The whole team were dreadful last night, but the worst of a terrible bunch was probably Wayne Rooney. Now that needs some explaining. The guy has been brilliant all season until that injury against Bayern. Has he been carrying that injury ever since? Does that explain why he is a pale shadow of the Rooney we know?
But if he is injured, why did Capello play him in all those meaningless warm up games? As long ago as the Egypt match I was calling for him to be rested. But Capello picked him and risked him and put still more miles on Rooney's clock. Why did he play against Mexico? Why did he start against Japan? Why did he play against the South African club side? Madness, even if he was fully fit, as I kept saying. But if there was an injury too? Or has Rooney tried to cover it up, fearing that Ferguson would pull him from the squad if it became public knowledge?
Ferguson undoubtedly rushed him back too early out of desperate need. I fear that the injury is deep seated and is restricting Rooney, taking away that vital half a yard of pace and perhaps registering pain as he tries to do what usually comes naturally to him. He looks physically exhausted to me. And Capello's problem is that he hasn't dared to consider an alternative. All those opportunities wasted to try a permutation without Rooney. If he is only 80% fit, where does Capello turn to now?
24 comments:
From what I saw, he didn't look injured HF...just frustrated that he wasn't getting any service from the midfield or his striking 'partner'! Heskey was...well, Heskey! Dross!
The starting set-up was so negative! How can you have Barry as a holding midfielder with Gerrard AND Lampard?! Fat Frank was cack basically! Joe Cole MUST start on Wednesday instead of him. That'll give them more width AND pace to feed Wayne and DEFOE up front! Upson or Dawson instead of Carra at the back too!...oh, and Green back in goal while we're at it!!
I've never seen him look so poor Shaun. His touch was incredibly heavy.
Agreed...he's had 2 pretty average to poor games now so Sod's Law says he'll be firing on all V12's on Wednesday!
Rooney is good with Man U because he is surrounded with a number of players that provide him with perfect balls like Valencia and Nani who unfortunately are not English.
Yeah, agreed Sav...that's my point about the lack of service. Don't get me wrong, the guy does score some unbelievable individual efforts, but he is 'spoilt' at ManUre! Talking of manure...Emile isn't doing him any favours either, which is why Capello has to give him the Spanish Archer for Wednesday! Judas is the answer in my opinion!
Agree Shaun, Judas would be a better option (as of course Joe Cole to be given a chance). I really don't have a clue what Capello is doing. Maybe neither does he!
He's been rubbish because he's been playing rubbish. It's got nothing to do with not having Nani or Valencia. He 's got Lampard, Gerrard and Barry pssing him the ball.
His touch last night was an embarrassment, let's not make excuses for him fellas.
Don't get me wrong, the whole team were rubbish but he was equally as rubbish.
You could argue Lampard was rubbish because he didn't have Drogba playing up top, he only had Rooney.
Both comparisons are pointless, they all played rubbish, particularly and including Wayne so let's stop with the "he was crap because he didn't have Nani or Valencia" bullsh!t.
Never mind Wayne Rooney Dan mate...what's impressed me is how you managed to include the word 'rubbish' SIX times in one post! That's not rubbish!
Rubbish is a nice way to not swear.
Rubbish, all of em, absolutely rubbish.
For rubbish insert {sh!t, bollocks, crap, awful, sh!te}
He looks fit but frustrated. No link between midfield and attack and he has to keep coming deep to weave the play.
I agree that some of the poor control he exhibited can be put down to the ball.
We should be patient with him as there is no point to anything else. Class is permanent.
He looks physically spent to me, in dire need of a rest. Capello's decision to pick him in all the warm up games was crassly stupid Stani. What was he going to learn from that? Defend that managerial decision!
HF,
If he "looks physically spent" to you then I don't need to defend it because it does not mean it's necessarily true. I did guess this post was a thinly veiled attack on Capello. If your Zola attacks were anything to go by, I can expect a few more to follow once you think of reasons to attack.
Could it not be that Rooney was played in the games because he is the fulcrum thus had to play to see how the system/tactics work?
Didn't look physically spent to me. He ran his backside off. He was frustrated, that is clear.
When will you be happy HF? When there is an English manager in charge? Well I hope there is next, then we'll see when we return to the 'JT' and 'Lamps' calling, jobs for the boys and a England squad that resembles a holiday camp.
I am a Capello backer actually but he has made serious errors since qualification was secured. He knew how the system worked, it worked through qualification, he didn't have to keep playing Rooney. What if that fulcrum broke down or got injured? Where is the sense in not testing alternatives?
It is easy to criticise him in hindsight HF, but where was everyone before? During qualifiers? Not one person were questioning the manager. Since the qualifiers, a lot has gone on with off field incidents and player injuries throwing spanners in the works. I think Capello has coped well so far.
Crouch, Defoe were given opportunities. If Rooney was unfit or tired, I'm certain Capello would have been the first to want to rest him.
But we're having this argument because we lost to Algeria. The fact is any 11 from that squad should have got a result so criticising the manager seems to be a result of some kind of ulterior motive.
We didn't lose!
Read the article. I suggest Rooney may have hidden the injury. I say Capello was stupid to RISK injury and burn out by playing our crown jewel in meaningless fixtures after a very tiring season. I said it at the time. Go back to my articles on the Egypt friendly and I am standing by that now. I think you are either arguing for arguments sake or there is something weird in your psyche Stani that prevents you ever criticising a manager. Is it because of respect for the superior taught by Islam perhaps, I don't know. Your blind support of Zola was odd. This defence of Capello is all very well but we all make mistakes, and you don't seem to countenance the possibility that Capello has cocked up. I think he has! He may yet get it right but he has got it all wrong since he named the squad of 30. In fact, he got it wrong when he stripped Terry of the captaincy.
..lost points, sorry.
Why would Rooney hide the injury HF? He was a shoe-in. It wasn't as if he needed to play himself into Capello's thoughts. I was generally talking about people who are now criticising Capello but were nowhere to be heard before.
Psyche? Are you suggesting I'm mad? :) I give respect where it's due and decent people making honest decisions usually qualify. The Zola Capello situations are totally different HF. I've been critical of Capello, of course I have. I wanted Carlton played during the build up to the tournament. I wanted him, Parker and Adam Johnson to go to the world cup. I want Joe Cole starting. I want Gareth Barry out. Of course I've been critical but managers make selection decisions that we don't agree with like this all the time but not every team ends up not performing to the extent England have. But like I said, the selection was not significant against Ageria. And my support for Zola was not blind. You mostly blamed the manager, I mostly blamed the players, other circumstances, and Chairmen. Unfortunately, I will not be able to prove to you that I was right because Grant will not have the 'pleasure' of going into the season with the same donkey squad. Of course, conversely, it does mean that you cannot say 'I told you so'....although I won't put it past you!
The stripping of Terry as captain has had no negative effect on the situation. This is more evident now than before, when people were making it out to be a doom and gloom decision. A clear overreaction by many.
I like this dynamic, you trying to take chunks out of me!
First off, read the article again, I explain why Rooney would hide the injury. If Ferguson knew he was injured, then Rooney would not be in South Africa. Rooney was desperate to go. He would then have had to hide it from Capello too, because the Italian would be angry to learn that an injury had been concealed ahead of naming his final squad. I may be wrong but that would explain why he looks so off form.
How can you say the stripping of the captaincy from Terry has not had a negative effect? All the evidence suggests it has. Whilst Terry was captain, we looked virtually unbeatable; since he has been replaced, we have scratched around looking for form.
How could Capello have picked Carlton Cole? He was struggling in a West Ham shirt for the last quarter of the season. No way was he playing like an England player! Bent for Heskey maybe, but Cole? No way based on what I saw, and I was a huge fan of Cole before he picked up that injury. The interesting thing is that Rooney has lost form in the same way as Cole. His touch is heavy, his control is poor. Cole was carrying an injury without question, and I fear Rooney is too.
As for Zola, he did not make best use of the resources at his disposal. It may not have been the greatest of squads but they were not as bad as Zola made them look.
...well there's a lot to take from isn't there? Anyone comment that you're looking much slimmer lately? All my work that.
But there's a fundamental flaw in that argument HF. You are saying Rooney was injured but in order to hide this injury he carried on wanting to play. This means, in Rooney's mind, he knew that the apparent injury wouldn't suddenly get so worse as to cause him to completely break down and force him to stop playing because then his plan would be pointless. So, this means the apparent injury was minor, so if the apparent injury was minor there would have been no risk to Rooney being held back by Ferguson had Rooney rested it. Why? Because he would have passed the then required fitness Test wouldn't he? If he was fit enough to continue playing with the apparent injury, he would have been fit enough to pass the fitness/Ferguson test had he rested the apparent injury. There was no risk in resting it, so there was no injury.
Oooof, give me tangible evidence that this scratching for form is the direct result of Terry being stripped of the captaincy.
Are you saying to me that Carlton would have done worse than Heskey? That one on one? Come on HF!
Ferguson said earlier in the season that Rooney has to be protected from himself. Didn't he play in the Egypt game whilst carrying an injury, against Ferguson's wishes? From memory, he missed the next United game didn't he? Rooney is stupid and committed. If his leg was hanging off, he would still try to play. You clearly know nothing about the guy if you don't understand that. He carried an injury into the last World Cup if you remember and was off the boil then too. He looked as if he was restricted in United's closing games of the saeson too. It may just be exhaustion, but if so, Capello was stupid to play him in the warm up games anyway.
I did say Bent for Heskey perhaps, not Cole. Cole was unfit Stani, that was obvious.
Tangible evidence for Terry? Our performances. What more evidence do you need?
...but he's still not injured or exhausted HF. He looked bursting with energy against Algeria.
I think Cole was just coming back to fitness. Still, he had a long time before the USA game to find that fitness had he been picked.
No, what direct evidence do you have that just by Terry losing the armband, England have struggled. Fine, one followed the other but this does not mean that it caused it.
Yep, you are right. I hit a glass with a cricket bat and it smashes, but what evidence do I have that the glass smashed because it was hit by the cricket bat? It could have been on the point of spontaneous shattering anyway.
Terrible analogy HF. Come on now, did you expect me take accept the comparison?
How has Terry being stripped of the captaincy caused England to play poorly? Let me put it another way; if Terry had the arm band on, would we have beaten the USA and Algeria? If yes, why? And what is it that Terry would have done with the arm band that he wouldn't have without the arm band? And more importantly, why would he have not done it without the arm band?
Explain why the loss of form coincided with Terry being stripped of the captaincy. Did Capello lose a section of the dressing room at that point? Was that compounded by the inclusion of Carragher and King, then compounded further with the dropping of Walcott, then compounded still further with the selection and then dropping of Green?
A happy ship has become an unhappy ship? Why? If the captain pisses on the boson and the cabin boy, and suddenly boards two pirates who have turned their back on the crew when the ship was going through troubled waters, is it any wonder if they no longer pull so hard on the oars for him? I may do a post using this analogy!
By the way, you look at the World and assume a creator because of the perfect design. Where's your evidence beyond what your eyes and heart tell you? Who knows, the Universe may have burst into existence anyway at the very second Allah created it mate!
HF,
Actually, reports were alleging to the contrary that many of the players were on Bridge's side so I cannot see how stripping Terry of the captaincy caused Capello to lose the dressing room. They have too much respect for him to engage in childish stunts like that anyway.
They're unhappy because they're playing shite and losing.
In regards to Carragher and King...I think Capello should have asked them back much earlier or not at all. But, had he asked them back earlier the maybe they would have said no because the world cup was not on the door step to entice them. Personally, I wouldn't have called them back and I disagree with what Carrager and King did but the fact that Capello did call them and Scholes says to us that he knows he's not got much to play with.
HF, you cannot compare belief in God to this! Sometimes you need to indulge in a bit of suspension of disbelief in order to make the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Not everything that exists can be measured.
If Allah created the universe and Allah exists and is the Creator, the All-seeing All-knowing, then the universe couldn't have just burst into existence without his command.
By the way, why are you so at unease with my way of life? You keep mentioning it like there's something deep down nagging you about it. If there are things about it that you cannot argue against or answer then accept it HF. You will be at much more peace with yourself. Make it yours, then you won't need to argue with me, you can argue with yourself. If the existence of God is absurd, then surely the only thing more absurd is the non-existence of God i.e everything just happened.
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