Wayne Rooney, Romelle Donovan and Keshi Anderson feature in Alex Dicken’s latest Birmingham City notebook
It appears as though Wayne Rooney’s tenure as Birmingham City manager is about to enter a pivotal four days.
Following the Boxing Day 3-1 loss to Stoke City, fan ire has reached a peak. To allay fears, the Blues must surprise either promotion-chasing Leeds United or an in-form Bristol City after their disastrous performance against the Potters.
On Friday night, Bristol City will play first at St Andrew’s. When Rooney performs on Tuesday again, he faces the wrath of the supporters who have shown him a lot of love thus far.
Blues supporters have shown incredible patience under Rooney’s leadership, as the team has only managed to score nine points out of a possible forty-nine. Rooney is well aware that if things don’t get better, that won’t continue indefinitely.
On New Year’s Day, Rooney will take over for John Eustace as manager of Leeds, who have not lost at Elland Road this season. This will be Rooney’s 15th game in that role.Ten losses out of fifteen would be disastrous for a team that hopes to play in the Premier League in the not-too-distant future, as Blues have lost eight of the first thirteen games.
Maybe it’s time for Donovan to
Romelle Donovan’s performance as a stand-in was the only solace found on Boxing Day.The 17-year-old was fantastic off the bench, setting up Jay Stansfield’s consolation goal for the Blues with a trick run that saw him trick two Stoke defenders.
Before deciding against it, Rooney came dangerously close to starting Donovan against Cardiff City.Before 2023 is out, Donovan might make his first senior start due to the growing number of injuries and the underwhelming play of the Blues’ forwards.
Rooney stated, “He is (close to starting).” “You base your decisions on both what you want to accomplish and what the opposition is saying. I really need to make a decision for the upcoming game based on not only his own on-field performances but also the performances of other players.
One should not rush Anderson.
Keshi Anderson has been missing from the Blues’ midfield for the last three months, and against Stoke, he finally returned to the field as a substitute. Anderson’s hamstring injury sustained on September 22 against QPR has prevented him from playing with his usual intelligence, inventiveness, and link play.
Though it would be ideal for all of us to see him in the starting lineup as soon as possible, Rooney will need to exercise caution when dealing with a player who has sustained a good deal of injuries recently. Anderson’s hamstring initially gave out against QPR due to a stretch of three starts in six days.
By mid-January, the 28-year-old hopes to be back in the Blues starting lineup. “Fortunately, the games come quite quickly over the Christmas period, so hopefully getting match minutes isn’t a problem,” he stated. Maybe we can rotate a few players for the FA Cup match.
“Hopefully, I can get some playing time during the upcoming games, and by mid-January, I should be back up to a spot where I could be a starter.” I hope that’s how the gaffer interprets it.
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