I’LL BE RUTHLESS
Southgate will drop Rooney — if he has to
ENGLAND interim manager Gareth Southgate insists he is not afraid to axe captain Wayne Rooney.
Having been given the heartbreaking task of making close friends redundant while manager at Middlesbrough in 2009, Southgate says the possibility of dropping the Manchester United star does not fill him with dread.
He once had to tell colleagues at the Riverside that they were losing their jobs as part of a cost-cutting exercise after the club’s relegation from the Premier League seven years ago. Now he faces a different sort of pressure as calls for him to drop Rooney from England’s starting XI for tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier in Slovenia grow louder.
Southgate said: ‘I’ve got to make decisions which are right for the team. Whenever you select a team with England, you’re going to leave some guys on the bench who are playing every week in the Premier League.
‘You have to be prepared to do that, that’s part and parcel of the job.’
Rooney, 30, delivered another below-par display in central midfield in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Malta and was even booed by sections of the Wembley crowd.
With Eric Dier, arguably England’s best player during the sorry Euro 2016 campaign,
pushing for a recall to the team, Southgate is considering his midfield options — and that could put Rooney at risk. Southgate is adamant he is strong enough to leave Rooney on the bench if needed, saying he made far harder decisions during his managerial career. ‘The biggest decision of my career? Making some really close friends redundant — that’s probably as big as you can get,’ said Southgate. With Dier in contention and Jordan Henderson and Dele Alli two of England’s best players on Saturday, it is difficult to see where Rooney fits in midfield. There is the option of moving him into one of the wide attacking roles filled by Jesse Lingard and Theo Walcott on Saturday but Southgate indicated that he is ready to keep faith with Rooney for tomorrow’s clash in Ljubljana. Southgate said: ‘I was very pleased with his performance. I felt the role he was asked to play he fulfilled. He was asked to dictate the game, play with positional discipline. ‘He and Jordan Henderson as a pair did exactly as we hoped. Slovenia is a completely different game, we are likely to be playing against a different tactical system and away from home. ‘We have got to assess all of those things with all of the players to pick the right team for that game.’ Rooney’s England teammates have rallied round their captain. Henderson said: ‘Wayne is experienced enough to just concentrate on the football. He’s had criticism through his career, like a lot of players, and he deals with it very well. ‘He’s our captain and our leader and is a fantastic player for both United and England. He put in a fantastic performance today. He got on the ball well and broke it up too to win it back for us.’ Henderson added: ‘The fans have every right to criticise because of the way we went out at the Euros and the (2014) World Cup. Criticism comes because the fans know we have good players and want us to do well.’ Centre back John Stones also backed Rooney. He said: ‘Wayne was brilliant. He gives 110 per cent and you can see that in every performance he plays. I am a bit shocked that (the boos) happened. ‘In my opinion he is always up there and on form. ‘Top players are always going to get the stick that gets piled on them because of the standards he sets.’