’s shots on goal, recording 26 to the home team’s 11. However, both sides had the same number of shots on target and Rovers were far more clinical.
After Eustace was sacked, despite the team sitting inside the top six, pressure was always going to pile on Rooney quickly if things went west, which they have. The Manchester United legend needs to turn around Birmingham’s form and fast.
Deputy Head of Writing
