Rooney was a very controversial appointment due to the fact that the Birmingham hierarchy decided to sack John Eustace, who at the time of his sacking had two wins on the bounce and Blues in the top-six.
As well as this, the fact that Rooney’s only two previous jobs had been at DC United and Derby County didn’t help the overall feeling of him coming to the club.
The fact that, since he arrived, he has only won one league game in eight hasn’t filled supporters with much added confidence.
It is difficult for any manager to come in mid-way through a season, though, and the fact he has to use several players he didn’t sign in the summer surely hasn’t helped, and, furthermore, it looks like he may have to start benching some if he wants to see more points on the board.
Eustace had a very busy transfer window at the start of the campaign as he signed 12 players, which is why it was even more bizarre that so soon after he had built his full squad he was dismissed.
Rooney will have been using his early games in-charge to figure out what players suit his style of play. After his first two games, he decided to start Emanuel Aiwu, who had been loaned from Cremonese for the campaign.
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The 22-year-old has started every game since then, but it appears that he may not be up for the task after a nervy display in the 4-2 defeat to Blackburn Rovers.
He got a yellow card in the first half an hour, and he was far too deep for Blackburn’s first goal, allowing Sammie Szmodics to go through and finish; he wasn’t exactly helped by his goalkeeper, John Ruddy, either.
For the second goal, he let Szmodics run off him, allowing all the space in the box to get his shot off. After these two mistakes, he was dragged off just after the hour mark.
