John BARRETT Rooney gives more problems than answers
GARETH SOUTHGATE hasn’t yet said much about his plans for the next four England games. But among the few words he has spoken was the confirmation that Wayne Rooney will remain as captain.
It didn’t really need saying. Southgate was never going to do a Stuart Pearce, who decided to stamp his own mark on his single game as caretaker by giving Scott Parker the armband ahead of Steven Gerrard.
Still, the fact that he felt it necessary to publically reiterate support for Rooney says much about where the Manchester United man is at the moment.
In short, he’s become a problem for whoever is managing him.
He is clearly past his peak, yet still a decent player. He’s not quite good enough to be a front-line striker, a No.10 or an orthodox midfield player, yet his experience and on-field presence are still valuable.
If Southgate picks him against Malta next Saturday, he will become Rooney’s fifth different manager in his last 12 competitive starts – and each has bent over backwards to protect him from the march of time.
Louis van Gaal never dropped him because he believed the captain had special privileges. Roy Hodgson, faced with the emergence of better strikers, found him a role in midfield in France.
Sam Allardyce quickly named him captain and seemed so much in awe of his status that he made that ludicrous “It’s not up to me where Wayne plays” remark after he’d operated in midfield in Slovakia.
Jose Mourinho left him out of his starting line-up against Leicester last week and United won well.
He then denied it was a consequence of not playing Rooney, and proclaimed: “He’s my man”.
Mourinho may want to underline that point by restoring him against Stoke today, though that would mean changing a team that looked very effective.
Rooney is no longer the most-influential player in English club and international football, a title he’s held for over a decade. The problem is that everyone treats him as if he still is.
Van Gaal, Hodgson, Allardyce, Mourinho and now Southgate have all fallen over themselves to give him their armband, which shouldn’t mean automatic selection but usually does.
The last England player with Rooney’s star status was David Beckham. He acknowledged his diminishing powers by giving up the captaincy but still won 21 caps contributing as a bit-part player.
Maybe that’s a route Rooney should consider.