Birmingham boss Wayne Rooney has no issue with excessive celebrations

Posted Tuesday, December 19, 2023 by PA

Birmingham boss Wayne Rooney said he could understand why Leicester excessively celebrated a goal in front of home fans after his side were beaten 3-2 by the Sky Bet Championship leaders.

Leicester forward Stephy Mavididi was booked after climbing an advertising hoarding and goading Blues supporters in the Tilton End behind the goal at St. Andrew’s.

“There’s emotion in the game and players celebrate – I got a mobile phone thrown at me at Anfield, so players have their reasons,” said Rooney.

“Of course you want players to be respectful of the fans and I’m sure I’ll have one of my players do something to upset away fans.

“It’s good that they can celebrate – I don’t mean against us, but I was listening to the Chelsea game on the radio driving home the other day and a goal went in but no one celebrated because they were waiting for VAR to check it.

“It’s good they can look across and see they are onside and celebrate their goals.”

Rooney admitted Birmingham were “naive”, adding: “For 30 minutes we were really good – we pressed them really well and created chances.

“But we were naive for their first two goals and we allowed them to control the last 10 minutes of the first half.”

Leicester took the lead from a speedy breakaway from a Birmingham corner in the 10th minute.

Abdul Fatawu sped away and squared to Mavididi to dink over goalkeeper John Ruddy.

Jordan James levelled after 15 minutes, finding the bottom corner with a low shot after Siriki Dembele squared to Ivan Sunjic, who supplied the final pass.

Leicester regained the lead after 22 minutes when Ricardo Pereira dispossessed Juninho Bacuna and Fatawu again raced goalwards, releasing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to round Ruddy and slot home.

Mavidivi made it 3-1 in the 50th minute when his curling shot from 15 yards took a slight deflection and flew past Ruddy, before James’ shot deflected in off Jannik Vestergaard for 3-2 after 74 minutes.

Leicester manager Enzo Maresca admitted his team “don’t like” counter-attacking, despite scoring their first two goals from breaks.

“We don’t like counter-attacking but sometimes you need to use it,” he said. “We plan the game, but it depends on how the opponent tries to defend against us.

“We struggled for the first 15-20 minutes then we were completely in control, creating chances.

“But when you don’t take your chances, the opponent is there waiting, so they scored their second goal.

“Even after that, I liked the way the team behaved all together so I’m very happy.”