View from the South – The Rooney era – a week on

I was intending to write this piece after our game against Hull but decided to reflect on what was a hugely deflating and disappointing watch. I didn’t want to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard feeling as I did on Thursday morning and as Friday came and went I decided to wait until after the Southampton game since whatever happened, my expectations were pretty firmly set and I would be stating my view from a level perspective and not letting emotion cloud my judgment.

As expected there has been considerable hot debate about Wayne Rooney’s first two games (or three depending on the game at Saints) and I confess I wasn’t able to go to any of them but I was able to watch the Hull game from the armchair. You don’t need me to tell you what a soulless experience that was with a gifted back pass and failure to stop an albeit good shot from distance for a dismal 2-0 defeat for our first loss at home this term. It was reminiscent of the days under Zola and it was this similarity that I wanted to focus on. Then, like now, a popular and seemingly successful manager, Gary Rowett had been sacked to bring in a big name. We were 7th in the league. In the case of Zola it was a disaster as his brief was to produce an attractive, fast flowing, exciting brand of football that frankly we didn’t have the players to execute. It was always going to turn out badly and it did as the team plummeted down the table into our usual perennial relegation scrap.

Fast forward to the present day and a popular seemingly successful manager who had brought the feel good factor back to St Andrew’s gets the old Spanish waiter with the team lying sixth! Deja vu anybody? The toxicity that has resulted compared to the optimism after the Baggies game is tangible and like many others I cannot understand the logic. However, here we are, the owners have decided on their strategy and Rooney has been appointed on a three and a half year deal. So pop-pickers, he ain’t going anywhere, any time soon so I would contend that we have to get behind the new manager and indeed the team if we are to prevent this season from completely unraveling before it has barely started.

I was talking to Will, someone whom my regular readers will know well from my match reports and he said something extremely poignant on Thursday morning after the game the night before. He said that the issue is not about the harsh, ruthless treatment of the likeable John Eustace or the incoming Wayne Rooney who many fans have taken an instant dislike to. No, the fundamental problem of all this is “TIMING!” Will made the point that if say come December, John Eustace had presided over a dip in form and had lost three or four games on the bounce with the January window approaching then Knighthead and CEO, Gary Cooke could easily have made the case for a change. I can guarantee that there would be a significant number of fans who would be calling for such a change after a run like that which was inevitable at some stage anyway and the rest of us would as likely as not been equivocally compliant. Then a new man doesn’t get the instantaneous blame if, as what has happened, he loses the first two or three as it would be seen as the legacy of his predecessor. Win a couple of course and he’s the best thing since the invention of the wheel. Given the present timing of events, a new man has a mountain to climb to win over the fanbase and prevent a hostile reception if the results aren’t immediately favourable. The simple fact of the matter is, all of this is not Wayne Rooney’s fault; that lies squarely with those that made the decision to sack John Eustace and bring Rooney in.

I understand that Rooney had a clear the air meeting with the players after the game on Wednesday and the players told him that they were uncomfortable playing as they had been asked to and requested that they go back to a similar system that they had had under John Eustace with a view to adapting over time to playing more expansively. I further understand that Rooney has taken their views on board and if that is the case it shows that he is learning good man and team management skills which hopefully will lead to an improvement in fortunes which is the only thing that will ultimately win over the fans. Hostility towards Wayne Rooney, whatever our feelings about the way his appointment has been handled will only serve to benefit the team’s opponents and not us. That much I can guarantee; Keep Right On!

As a postscript, the final whistle has just gone at Southampton to seal a predictable defeat. Yes, Saints first goal was offside, yes, Blues should have been awarded a penalty for a clear foul by the goalkeeper on Oliver Burke in the first half but frankly, we were outplayed by a far better side and 3-1 was about right. We did show some fight in the second half and scored the pick of the goals through Jay Stansfield but a very poor defensive performance snuffed out any hope near the end. It’s back to Groundhog Day after such a promising start to the season. It is difficult to see where our next point is coming from. The recovery of Ethan Laird and Lee Buchanan cannot come soon enough because our full backs have to shoulder much of the responsibility for the opposition’s goals today. Defensively, we are like a colander especially down the flanks.