As yet another lacklustre England performance fades quickly away, SAVVY_MONKEY knows what Sir Paul would do with Master Wayne.
As yet another lacklustre England performance fades quickly away, we`re all left wondering how it was possible to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory against a team that`s only been in existence for five years.
Clearly, the England team is not as good as it once as. Fans and commentators talk about the lack of passion and commitment, but the significant deficiencies run deeper than that.
The rest of the world has caught up. Once where it was the number of hat-tricks Gary Lineker would score in qualifying that was the litmus test of success, now it appears as though qualification itself is success enough.
The trouble is, England have only one great player, or two when Steven Gerrard is fit. That in itself isn`t a problem – it only becomes an issue when the player is bigger than the team he`s playing in – or thinks so anyhow.
The enigma that is Wayne Rooney cannot be underrated. He is the 3rd highest paid player in the world and he averages a goal every 2 games for Manchester United. He`s won four league titles, a Champions League. In 2004, he was going to be the best player we`d seen in an England shirt since Bobby Charlton; the boy can play.
The stats support this undoubted ability. England have played three games without Rooney since the last World Cup and won none of them. In that same period, England have won seven of the nine games they have played with Rooney in the team, with the two draws against Montenegro accounting for the other two matches.
Beneath all of this though is something even more crucial than ability. Beneath the brilliance is a flawed and self-destructive character. His disciplinary record is well-documented, as are his off the field misadventures.
All of this however, could be forgivable. England have had players of this ilk before, petulant, flammable characters with ability in droves and built of dubious moral fibre. Rooney is different; he`s not able to focus in the face of adversity. He does not deliver when he is expected to and he puts himself ahead of his teammates far too often (rewind twelve months for an example of this).
A sign of things to come was the 2004 friendly in Spain. The team, outplayed, were subject to racial taunts from the home fans and a short-fused and angered Wayne Rooney was substituted before he got himself sent off. Yes, the chants were horrific, but there was simply no need for the outburst. It was unprofessional, foolish and immature. Fast forward seven years and the boy is still not yet a man.
Anyone who has studied team building theory will know that balance and togetherness are the fundamental building blocks of successful teams, not ability. A certain Paul Lambert knows this.
Few would say that the promotion winning side of last year had any ‘Rooneys`. Where Cardiff had ex-Premier League stars Craig Bellamy, Jay Bothroyd and Michael Chopra and Sven`s Leicester had the talented Yakubu amongst others, Lambert proved that a group of 15 or so hard-working likeable professionals can achieve more than a star-studded alternative.
The team was balanced, focussed and together, a recipe ripe for over-achieving. Think Greece in Euro 2004 or even Germany in 2002.
Lambert wouldn`t pick Rooney, I`m convinced of it. It would be to the detriment of everything he has built and everything he believes in, and in my view neither should Capello.
Show some strength Fabio and put the best team out at Euro 2012, not the best players. Leave Rooney at home.
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