Wayne Rooney is allowed to reign supreme in the England camp by young players in awe of their childhood hero
WHEN it comes to Wayne Rooney’s hold over the England squad, Euro 2004 has an awful lot to answer for.
John Stones, Harry Kane and Eric Dier were ten years old when Rooney rampaged his way through the startled defences of Switzerland and Croatia.
Raheem Sterling was nine. Dele Alli had just turned eight.
With pictures and posters of him on the walls of their bedrooms, the England striker was the hero of every kid on the street.
Now those same boys who idolised Rooney from TV sets in their front rooms get to train and play with him in England shirts.
They are in awe of him, so it is no wonder Rooney rules the roost at St George’s Park and beyond.
Even Sam Allardyce agrees. He decided that Rooney, his captain, could play wherever the hell he likes
Big Sam could have gone down the Pep Guardiola route and broken up the dressing-room noises when he became head coach.
Instead, he played it safe and kept Rooney onside.
Allardyce has boxed himself into a bit of a corner over Rooney’s role after the 1-0 win in Slovakia.
Indulging him before he retires from international football in two years is not the way to win a World Cup.
In the same way that Sven-Goran Eriksson pandered to David Beckham, Big Sam will run into the same problems with Wazza.
On Sunday, it first sounded like a slip of the tongue, an awkward admission after the watching public went potty over Rooney’s midfield role.
After all, it is where Rooney made a hash of things at the Euros, by convincing Roy Hodgson that the deep-lying central role would suit them better.
Look what it did for poor old Roy and the rest of them after they were beaten 2-1 by Iceland.
Remember Jose Mourinho’s words of wisdom a few days later when he arrived as Manchester United’s new manager.
The Special One said: “Maybe he is not a No 9 anymore but he will never, with me, be a No 6.
“For me, he will be a No 9 or a No 10, or a 9½. But with me he will never be a No 6 or even a No 8.
“He will never be 50 metres from the goal.” On Sunday, as Rooney passed Beckham to become England’s
most-capped outfield player with 116 appearances, he barely got any where near it.
His one shot, easily saved by Slovakia keeper Matus Kozacik, was from outside the area after 64 laboured minutes.
Allardyce said: “Was there any need for him to be further forward when we’ve got Dele Alli, Theo Walcott, Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling then the full-backs pushed on and Harry Kane?
“We have enough goalscorers in front of Wayne. If we put another one in, we may leave ourselves open to the counter-attack and the sucker punch.
“I thought he tried as often as he could to make his first pass forward.”
For someone who had 92 touches of the ball — second only to Dier — the captain looked off the pace.
Rooney has been given freedom to roam around the pitch, to make tactical adjustments on the field as the game wears on.
Allardyce explained: “I am using his experience to its maximum on the field as captain and football player.
“The performance he gave as a captain and international player with great standing was very good.
“We also want him to score goals. He said, ‘You can play me anywhere you want me to play and I will try and play there’.
“He has had it at Manchester United, under many different managers, by playing right, left, centre-forward, in behind, centre midfield. Me and Wayne’s relationship, as we grow, will always be to promote him as captain but, first and foremost, to make sure he’s playing his best football.”
It is debatable that a relationship as cosy as this can work against Germany or Spain when it really matters.
Before the international break, in the colours of United, Roo crossed from the left for supersub Marcus Rashford to stab the winner against Hull City.
In Slovakia, when he spent most of the game holding hands with Jordan Henderson and Dier in midfield, he failed to dictate.
Allardyce added: “I played him first in the role where we practised.
“Jordan and him were playing in front, taking it in turns to go and support Harry and we’d just sit Eric there, instead of having two sitters.
RELATED STORIES
“Naturally, Wayne kept dropping in because he saw some space and Jordan probably spent more time going forward than Wayne did.
“As soon as Skrtel got sent off, we had to change and get more players on. We had to play a different system.”
Rooney was pushed even further back then, with Dele’s invention giving England a creative spark going forward.
Adam Lallana’s goal has given Allardyce some breathing space but the issue over Rooney’s role is only just beginning.
Big Sam needs to nip this in the bud and show us he really is the main man.