Why did Rooney play so badly in South Africa?

[London Eye]

I've heard people say that he was coming back from injury and that players coming back from injury take time to get into their flow. But most people realise that a top player doesn't lose their touch from injury. And Rooney's touch was worse than I've ever seen, it was like watching a Sunday league player after a night on the tiles. He seemed afraid to shoot against Germany. Every time the ball went near him it bounced off him.

He seemed very troubled to me. Was he really playing on with an injury? Does that explain his woeful control. I saw somewhere he had one of the poorest records against Germany in terms of losing the ball. There were rumours (yes, just rumours) of a disagreement between him and Terry (on top of the supposed disagreements between Terry and Carragher and Gerrard). Actually, the rumour was that Rooney decked Terry with one punch! But still, even if that were true, how could it explain Rooney playing soooooo badly it was almost as if he was meaning to play that badly.

Tournament nerves? This is a man who (admittedly at only 17, when he didn't know any better) and who, had he not got injured, would have probably won the cup for England.

So does anyone have any explanation for why Rooney had such a bad world cup?

 

[StanSmith]

When did Rooney KO Terry? It couldnt have been during the tournament because every paper in the world would have had the story.

My honest opinion for the whole sorry tale was they just werent happy at the disciplined way Capello demands his team to to behave. They may agree to a couple of days but a few weeks? What else has changed since the qualification period?

 

[Dr. Furface]

I think he was preoccupied with his new film coming out - Shrek Forever After

 

[TrippyLondoner]

I think its just down to the tactical(if we can call it that, or maybe i should say 'lack of') set up not being right for him. Same goes for alot of the other players.

 

[weltweit]

The games I watched Rooney hardly saw the ball, I don't think there was exactly good service to him.

In the Portugal v Spain game you also saw a pretty weak performance from Ronaldo, but he was hardly ever (like Rooney) passed the ball.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I

Tournament nerves? This is a man who (admittedly at only 17, when he didn't know any better) and who, had he not got injured, would have probably won the cup for England.

Nerves get worse as you get older, generally, not better.

 

[London Eye]

Nerves get worse as you get older, generally, not better.

This I agree with most. Because Rooney, although he didn't see much of the ball, when he did it was bouncing off his shins, passes were going astray. This is a man who could flight a 40 yard crossfield ball without hardly looking. And then there's the couple of chances he had against Germany to shoot that he passed up. I'd say that the weight of expectation really got to him, he missed his family and Capello's regime accentuated that.

But really, if that's all true then to consider him up there with Messi (who, though he isn't having a great world cup, is still showing signs and, most importantly, Argentina are still in it) seems a joke now. I feel sorry for him, because we all knew that without Rooney England didn't have a prayer. And for me, we didn't see the real Rooney out there.

Must have been an imposter!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

He may not have scored, but Messi is having a great World Cup!

Thing is, Argentina are playing as a team. England didn't.

 

[Proper Tidy]

"Dear 442..."

 

[London Eye]

He may not have scored, but Messi is having a great World Cup!

Thing is, Argentina are playing as a team. England didn't.

He's being unselfish and showing flashes of brilliance, but he hasn't even got close to what he is capable of. And I think we're about to see him do that starting with Germany.

And, yes, England just a bunch of egos who resented their manager.

Whereas Argentina see their manager, not surprisingly, as a national hero.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I would not bet against Messi scoring against Germany. To be fair to him, he's been the victim of some of the best goalkeeper saves of the tournament.

But his touch is never less than sublime.

Every time I've seen him play, either for Barca or Argentina, that touch has been there. It appears effortless, as George Best did (admittedly I only know Best from replays).

 

[kained&able]

midfield din't really perform which leaves rooney with difficulties, also he clearly cares more about man united then england for whatever reason.


dave

 

[London Eye]

He may not have scored, but Messi is having a great World Cup!

Thing is, Argentina are playing as a team. England didn't.

But it still doesn't explain why one man's individual skill goes from 100 to 0 in less four games.

4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-5-1, makes no difference.

He's excelled at them all, even as a left winger. This was not the real Wayne Rooney. I reckon that finding out what went wrong with Rooney will answer why England did so badly, and I reckon it is bound to come out.

Because so far no explanation I've heard fits in with such a bad performance.

Nerves comes close, but even that is unlikely for a man who has tournament experience and a champions league medal.

 

[Proper Tidy]

midfield din't really perform which leaves rooney with difficulties, also he clearly cares more about man united then england for whatever reason.

Because that is who employs him, perchance

 

[London_Calling]

No service at all from the left - if Gerrard was out there he cut in and shot, never passed, no service from the right - Milner into near post space always run into by Defoe.

He came deeper and deeper and also went to the left wing to try and find space, and God knows there was enough where Gerrard was supposed to play. But it's not a scoring position.

Got a little from Heskey, nothing from Defoe. Lampard and Barry - a little. Long ball no good for him.


Rooney was one of maybe three England players who, at club level, have entire attacking strategies designed to take advantage of their abilities. You can only really have one in a club team and certainly no more in an ad hoc representative team.

He didn't do well because the team wasn't set up for him, as it wasn't set up for Gerrard and as it wasn't set up for Lampard.

 

[kained&able]

Probably, but doubt that it is quite that simple.(tidy not lc, who may well have hit a few nails)


dave

 

[London Eye]

I would not bet against Messi scoring against Germany. To be fair to him, he's been the victim of some of the best goalkeeper saves of the tournament.

But his touch is never less than sublime.

Every time I've seen him play, either for Barca or Argentina, that touch has been there. It appears effortless, as George Best did (admittedly I only know Best from replays).

That used to be said of Rooney too (admittedly never went for the Messi comparisons).

But if Messi's touch deserted him, wouldn't everyone be shocked and asking what is wrong with him?

Why are people not shocked at Rooney's bad control. Or do most people think his game is just about power and aggression? Because those in the know, know that his touch and control have always been top class. What went wrong to make him seem like Theo Walcott on a bad day?

 

[trashpony]

He was up to No Good off the pitch

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I agree with that analysis, L_C, but then the question becomes: should the team have been set up for him?

There's nothing wrong with setting up a team around the strengths of your best player, imo. Chelsea regularly do it around Drogba and it seems to work ok.

 

[weltweit]

Well, why, in the last game when they needed goals, did Fabio bring on Heskey, a player who does not score goals?

 

[Proper Tidy]

He was up to No Good off the pitch

Was he fucking surrogate mummies again?

 

[TrippyLondoner]

Well, why, in the last game when they needed goals, did Fabio bring on Heskey, a player who does not score goals?

Not this debate again.

 

[StanSmith]

He was up to No Good off the pitch

What was he up to?


Plus when was he have supposed to have KO'd JT?

 

[weltweit]

I don't know much about football but I know I hear quite a lot of questions about Fabio's choices, why to play this player out of his position, why not to bring on a goal scorer when goals were needed, why to play Rooney out of his usual formation etc etc ...

I was told Rooney is a world class player, well on this display I don't agree, but perhaps there is more to it. After all Ronaldo is a world class player, nobody passed the ball to him in the game against Spain and he looked well, ordinary!

 

[littlebabyjesus]

What else has changed since the qualification period?

The standard of the opposition.

 

[TrippyLondoner]

The standard of the opposition.

Would you say Algeria are stronger than most of our qualifying opponents? And Slovenia? Cause i wouldn't.

 

[Proper Tidy]

I don't know much about football but I know I hear quite a lot of questions about Fabio's choices, why to play this player out of his position, why not to bring on a goal scorer when goals were needed, why to play Rooney out of his usual formation etc etc ...

Everyone's a manager

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Would you say Algeria are stronger than most of our qualifying opponents? And Slovenia?

Slovenia beat Russia to qualify, so yes, they were stronger.

Algeria were probably on a par with Croatia/Ukraine. And England lost to Ukraine in their last match, remember.

 

[StanSmith]

The standard of the opposition.

Fair enough but are Algeria, USA, Slovenia any better than Croatia? Plus they seemed totally disjointed. Something happened out there and hopefully we will all find out soon

 

[TrippyLondoner]

Slovenia beat Russia to qualify, so yes, they were stronger.

Algeria were probably on a par with Croatia/Ukraine. And England lost to Ukraine in their last match, remember.

I agree with your first point, but we did beat slovenia. Algeria on par with ukraine? I dont think so....