Times up for him The younger players have more skill and are far better at ball retention The older players have been brought up with an attitude of Win it back rather than keep it in the first place
So who would you drop Sturridge or Sterling? remembering both played really well and Rooney has had enough games in position and never delivered when it matters Sturridge would have buried the chance where Rooney didn't even test the Keeper
His England scoring record in major tournaments is bad. It's time to give youth a chance. His shots off target column last night must have been 5-6. On another day he'd have had a chance of a double hat trick with the chances he had. Unfortunately he couldn't even score once which is frustrating to watch when you know he's on 300k a week.
I don't think Rooney got anything on target at all last night. Sterling and Sturridge both looked sharper, quicker, and more likely to produce.
I think Roy has done a pretty good job, but he has continued the classic England manager situation of trying to put square pegs in round holes, just because a player isn't "droppable". If it were Germany, Italy, Brazil, etc there would be no such false loyalty. He should be on the bench for me in the next game. We need to use the subs, so bring him on in his proper position for Sturridge after about 60 minutes. See if he can earn a start.
I'd play Sterling as LW Sturridge as strike if Ox is fit him on the right with Barkley playing through the middle
I would play Rooney up top with Sturridge and Sterling just behind....How do you know Sturridge would have buried the chance...he missed 3 in our last warm up game...I'd stick with the same side as last night with maybe Barkley in for Henderson, let Uruguay worry about us because they looked shocking against a very average side.
Yes, he shouldn't have gone in the first place. When will England managers stop picking players on reputation and the club they play for.
He was toss last night. No surprise to me. He can't perform on the big occasion for England, time to move on without him. Roy'll keep picking him though.
Gerrard had one good night against Germany (when we stuffed them after Sven took over), can recall many more. As you say he was a passenger last night, looked tired and lacklustre. Then we've got Lampard as well. Three players who can all pack international football in for me. I'd rather have Paul Scholes, and I'm not joking. Last night I wanted to see someone take ownership of Pirlo. They looked scared of him. Too much respect.
Gerrard didn't have his best game last night but he's probably been our best player since Hodgson took over. It's just a shame he wasn't used properly by a succession of England managers when he was at his unplayable best, instead being shifted around to accommodate other lesser players. Watching that (*****) England's greatest world cup goals on BBC 3, it was notable not only how many were Gerrard's, but also how many he set up
Not in ANY major tournaments though ! That is what irritates me about Rooney, every time we get to a big tournament he makes all the right noises etc. then totally fails to show anything!! he can look awesome at times for Utd in the Premiership, but he rarely plays well against the top teams in Champions League either. Frustrating to say the least. He is one of the players that other teams should be worrying about, but he never threatens in big matches.
He scores loads of goals for us in qualifying, against the *****, gets found out against the best. It's a travesty that he looks like becoming England's top scorer, the stats don't tell half the story.
Well it looks like I'm a voice in the wilderness regarding Rooney....Oh well Here's hoping he proves everybody wrong in the next couple of weeks...and I'm sure you'd agree with that!
