2006, Rooney missed the group stage recovering from a broken metatarsal. 2004 is the only one he's been properly fit for.
The same old people who label a striker a striker and then immediately assess his performance based on goals and team result. FACT - When Rooney plays for club or country he creates more goals than he score. FACT - 2004 He was playing in the same team with some very good creative players their peak just behind him in: Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham. FACT - Scholes retired from England weeks after the tournamentand England has lacked that kind of link between the midfield and forward line ever since FACT - That same player from 2004 still has that same veteran behind him at club. FACT - You cannot say that Rooney has been crap since 2004 when you consider that England as a whole unit have bee dire since 2004!!! Wil he suddenly do what you want now and single handedly bring us back to looking moderately good? Nooo because at the moment the England team is way behind what it was and until we get a good settled side with players that can realistically replace the like of Lampard, Barry, Parker and Gerrard etc (and I don't mean replacing for the sake of getting younger players in) then we will wallow until we do have viable options. Summary: Is Rooney the best forward player (not attacker or Striker) England has? Yes he is by far. Will he get the golden boot in the next tournament? Not with a 36 year old Gerrard and 38 Lampard behind him and definitely not with Cleverley or (add other name for the sake of putting youth in the team) behind him. So first choice is Rooney and rightly so. First choice midfield is Lampard and Gerrard because there is no viable replacement...yet. Can't blame any of them for the England Team not being up to scratch. You can only choose from what is available. Put Rooney as attacker in the Spain, Germany, Italy team then he would finish every tournament with the Golden Boot.
I think that Lambert is a good shout but worth pointing out that there is probably a dearth of great fowards at the moment. I think Hodgson will struggle to succeed with the current crop of player available. Lambert is worth a try out but if we had players of the calibre of Alan Shearer available for selection I don't think he would get a sniff. Probably a better bet that Tom Cleverley who can could himself fortunate to get a call up. All in all, the national team is lacking in world class quality and the lack of opportunites for English players in clubs like Arsenal will only make it more likely that players such as Rickie Lambery look a more attractive proposition. With the World Cup due in less than two years, I think Hodgson should be looking to create a young team who have played as a unit for a long period and therefore Rickie Lambert is perhaps too old. Howwever, on recent form he remains one of the best English centre forwards at the moment.
Hart Jenkinson---Jagielka---Lescott---Gibbs Wilshere---Gerrard Rooney Wellbeck Chamberlain Lambert Look forward to Powell and Ward-Prowse being involved in the future
He is the opposite of Klose. He plays well for his club, but not for his country. He is not good enough I'm afraid.
Yeah, let's get back on topic. Lambert would be great for England . Let's hope he plays for England in the near future .
To be honest, Rickie wouldn't have a long England career even if he does eventually get picked. But England would most assuredly realise what they had missed. And it might change the attitude of the England setup that not all the most suitable players play for the biggest clubs.
Who would you rather have in your England team, taking off your Saints fans hats. Rooney. Yes we all think Lambert deserves a call-up, but he is nowhere near as technically gifted as Rooney lets all be honest.
To be completely honest, I don't care. The only reason why I'd like to see Lambert play for England is because he'd love to, and I'd love to see him make the most of himself after being ignored for most of his career. As far as picking Lambert or Rooney, it doesn't come down to a choice. Rooney is injured and therefore there is an opportunity for another player and another tactic. When Rooney is fit again then obviously the decision would become more difficult to pick Lambert. But nobody can deny that goals win matches, and if you want to pick a player who has a sound all round game, and a devastating ability to score goals, it's hard to deny that Rickie isn't worthy of selection. Hey, when Rooney is fit again, pick both, and leave out some other iffy selection.
With my Saints head on I would want Lambert. With my neutral head on it is Rooney every time And I'll point out once more. You have to assess the above remark as part of a poor team. You rightly assess him as being good in 2004 when England had a supreme midfield of top world class players all at peak and wasted by Erikkson's hoofball. After that a succession of crap manager's playing poor tactics and even Capello playing Rooney as an out and out striker up front on his own. Assess a player in that context, then assess his club form where he has been excellent and why? Great manager, great midfield, great tactics, great formation!!! Lambert in my eyes is up there at the moment and while England has this transition where the old guard are fading yet still way better than the youngsters then we should be utilising what we have, bringing those youngsters through as back up and concentrate firstly on a 2 year plan with older players while the youngsters gain valuable experience and more club experience. After the next world cup maybe the Cleverleys, Wellbecks, Sturridge's will be much better than they are now and then we can focus on this mass rebuilding. Similar to Saints and Adkins. We are not saying ditch all the old guard because we want to build for the future. We are bringing those youngsters through at the right time while we have several players that are nearing the end of their careers. So to the OP question: Lambert for England = YES...but not at the expense of Rooney. The order in my mind at the moment is probably: 1-Rooney, 2-Defoe, 3-Lambert, 4-Zamora
I'm trying to stay revelling in the glory of a saints win, but decided to pop in here. The worrying thing for me with an England hat on is the list of players being considered. Not a world class player in sight. Rooney has/had that potential to be (and he hasn't done it for England for a while), but outside him all the others named are ordinary when compared to the world's best. Worrying times for England's future.
Do they? I've seen England at one world cup and a dozen or so games abroad, never enjoyed the games themselves once, only the trips. Its way out of date for players to grow up thinking playing for england is the pinnacle. Players are with clubs from the age of 7. Playing for a "big" club is way ahead of international honours in their mindset.
I'm sure I'll get stick for disagreeing with you but is scoring four goals in five games proving yourself at Premier League level, Michael Ricketts did something similar as did Dennis Bailey for QPR - I'm sure there's loads of others as well. I'm not saying he won't prove himself or that he shouldn't get a look in on the squad, just that he needs to keep performing at this level for a few months. Cue abuse!
Agree with this. If Rickie has scored another four or five by xmas the press will make it difficult for Hodgson to leave him out. Seem to remember something similar with Steve Bull from Wolves.
