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Euro 2016 Steve McManaman exclusive: England will never be contenders with Rooney in midfield
Yahoo Sport's Euro 2016 analyser Steve McManaman fears the England skipper lacks experience and class in the centre - and will be found out against the very best
We will all wait to see what team Roy Hodgson picks when England head into Euro 2016 action once again this weekend - but there is one area of the team and one man in particular who still has so much to prove.
Hodgson’s selection for the final group game against Slovakia last Monday baffled me because there was plenty of time for players to rest up before the last-16 game to ensure they did not need to be rested from a game England needed to win.
Yet even with changes in personnel, the same problems that have affected England so far in this competition were in evidence and my concern is, I’m not sure Hodgson has the players at his disposal to solve the problem.
I have stated in my Yahoo columns during Euro 2016 that England’s biggest area of concern in this competition so far has been in their midfield area and up to now, captain Wayne Rooney has looked reasonably good in his new role as a creative midfielder.
Yet I am yet to be convinced that Rooney will be able to pull the strings in a midfield role against some of Europe’s top sides, as this is a player who has only just started to adapt to his new position at the back end of his career.
What happens when Rooney comes up against a multiple Champions League winner in Spain’s Andres Iniesta? Will he match up to Toni Kroos if England face Germany at some stage of Euro 2016?
The answer is we don’t know at this stage, but logic would suggest that world class performers who have been playing in this key position throughout their careers should be a few steps ahead of a player who has played most of his career as a central striking players in Rooney.
I have always been a big admirer of Rooney and he has been a fantastic player for club and country over an extended period of time.
None of us were surprised to see him looking comfortable on the ball and spraying some decent passes around the field in England’s opening games against Russia, Wales and Slovakia, but the level of opposition he has been up against so far is modest compared to what lies in wait if his side progress to the quarter-finals and beyond.
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Hodgson evidently has great faith in Rooney and wants him to stay in his side, even if he is no longer considered to be first choice striker in a squad featuring the likes of Harry Kane, Daniel Sturridge and Jamie Vardy, but it has to be a risk giving him such a prominent role in the heart of a team that is horribly lacking in wide positions.
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Rooney is the first name on Hodgson’s team-sheet and his record in an England shirt suggests he should be integrated in the side as either a starter or on the bench, but the Manchester United captain is still very much an unproven performer when a midfield battle moves up a few levels in Europe’s premier international competition.
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The England manager clearly believes Rooney is good enough to carry his side to success in his new role and we will only be able to judge whether he is right in that assessment when his side’s run at Euro 2016 ends, hopefully with an appearance in the final in Paris on July 10th.
