The morning after and Rob Draper has identified the main culprits - hint, Rooney is NOT one of them:
Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain must prove they are more than youthful promise as England's young lions fail to impress once again
The morning after and Rob Draper has identified the main culprits - hint, Rooney is NOT one of them:
Jack Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain must prove they are more than youthful promise as England's young lions fail to impress once again
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It's better to burn out, than to fade away.
Rooney could take a dump in the centre circle and roll around in it for 90 mins and they'd still say he was the main man. There are 2 years ahead to dump these old has-beens and build a new team, Hodgson being the principle has-been. Get a decent manager in, let the kids get a few pastings as they grow together as a team and then take something fresh to the next tournament. This incredibly easy group shouldn't be wasted carrying garbage like Rooney. There's a real chance here if somebody has the balls to tell the journos to fuck off.
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Laughably predictable.
Here they are, the superstars of the world. And there's our Wayne. "ROONEY, messi, ronaldo - Who's best?"
Plus that ONE game for England.Made his debut for Everton aged 16 but announced himself with a spectacular goal against Arsenal five days before his 17th birthday. Two years later, he starred for England at Euro 2004 - scoring twice before getting injured in the quarter-finals - and then sealed a £30m move to Manchester United.
Sterling is 19 and tipped to become one of the world's best... but what were the current crop of stars doing at his age?
It's just a fucking joke.
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It's beyond a parody of a parody of a parody now.
If Wilshere had given that very same performance in his breakthrough season, he'd be getting 8s and 9s from every media outlet. His passing, vision, balance and awareness was the best it's been in a long while. He was involved in everything. He played some lovely balls over the top, some great balls in for Baines to waste and linked up centrally with the forwards as he usually does. He gave the ball away once I think. Coming off the Besiktas game, Wilshere finally looks like he's got some of his composure and consistency back. But because it's fashionable to now rate him as the latest fallen star or only focus on him getting fouled, he won't be getting any credit until he scores a hat-trick against Argentina or until Henderson and Sterling are unceremoniously dragged off the pedestal the pathetic pundits are currently placing them upon.
And it will be a shame when Sterling is next in line to be shot down, because it would be excellent if this current crop of players are be allowed to develop together. Between the Liverpool players and Arsenal players, there seems to be genuine potential. The performance in the first half yesterday was maybe the most impressive from a footballing standpoint in a long while. Sturridge has improved hugely in recent months and (greediness aside) appears to have much more depth to his play. He, Sterling, Oxlade and Wilshere were mixing up their passing, playing quick one-twos, dinking balls over the top and generally displaying qualities that haven't been seen in an England team for a long time, if ever.
Rooney has been an absolute shit in his off-the-field and horrible on-the-pitch antics over the years, but I've always rated him highly as a player. But he has been simply woeful for England (and United outside an early-season burst last year) for a long time now. He just offers nothing currently and it's criminal that he will play and drag the team down when there's finally some semblance of a team coming together.
As N_Q has pointed out enough, it's absurd how he can score a pelanty and is England's saviour. These same people continue to hail Joe Hart as "world-class" while he's been throwing the ball into his own net for three seasons. They'll tell you Baines is a great left-back while the danger keeps emerging on his side and he struggles against every opponent. Most brilliantly of all, they mourn the loss of Gerrard and Lampard. The same Gerrard and Lampard who have been shown up to be truly worthless on the world stage for over a decade.
Until someone with character is allowed to take over the running of football as a whole and until they employ a manager with his own conviction, the same cycle of myopic, clueless and hopeless shit will continue.
Accurate ratings for last night:
Hart: 7
Stones: 7
Jones: 5
Cahill: 5
Baines: 6
Henderson: 7
Wilshere: 8
Oxlade: 6
Sterling: 8
Rooney: 3
Sturridge: 7.5
Subs: Welbeck: 10
I thought the first half was good too. Looked like a proper team, especially when Sterling started drifting into deeper positions and linking up with Wilshere. Wilshere is starting to play like his old self and I love watching him play. Never been about anything more than what Wenger keeps saying - he needs a proper run of games without a little injury. Wenger is managing him well and no doubt has a long term plan for him so we'll see how he gets on.