Welcome to the cold light of day.
If you pertain to be your national team's best player, you have to show up when it matters. Look at the last four: Portugal, Germany, Spain, Italy.
Ronaldo, Ozil, Iniesta, Pirlo.
These players have already left their mark on this tournament. It's no coincidence that they now find themselves in the semi-finals.
We need to talk about Rooney.
Unfit, overweight, underperforming Wayne Rooney.
Far from being England's saviour, last night he wasn't even our best forward (at least Big Andy put himself about a bit when he came on). Quite frankly, he just didn't look good enough.
The harsh truth is, if Uncle Woy wants to play a four-four-two with a traditional pair of strikers up top, Wayne Rooney should be dropped.
That suggestion breaks my heart, because he remains our greatest talent. But this relationship is simply not working: Rooney and England is a dead shark.
Perhaps we don't have the players to get the best out of him.
But, as a consequence, having him in the side is not best for the team. When England fail to keep the ball (often) Wayne wanders. He comes looking for it, desperate to get involved, succeeding only in breaking the shape of the side, and making Danny Welbeck look like he doesn't know where to play.
Maybe he doesn't, but he looked a lot more comfortable alongside a big number number nine than he did a tubby number ten.
And the worst thing is, we now have to listen to people talk about "Andy going all the way this year":
THE STORY SO FAR
Match of the tournament: Sweden 2-3 England
Player of the tournament: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Goal of the tournament: Ibrahimovic (SWEDEN v France)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment