Decline of Wayne Rooney and the England Squad

[Goring-by-Seagull]

There is so much nonsense in this thread.

Yeah mainly every other post saying he's 28! He's 27 (TWENTY SEVEN)

 

[pauli cee]

To much Football at a top level from a young age = burnout ,Micheal Owen's career was effectivly over by the age of 28 .

ryan giggs aside, obviously...

 

[pauli cee]

There is so much nonsense in this thread.

including the thought that rooney was 'rested', to give wellbeck some game time, in a tight champions league game against real madrid?

 

[aldershot village]

Oh yes Ryan 1000 games Giggs shame he was always injured for his country ,too much burn out you see.

 

[Pavilionaire]

England win% with Rooney: 60%, without: 66%
England goals per game with Rooney: 1.89, without: 2.15

he might score goals, but a lot of those 33 are from the last decade and most of the rest are against San Marino.

7 in his last 11 suggest his goal ratio has improved.

 

[maresfield seagull]

The key fact re England:

Wayne Rooney: 79 apps, 33 goals.

Walcott / Sturridge / Wellbeck / Carroll / Bent / Defoe: 124 apps, 32 goals.

No doubt about it - this is the weakest crop of strikers in my 44 y.o. lifetime. When you think back 14 or 15 years when we had Shearer, Sheringham, Owen, Fowler, Ferdinand, Le Tissier, Wright it's just sad.

Its symptomatic of the problems affecting the whole team really. GK being another good example of where we have got weaker .
A downside of the Sky influence on the PL

 

[Twizzle]

Whilst I don't believe the tabloids saying Wayne Rooney is sold I certainly think Ferguson has started to respect him less and less due to his fitness issues and his eating and drinking habits outside of football. He's now 28 and it certainly looks as if his best days are done, should he be cast out from United which wouldn't be that surprising I'm imagining he'll fall further down the rabbit hole of drinking pints and eating fried chicken and will end up fat faster than Robinho or any other Brazillian whose star has faded. I certainly can't see Rooney being in top condition for the Brazilian WC.

Where does that leave England? Welbeck IMO is average, Sturridge slightly better, who else do we have coming through? Harry Kane?

Jumping the gun with this invented scenario imho.
Rooney isn't done with United just because the media stirred themselves a story they can stir for a few days.
Why England are "in decline" seems odd too.

 

[oleoleolevicente]

i for one am rather excited for the next generation of england players. just look at hte U21s so many quality players coming through. Henderson,Shelvey,Ince,Caulker,Sterling and..Zaha. Not to forget Chamberlain,Sturridge and Welbeck

 

[The Wizard]

Nothing wrong with Rooney, only reason people are saying all this now is because of how good Van Persie has been this season and the fact Ferguson played Welbeck instead of him, which I think personally proved to be the right decision looking at how the game was going up until the red card. Makes me laugh reading certain people on this thread calling other peoples opinions 'nonsense' because they disagree, on the Welbeck subject, he is a very good young player, a bit of nurturing and more self belief and I think he could be a real player, just needs to improve his consistency in front of goal a little, but at his age I'd expect it to come with maturity.

I don't see the 'decline' of England either I think recent performances have been better than what we saw pre 2010/2012, nothing to be ashamed of losing to teams like Spain and the like in World Cups and European competitions because quite simply they are a far superior team talent wise, only reason people in this country are disappointed with how England perform at these tournaments is because we have a few individually great players and stupid hyped up unrealistic expectations.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

including the thought that rooney was 'rested', to give wellbeck some game time, in a tight champions league game against real madrid?

He wasn't rested, Fergie chose to have the pace of Welbeck and the nous of Giggs. He picked a team based on his tactics, and until the red card he was absolutely spot on and it was working like a treat.

 

[Cappers]

Had Rooney not been dropped against Madrid, there would be no mention of this. Nothing has changed since before Tuesday

 

[Sheebo]

I have always maintained on here that he is not world class and is just average like England, often to cries of derision ( are you there Sheebo and Mellotron? ). OK he had a couple of good games when he was very young but he has looked plain average against good International teams for a few years now. Good Premier League player, nothing more.

[MENTION=457]sheebo[/MENTION] will have you believe that James Milner is a world beater and the best thing since sliced bread !

You must've missed us take Brazil apart then? England lose very few football matches. Fact.

 

[Weststander]

Sturridge has been class for Liverpool
Wellbeck was good in the Euros
Defoe bangs them in and has a good England record
Walcott through the middle an option

Rooney never done much Portugal Euros for England anyway

Things actually healthier than they were few years back

This.

Things looking good.
The PL academies are now finally producing.

Add Wilshire, Cleverly, Sterling, Hart, and some others, to add to the experienced members of the squad, and we can now compete again.

 

[Northstandite]

This.

Things looking good.
The PL academies are now finally producing.

Add Wilshire, Cleverly, Sterling, Hart, and some others, to add to the experienced members of the squad, and we can now compete again.

Agreed.

We know Spain and Germany are probably a level above, but they are above most.

We are no longer the mugs we were under the McLaren low point.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

There is some quite serious straw clutching going on here.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

You must've missed us take Brazil apart then? England lose very few football matches. Fact.

England win very few, if any, competitive games against the top teams. Fact.

 

[Sheebo]

England win very few, if any, competitive games against the top teams. Fact.

They also don't lose many. Fact.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

They also don't lose many. Fact.

You mean draw and go out on pens?

 

[Sheebo]

You mean draw and go out on pens?

Yep

 

[Pogue Mahone]

i for one am rather excited for the next generation of england players. just look at hte U21s so many quality players coming through. Henderson,Shelvey,Ince,Caulker,Sterling and..Zaha. Not to forget Chamberlain,Sturridge and Welbeck

Not one of these will make it at the very highest level. Not one.