FIFA World Cup 2010: Wayne Rooney can bring the Three Lions back to life
If and when England get their chance to play against Slovenia on Wednesday, their hopes of winning the game are going to rest mostly on the shoulders of Wayne Rooney, he is their best hope. He is one of the best strikers in the world, even though he has had two quiet games. He does get frustrated and did so even on Friday night, but this is only because he is very fiercely competitive. When things are not going right for somebody with such a winning mentality as him the frustration does tend to spills over.
In Wayne's defense though, football fans must keep in mind that he has played virtually every game for Manchester United this season. He has not had a winter break and he has had the pressure of scoring goals for United for a long time. Wayne has high expectations and the nation has a lot of hope pinned on him with England at the World Cup.
Having the responsibility of leading the line for England and the job to score goals is a hefty one. When a player in this position leaves the game at a tournament without scoring, he cannot help but feel a bit of a hole inside. Wayne feels that often. Wayne will be desperate to do well, so for him and the team to get booed, is a bad mixture. He is trying so hard and then everybody turns on him and the team. The disappointment and frustration he must have felt at that moment cannot even be described. He must have been even more frustrated inside than he seemed on the outside.
The draw with Algeria was very disappointing. England did not play particularly well as they clearly were not able to create enough chances for themselves. It is not the same ‘England’, that fans have been watching in qualifying, there has been no real spark to the team. Wayne is so important. One influential player like Wayne can really spark the other 10 and bring the team back to life. England needs Wayne in top form. Hopefully the manager will get it right for Port Elizabeth. The manager is very experienced; he has played more formations than many others out there and would know exactly what to do.
The beauty of football is that everybody has opinions, and everyone in the nation will have their team (England) to beat Slovenia. All top teams such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United and Liverpool, know that they need to control midfield in the top games. If they cannot control midfield, as was seen against America, then they leave their back-four pretty exposed. If Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Gareth Barry, some of England’s best players, play in exactly the roles they do for their clubs then England would be able to strengthen their stance. Gareth can sit and that gives Frank and Stevie license to join in the attack, doing what they do so successfully at their clubs, scoring so many goals every year.
The most pressing issue for England is how to score goals. Many people have said that they missed chances against America but did they really? Stevie scored and Emile Heskey missed a good one-on-one so they scored one out of two really good chances. There were also a couple of half-chances, but they were only that. England needs to be creating four or five good chances and they didn't really create anything against Algeria.
Many fans would like to see Wayne play up top alone. If one looks at Manchester United, the manager in the majority of games will go 4-4-2 but as soon as one considers AC Milan, Chelsea or Arsenal, the managers seem to play Wayne up. Considering the Champions League final with Inter Milan; they've got one of their best strikers in the world in Samuel Eto'o and where does he play in the big games? Right midfield. Jose Mourinho plays Diego Milito up front on his own and Eto'o on the right. Tactics evolve and many managers play one up now.
England need to beat Slovenia and people might say playing one up is a bit defensive but the teams can afford to do that if the wingers get down the flanks. England has only got two points but it is still in their hands. If Slovenia or US had won, it might have been out of their hands so that makes the team quite lucky.
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