He may be a good premiere club player, but he has NEVER played well for England, certainly not to live up to the media's expectations.
Rooney's last World Cup was dismal.. He was one of the worst players on the field so why do they keep picking this dud to play at international level - he's just not an international player.

Because international football is more than the 4 or so games every two years.

Yet another Rooney thread - Jesus wept.

What hype is this? Whenever Rooney is mentioned by people or the media it's generally to criticise him. There was even a thread in General Discussion where people were talking about the poverty in Brazil and somehow linked that to Rooney. As if it's his duty to be fighting world hunger.

Even as a Rooney critic there are holes in what you have said. He has played well for England before and in one certain tournament well above media expectations.

Thing is if he gets a couple of Uruguay the media will declare him the messiah, he's either shite or he's God, there's no middle ground, he can't be just another good solid team player.

That's the British media for you. They need to hype and to some extent create their own stories so there isn't much room for balanced opinion when hyperbole sells better.

I hope that he gets benched against Uruguay and the team get absolutely battered - just wondering how that would be construed as being Rooney's fault?

Thought Rooney played fairly well v Italy, great run and cross for England's equaliser?

He was sitting on the bench collecting his £300k while the real match winner was left at the hotel.

He was probably England's worst player.

It was his goals that got england to the WC in the first place.he is 5th on england's top goal scorers list and only 11 goals away from the record,its only a matter of time.

Nonsense.
Time for another thread surely?
Only 17hrs & 20 mins til next match

Even if he is England's best player, as the pundits continue to insist, that doesn't mean he should always start. Hodgson should pick the most balanced starting eleven, not the best eleven players.

He made one outstanding contribution against Italy, passing to Sturridge to score. But he was a liability in defence in the first half and missed a sitter of a chance to equalise in the second, as well as taking the ball off Barkley and destroying the chance he was creating. He's good but he's not as good as he thinks he is. His first touch is poor and that is a serious issue with the style of play England are using. And of course he has a tendency to wander out of position and go looking for the ball like a kid in the park.

Pundits are floating the idea of going 4-4-2 now and Rooney and Sturridge as a partnership.

Hart
Johnson Jagielka Cahill Baines
Sterling Gerrard Henderson Ox/Welbeck
Sturridge Rooney

Something like that I guess.

If it's true, that's a massive decision.
Changing the team just to suit Rooney.
If England loose, Rooney will get absolutely slaughtered & Hodgson will be declared a jellyfish & will be picking up his P45.

That's basically the same team that started against Italy, only with Rooney playing as a striker rather than a left midfielder. Simply switching Rooney from the left wing to the centre is hardly a "massive" decision.

Personally I think England need to make more significant changes than that but it's not really to do with Rooney, the problem for me is they're playing with too many forwards and not enough midfielders.

That would be a mistake. If you are looking for a partnership you should look no further than Sterling and Sturridge. However it seems Rooney will play in the middle. If so, I would expect him to be playing off Sturridge, not alongside him. The actual formation is largely irrelevant, as long as it's not too rigid. The problem with 4-4-2 is that it encourages rigid, flat play. No depth and flexibility. It would be a massive step backwards for England to use it.

Lallana surely has to play on the left. There's no guarantee the Ox is properly fit and Welbeck could be a useful sub for Rooney if he has another off night.

Wayne Rooney isn't even England's 5th best player.

He's never played well for England, ever? Sorry that's utter balls, when he first came through he was outstanding and was in his youth better than Ronaldo and Messi, maybe not as skillful but more dynamic. Of course as they've aged, Ronaldo and Messi evolved way beyond him and have totally eclipsed anything he's ever done. I think his problem is he was built up too much at a young age into the "White Pele" by the English media and didn't think he needed to try harder. Add arrogant personality traits and a dubious lifestyle and he was always the new Gazza rather than a Pele.

Still a "good" player, but never reached the heights he could have done. Its quite sad really. He still produces the occasional moment of magic but I do think the younger England player are clearly better than him in his position.

I do think its totally wrong they keep trying to change the formation just to fit him in and its weakening the whole team. If the other players are better, sorry time to say goodbye Wayne. Maybe being benched might make him raise his level. He seemed to raise his game to get that £300,000 a week deal at Man U and then slacked off again immediately afterwards. Perhaps if he realises his England career is on the line and all the lucrative sponsorship deals will go it will have a similar effect?

Absolutely .. and he may well be our top scorer by the end of his career.
If we do badly (or even if we do well but he fails to score) .. he always gets flak. The media are on his back and he's supposed to go out there and play with confidence Wayne isn't our only player .. it's wrong that he's constantly singled out for criticism.
Listening to the people that know .. Thierry Henry etc .. they all unequivocally say that they would play him .. no question and I think international fans are just baffled that we are constantly finding fault with arguably our best player.

Plus the early international retirement of Wayne Rooney.

It's maybe just aimless speculation to fill news for a couple of days. I do think he needs to try something different tactically though. I wouldn't go that way myself - just trying to second guess Hodgson's choice (Hobson's choice!).

Love or loathe him, tomorrow is Wayne Rooney's day of judgement. If he fails to deliver, that's it. His international career is over. If we go out of the WC tomorrow I can't see him being picked for the Euro 2016 qualifiers.

I don't agree. I think the England manager would continue to pick him.