Manchester United to Nurture Wayne Rooney
After a disastrous World Cup for England, Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has been down in the dumps as of late, and is reportedly l*****g his wounds during his extended break.
On football’s grandest stage, England put on a dismal performance and was ultimately booted out of competition after a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of the Germans during the second round. Naturally, the team’s failure was attributed to Rooney’s inability to repeat his stunning club form last season, where he scored 34 goals for the Red Devils.
Ever the protective father figure of the squad, Sir Alex Ferguson was quick to throw a protective arm around Rooney, claiming that the National Team was deeply affected by an arduous domestic campaign prior to the World Cup. According to the Man U manager, Rooney, along with his England teammates arrived in South Africa a beaten team because of the Football Association’s failure to introduce a winter break.
The always-pumping Premier League is the only one of the major European leagues to forego a winter shutdown. Ferguson believes that it is the major factor why the national team has failed time and again to produce its best during major football tournaments.
“The FA has to give the country the best possible chance of doing well in the World Cup,” he said. “But because of the nature of our game, and because of the demands from television to have a programme every week, the idea of a winter break — which I was first talking about 30 years ago in Scotland and have done since I came down to England — nothing has happened about it. They must realise that, going into the World Cup, they (the FA) have handicapped their team,” said Ferguson.
In truth, the England team faced an enormous task of beating the world’s best footballing nations, after a strenuous season back home. Even a player like Rooney would find difficulty in performing at optimum level given the bruises and bumps he had just taken at the domestic level.
For Ferguson, it is not the end of the road for Rooney. After all, stellar names such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Lionel Messi all failed to live up to their status during the World Cup. So there’s absolutely no reason to crucify Rooney for his World Cup woes.
And prior to the start of another FA season, Ferguson firmly believes that United can reignite the fire in Wayne Rooney. “The boy has got an incredible armoury of talent and what we have to do is to wait for that maturity. We do nurture it and try to advise and coach in a fashion which will improve his game,” said Ferguson.
“But the most important thing I think he needs now is maturity and, when he gets that, I think you will see the complete footballer. Last year, Wayne had an improvement in terms of his timing and movement in the penalty box and his positioning was improved from the previous season. He got us over 30 goals and, if he does that again and adds a little bit to his game, then that is what we expect,” added the Man U manager.
Manchester United is currently preparing for the upcoming season in the US, where they will face Philadelphia Union. Once the English Premier League rolls around, it is expected that United will be without Rooney, in order to give the 24-year old time to recover from the extended break.
But Fergie has placed his faith on his star striker. Wayne Rooney will be back, he says. The Red Devils will make sure of that. h**l will freeze over before they give up on Wayne Rooney.
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