There has been a huge amount of nonsense in the press over the last few days about the quality of Wayne Rooney. Many say he is nowhere near world class after his performance against Italy on Sunday evening. Furthermore, Fabio Capello reckons that he only really turns up for Manchester United and never replicates his club form for England.
But even Leo Messi would struggle to make any sort of impression for England with that sort of service. The back four and midfield struggled to put 3 consecutive passes together throughout the whole tournament. I know all you readers watched it too – the typical, tedious, disjointed drivel that was England at EURO 2012. Professional, international footballers who can’t pass the ball. We said it before the tournament and, surprise surprise, we are still saying it.
It seems incredible to me that everyone is waxing lyrical about Pirlo when Hodgson left England’s best passers at home. So while the Italy game passed England’s midfield sluggers by, Micheal Carrick and Paul Scholes sat at home with their feet up swearing at telly. It’s so bizarre.
So back to Rooney. As far as soccersweep is concerned, everything that he did against Italy was tidy and classy. But he seldom got the ball and so he had to come deep to try and make any sort of impression. What sort of damage can you do when your defence and midfield never creates anything?
Why do we pay the top bods millions of pounds to confuse such a beautifully simple game? Football is all about pass and move. We are in awe of every team that does it but we don’t pick the only English players who are capable of it. We instead opt for the idea of energy in midfield. But we can hardly say that Gerrard and Parker, at 32 and 31, even provided inordinate amounts of that. The Italy fans must have been licking their lips when Gerrard went down with cramp after just an hour and Scott Parker ran around gingerly under the weight of various niggling injuries. The reason they were so knackered is surely because they spent so much energy chasing the ball. Oh I’ll tell you what, let’s bring Jordan Henderson on. He’ll sort it out! Why oh why weren’t Carrick and Scholes in the squad?
My enduring memory of England at EURO 2012 is screaming at the TV as Joe Hart launches yet another long ball up to noone when what we need most is to have some possession. It doesn’t get much more frustrating than this, does it?
Richard
Jun 28, 2012 at 1:58 am
Finally–Finally–Finally !!!! Thank-you for restoring some sanity to this ridiculously old debate. It’s almost as though England sleeps after each failed tournament and awakes just in time to face frustration at the next tournament. Wake up England!!!