It would be fair to say that Wayne Rooney didn’t have his best tournament for England at Euro 2012 and after missing the first two fixtures, he was virtually anonymous for the other two games. Following on from the Three Lions’ exit, former coach Fabio Capello has joined the brigade in claiming that Rooney only plays well for Manchester United
Speaking following England’s defeat to Italy, Capello said, “After seeing the latest game, I think Rooney only understands Scottish. That’s because he only plays well in Manchester, where Sir Alex Ferguson speaks Scottish.”
While Capello may not have been one of the more popular coaches for England, few people will disagree with him. After experiencing another superb season for the Red Devils, there were great expectations as Rooney joined the European Championships squad in Poland and Ukraine. However, he failed to live up to expectations and while he did score in his opening game, he was otherwise unimpressive.
However, Rooney hasn’t always been poor at international level. After all, it was his performance in the 2004 European Championships in Portugal that evoked a bidding war to prize him away from Everton. As we all know, Ferguson was the winner in that, signing the former Everton forward in a £25m deal.
Many people, especially United fans, will be surprised at England’s poor attacking showing in the Championships. Roy Hodgson persistently used the United front three of Danny Welbeck, Rooney and Ashley Young yet there was only Welbeck that could come away from the tournament with any credit. Both Rooney and Young were poor and Sir Alex Ferguson will be hoping that both players can rejuvenate and recover for the start of the new season. There are reports that SAF is looking to provide competition in the attacking areas with the signing of Porto’s James Rodriguez, but it remains to be seen if that rumour comes to fruition.