With his sending off, England will play their last game in the group without their so-called talismanic striker. If England win without Rooney, I want us to start without him when he is eligible to play again, and I would expect Capello to keep him out until such time as we lose. How else is Rooney to be punished for his ill-discipline? Of course, Capello, as we know, does not have the balls to do that, so Rooney will be rewarded in his rashness by being shoe-horned straight back into the England side.
He'll have to sit out at least the first two group games, assuming that England hold on to at least draw this one, so it's possible that he may have to fight for his place. If someone could put in some good performances in those games, then he might not go straight back in. That could work in complete reverse if England were to win both games, though.
Hasn't got the hump about his dad has he! ...nah!, he'll be focused says his captain earlier! . Ridiculous reaction, shame he wasn't wearing a United shirt.
The man is a liability. We have to learn to do without him, and if we do learn to do without him, he shouldn't be permitted back.
I am no great fan of the goal troll, but he really seemed to have worked on his anger management this season. It has showed in his general play and clubwise he seems better than ever and is scoring for fun. It was a huge misjudgement to play him against Montenegro. Knowing that his fuse is a short one, it was obvious the opposition would have a go at pushing his buttons. I don't care how calm he is sitting in the hotel, a few well chosen words here, a late tackle there, and all of a sudden he is a liability. With the news from home, he should have developed a "calf strain" and been left out. At best, he was a passenger and we all know what he was at worst.
Just to give the view from overseas. On our local Fox sports news, they showed it from numerous angles and not matter which way you paint it England can't afford to be without him(when he in form that is) Capello has pulled the wrong rein here and played him knowing that the business with his father was on his mind. He is a hero for the young Man u supporters here and it really was a bad look.
Anyone guessing what chant the next edition of MOTD will be desperate to edit out? I'm going for... Rooney you're ****, You're scum like your dad. Rooney you're ****, You're scum like your dad. ...and then claiming royalties. Why does the population of a country have any standing on the quality of their football team? It's not like every single one of them takes to the pitch... Besides, as every single pundit that thinks the country is called "only Montenegro" neglects to mention, Montenegro were ranked 16th in the FIFA World Rankings as recently as June.
England may have a chance of winning if Shrek doesn't play. England play with 10 men in major tournaments when he does play. He was anonymous in the 2010 world cup., Talismatic my arse. His excuse was he had ''personal problems'' in the 2010 world cup. Screwing prostitutes when your wife is pregnant is not a ''personal problem''. Or should it be considered a personal problem. He's an over-rated non skilled clogger anyway.
Quite right. The same nonsense that was built around Mr. Beckham is now being woven around Rooney. For too long the national side have relied on the individual talents of a few media-anointed messiahs. Beckham and his oxygen-tent. Fat lot of good that did us. Then the public held vigils and recited prayers for the speedy recovery of Rooney's metatarsal. Fat lot of good that did us. Methinks it's time we stopped piling the pressure on select individuals to be our nation's saviours. The end result is -as you have said- the other 10 (usually nothing special) players end up sacrificing their (limited) individual talents for the sake of the messiah, who then inevitably fails to deliver. the hype and hysteria surrounding players like Rooney has to stop; it does the team no good and definitely does the player no good.
It might help if we used players in the positions that they play for their clubs and played in the style of a Premier League team. This seems to confound every manager that England's had for years though, for some reason.
Quality post. Why is it that certain managers insist on playing players out of position, ie Steven Gerrard a right footer on the left? James Milner a central midfielder out wide. England have widemen ie Lennon, Walcott, Downing, why not use them? Or how about using an orthodox winger on one side like say Downing/Lennon and an unorthodox winger on the other like Young. Its like a having a LW and a RAM. Theres nothing wrong with a bit of variation.
I would respectfully disagree with a couple of the posters. I think Beckham has been of far greater service to England than the rest of the golden generation (and the later invincibles/undroppables), at least on some occasions displaying the sort of passion we would love to see in other England players. I cannot forget that Greece game all those years ago when he virtually won the game on his own through a degree of personal commitment that I have probably never seen since from an England player. As for Rooney he is the perfect example of a talented player that generally doesn't transfer his potential to international level. Sure occasionally it will happen, but then that will be used as an excuse for the next series of games where he may as well not turn up at all. But how can you justify five bad games for one good one? I'd rather have someone who maybe doesn't have that one brilliant game in them but is committed to the cause, and contributes maybe to a lesser level but *for all the games*. Frankly I'd rather play Crouch who has a far superior record for England and has been treated abysmally. It's because the national team seems to be run for the benefit of a handful of players that really turned me off supporting the national team... which as a patriot is very much against my nature. If you needed any evidence of where the team is just look at our "performance" at the World Cup. I see no evidence that anything has fundamentally changed, or how it will be any different next time.
