Wayne Rooney issues ‘concerning’ message after disastrous home Birmingham City debut

Birmingham City manager Wayne Rooney has pinpointed the most concerning aspect of his side’s disappointing 2-0 defeat to Hull City. The new boss has plenty to work on in training anyway given Blues put on a quite frankly terrible display, but one period of the match was particularly worrying.

Rooney was booed off the field after his side failed to create much of a contest on his home debut, allowing Hull to walk away with an easy victory. As soon as the Tigers went 2-0 up the Birmingham heads appeared to go down and it got progressively worse as the second half approached its end.

“For me, the worrying thing was the last 10 minutes. We conceded the second goal and we didn’t look like scoring. I was concerned with the lack of effort in the last 10 minutes,” Rooney admitted in the post-match press conference.

“I’ve said to the players, listen, if you don’t feel comfortable and don’t feel like you can do it, tell me. We can adjust, we can adapt to that. I’ve asked them to be honest with me. There were some positives from the game and a lot of things we can improve on,” Rooney said.

It was a nightmare St Andrew’s bow for the former Manchester United and England captain but the request for the fanbase is to keep patient with him and the change of system. “It’s only been two weeks. It’s not going to happen overnight,” Rooney concluded.

Birmingham will be eager to bounce back this Saturday as they head out on the road to face Southampton. A win as underdogs could soar Blues back into the top six but another defeat would likely drop Rooney’s men well into the bottom half.