I remember 8-9 years ago Wayne Rooney was being talked up to be the English Pele, yes it was a ridiculous comparison but he was a special player. He was explosive at Everton and used to run at defenders with pace and skill. He also used to score spectacular volleys and had a rocket shot. However shortly into his united career he stopped playing like this and would usually pass the ball. While this might have been better for United's system it cost England. England needed a player like he was at Everton, a player that could do unpredictable things. By the time he was 24 he already looked past it physically. I can't help but think that if he had stayed at Everton for a while longer he would've become a more dangerous player. I think he's gained experience at United but his individual brilliance is gone. He should no longer be hyped as England's saviour because I believe the last time that was the case was in 2006. It's a pity he was injured before the world cup.
England is bigger than one player... The saviour for the National Team will be when the FA decide to appoint quility leaders within the admin, improved coaching, and allowing some of the younger players to keep blending in with the senior side..
rooney is naturally fat, hopefully you have seen the photos of his family, if you or i had that dna we would look like potatos, it is a miracle he can keep up with the finest athletes the world has to offer, but as we know , a lot about wayne is distinctly paradoxical.my fear has always been that he will end up as john hartson. no offence to john hartson who had a fine career in many ways, but he spent a lot of the second half of his career as a large, bald, fat aggresive, barely mobile lump whose sole job was to position himself for long balls to head on to others. i hoped for more from rooney, and so far my fears have been proven unfounded. with england, in a few tournaments, he has been injured going into them, which hasnt helped, or got injured at them. holding him responsible for that is just nonsense. his goals per game ratio is fine for an international striker, even better when you think that he drops back far deeper than most other strikers internationally, and also that he plays a larger part in the build up play than most other strikers would ever do. the dissapointment is that england are so crap collectively. we shouldnt get confused when we look to pillory individuals.
He's our fifth highest scorer ever. It's a shame he's never had a second great tournament but I think the real problem is people have insane expectations.
No United have not ruined Rooney because the only person who has done that is Rooney himself mainly due to his poor eating habbits off the field , because he is one of these players that needs to be as near too 100% fit as possible to get the best out of his talent. Because if he is not his form dips big time as we saw in the Euro's in the summer, and as he gets older it will only get worse, P.S and IMO we have already seen the best of him as a player and that was back at the Euro's in 04.
He just seemed to have lost that explosiveness after his first couple of seasons at Man Utd. Like Gascoigne he hasn't looked after his body and is already physically past it at 26. I can't believe he went to Vegas before the Euro's, you can't imagine Messi, Ronaldo or Robben doing that.
I'm not making excuses for Waz, but he has had numerous injuries at the worst time for England. Also, he has been overplayed by SAF when he could have been rested. Now a lot of that has to do with Rooney just wanting to be on the pitch, regardless of the competition....