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Southampton inflicted a third successive defeat on new Birmingham City manager Wayne Rooney with a 3-1 thrashing at St Mary’s.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Carlos Alcaraz ensured Southampton’s dominance was reflected on the scoreboard at half-time. Backup Jay Stansfield cleared the Blues’ delay before Saints captain Adam Armstrong finished the scoring in the 85th minute.
The Blues conceded in 15 minutes for the second game in a row. Southampton didn’t even need nine minutes to make their dominance effective. The hosts worked a penalty corner for Adam Armstrong and he beat Cody Drameh before crossing for Harwood-Bellis to go home. on the six-yard line.
They were trailing 2-0 in 22 minutes. Kamaldeen Sulemana found Drameh’s area to pass the ball to Alcaraz. Just before, Oliver Burke had undulated the Blues’ side netting with his most productive attempt of the first half.
READ: Blues boss Wayne Rooney read to one of his own what they had for breakfast
READ: Cody Drameh Talks About City of Birmingham’s Problems and Sends Message to Ethan Laird
Burke proved to be the biggest risk for the Blues at St Mary’s and may have been awarded a penalty after an hour. Saints goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu cleared Burke inside the box with a daunting challenge, but referee David Webb ignored calls from the Blues and awarded a goal kick.
Harwood-Bellis had a chance to score her second goal just before the break. Fortunately for the Blues, the defender was unable to control his header past John Ruddy after receiving a corner from Stuart Armstrong.
There’s still time in the first half for Adam Armstrong to squander a clever opportunity. His namesake played it, but the Saints captain missed his attempt when only Ruddy could win.
Blues needed a shot in the arm and it arrived in the form of Stansfield. Seconds after Rooney introduced Stansfield from the bench, the striker stole possession in Southampton’s final third and curled the ball past Bazunu.
Blues rallied and Rooney made a raft of changes following Stansfield’s impact. However, once Southampton stemmed the tidal wave of Blues attacks that followed the goal, they were able to keep Blues at arm’s length again.
Adam Armstrong ended the attack in the closing stages. The striker beat Marc Roberts in the box to beat Ruddy and continue his scoring streak against the Blues.
It was a bigger, more energetic performance from the Blues in their third game with Rooney. But they were only rewarded with their first goal under the new coach.
John Ruddy 6
The goalkeeper doesn’t play much out the back anymore. It allowed him to play more directly with Jutkiewicz and that suited Les Bleus.
Cody Drameh 5. 5
Drameh was by far the Blues’ most productive player against Hull but had a first half at St Mary’s. The right-back couldn’t get the perfect Sulemana or any other Saints player venturing into his territory. And he made some careless mistakes in possession.
To be fair to Drameh, he stepped up after the break and was one of the driving forces behind Les Bleus’ resurgence. He took advantage of Sulemana’s inability to keep up with his runs and threw some attractive crosses into the box.
Dion Sanderson 5.5
The Blues captain and his defensive teammates had their work cut out for them against the Saints attack. Sanderson continually fell asleep against the impressive Adam Armstrong and was lucky for the striker to swell his lines with a golden opportunity late in the first half.
Emmanuel Aiwu 6. 5
The debutant’s first eye-opening contribution saw him deflect a damaging cross from Walker-Peters with Adam Armstrong waiting to attack. Unfortunately for the Blues and Aiwu, Southampton took the lead in less than a minute. He has taken on demanding situations and showed the commitment that the Blues appreciate him.
Manny Longelo 5
Longelo was rinsed by Walker-Peters, who is Premier League player in all but name. The Blues left-back couldn’t stop the overloads down his side. He could have used the ball better and some of his passes didn’t go down well with Rooney on the touchline.
Jordan James 5
The midfielder fought hard in his first 90-minute league game this season but was unable to have any primary effect on the game. A desperation shot from distance summed up his afternoon.
Krystian Bielik 5. 5
There was a brief period after Stansfield scored in which Bielik took control of the game and began dictating it. However, he didn’t last long enough and Rooney once again replaced him early.
Ivan Sunjic 6
Sunjic has made the Blues more combative in midfield, but has struggled to deal with Southampton’s quality. He lost the ball twice in the 10-minute box in the second half, much to Rooney’s chagrin. The Croatian wants his owner to adapt to Rooney.
Olivier Burke 6. 5
Burke was the Blues’ biggest risk when he was on the pitch. In the first half, he was awarded a penalty after taking a hit from Bazunu and, at times, dragging Les Bleus alone.
Lucas Jutkiewicz 6. 5
It was a typically selfless effort from Jutkiewicz, who chased lost causes and put himself about. He tried to set the tone but Southampton had too much quality.
Siriki Dembélé 5
Dembele struggled to make any impact on the game. He was also left in dead ends, without help and was sacrificed early on because of Rooney.
Jay Stansfield (deputical, 57) 7
Within seconds of coming on, Stansfield showed why he started with the Blues. It was a very good finish typical of the striker and led the Blues into their most productive era after his goal.
Gary Gardner (for Bielik, 69) 5.5
Gardner threw himself into challenges and received a booking for one of them.
Scott Hogan (by Burke, 69) 5. 5
Hogan on the right before taking his preferred position in the middle. They came close thanks to a long-distance effort in stoppage time.
Marc Roberts (Aiwu substitute, 77) 5
Adam Armstrong nipped in front of Roberts to net Southampton’s clinching third. This was the defender’s first outing in the Championship this season.
Koji Miyoshi (substitute for Jutkiewicz, 77) 5
Miyoshi was given a slight kick in his cameo with Rooney. The Japanese playmaker obviously wants to do more to convince his new coach.
Not used: Etheridge, Long, Laird, Khela
Attendance: 28,924
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