KNOW YOUR PLACE , WAYNE
SAM ALLARDYCE has made it clear to Wayne Rooney that star status does not guarantee him the role he craves at Goodison.
The Everton manager had an informal chat with the former England captain yesterday following an explosive bust-up during the Merseyside derby at the weekend.
Rooney, furious about being substituted less than an hour into the game, snubbed Allardyce’s handshake and appeared to mouth obscenities when he took his place on the bench. Allardyce shrugged off the incident but has told Rooney that he is not droppable.
Rooney covets a deeper midfield role at Goodison but Allardyce has pointed to statistics that suggest the 32-year-old no longer has the legs for that job.
Speaking after the Liverpool game, Allardyce said: “The stats don’t lie. And when they say levels have to be lifted – no matter who it is, Wayne, Phil Jagielka, Tom Davies, whoever – you get left out of the team.”
The stats were not kind to Rooney at Goodison, and even more damning against Manchester earlier.
Against Liverpool he made only 18 passes and two tackles in 57 minutes on the pitch. His replacement Idrissa Gueye made more City a week passes and more tackles in 33 minutes on the pitch.
Against City it was worse, with Rooney completing just seven passes and making no tackles in the deep-lying midfield role. In 33 minutes