you seem to be unable to understand the concept of a whole team playing terribly, as well as their manager performing woefully. Even Lionel Messi would have looked shoddy in that england team...he didnt look that great in Diego's argentina team. I dont think he scored even one goal...WHy? Because he was in horribly poor form? No...because Maradona isn't a football manager. His management style was egotistical and selfish. Yet, you look at Messi at barca, in a team which stays in good form, has a huge talent pool, and is well managed, and he shines like the brightest star in the night sky. Rooney didn't do any worse than other english player. Some did worse than him, but the general form of the team, and manager was shocking. Also, rooney plays against world class opposition often, in thepremiership and especially in the champions league.flagg wrote:Capello picked him while he was fit to play for his country in the world cup ,he just wasnt good enough against the best in the world , he was expected by all and sundry to bring the cup back to England, he didnt,seriously he either bottled it or just wasnt good enough, take your pick. He wasnt injured when Mr Ferguson put him on the bench,Alex is more canny than that , he wanted the little tyke to realise who was in charge , it was only when he signed a further contract with Utd that the injury was mentioned .As for Spurs ,they have been known to be the one of the most open playing attacking teams before and after the money making prem was ever thought of.One thing tho,your saying he missed a penalty but it didnt matter because they won,hmmm a player with fire in his eyes cant beat a one against one ?
He was not expected by all and sundry to bring the cup home. it was widely hoped for, as most countries hope for their star players to dazzle. but expected? Not by anyone i know who follows football. most of them expected us to fuck up. Not as badly as we did fuck up, but still, insane optimism for an english supporter amounts, at best, to 'we have a squad capable of doing well, if our main players are in form, and we get a bit of luck'. But even anything as seriously hopeful of that, was rather rare in most football drenched minds.
So if you say 'the whole england team and manager bottled it'. i will agree. But singling out rooney, is ridiculous. What about gerrard? Lampard? Terry?? Milner???ashley cole??? all of whom were coming of impressive seasons in the premiership. The rest of the team is fairly average, so their failures are less obvious. I expect players like glen johnson, carragher and especially ledley king, to be poor...ledley king??? hohohohoho...what other team was there at the tournament, with any even slim hope of winning the thing outright, who took and played a defender who couldnt even train properly, couldnt last 90 minutes, and was permanently injured???? They all failed. And i find it easier and more accurate to focus most the blame on cappello and the defence. We were a disgrace defensively. But what is to be expected with the likes of Carragher and King in the back line??? mathew upson???...
'wanted the little tyke to know who was in charge'????? However Ferguson behaved, acted, during the rooney wishing to leave saga, and since then, rooney had a holiday in the US, then got a major pay rise, and is now back in the team and looking fitter game by game...that doesn't really strike me as what constitutes 'put in your place'. I dont think he has been completely right in the body since the late middle of last season...did his ankle in against the krouts...he didnt look fit at the world cup, or at the start of this season. and yes, his injury problems this season were reported well before the situation regarding his desire to leave came out in the open. He had played only 4 or 5 games in total, between the start of the season and mid october . The reason he had played only 5 games, was due to his lack of fitness and injury niggles. which were constantly in the news.
again, if you knew anything about football you would not suggest a player can be judged on missing one penalty. I remember Baggio spooning his penalty in the world cup final, horribly high...and yet he still ranks, for most people who ever saw him play, as one of the most talented footballers of the last decade or two. all in all you appear to know really very little about Rooney and the premiership.
