SEPT 7 — Indeed, stick Wayne Rooney up front alone and you get a sulking, angry bear with a sore head. He gets frustrated easily because nobody understands or sees his movement, never mind makes the right pass to him.
So, what Rooney did against Bulgaria was simple. He dropped into midfield in a 4-4-1-1 and made three goals.
He has become a true playmaker, the likes of which England has lacked since Glenn Hoddle put on the Cross of St George for Ol’ Blighty.
Combine the vision and awareness that Hoddle possessed together with the strong, determined running with the ball of Paul Gascoigne and you get Wayne Rooney.
Let him boss the midfield, with two banks of four behind him and a mobile, willing runner up front. Rooney has the intelligence to not to be man-marked.
It’s time for England to face the fact that “bursting forward from midfield” is another thing that Steven Gerrard cannot do for 90 minutes at the age of 30.
The time has come, too, for Frank Lampard to realise he has been a major flop in international football. My only advice to him is: “Take a break, Frank, and do consider cutting short your international career to focus your efforts on continuing to play league football.”
The other problem position in this current England line-up is Gareth Barry’s. I really believe it is time to give Lee Cattermole a chance to establish himself at full international level after having starred for the Under-21s.
Do I hear howls of derision? If Cattermole was Argentinian, he would be captain.
Yes, you can guess whom I’m talking about. It is none other than Senor Javier “Don’t cry for me Liverpool-Nah!” Mascherano.
Indeed, Cattermole has similar traits and character to Mascherano but then again if Andres Iniesta had been English, he would have been on the bench for the great little man “can’t tackle.”
We can’t really say much about the Bulgarians and it is no wonder Dimitar Berbatov has called it quits rather than be in a totally hopeless team that was seen at Wembley.
The Swiss will provide a sterner test to England tonight but some of their players, too, have often shot themselves in the foot for putting “I” before “team.”
It could be a situation of “out of the frying pan and into the fire” for Laurent Blanc as Les Bleus travel to play Bosnia-Herzegovina tonight. The home loss to Belarus was bad enough but the French will be up against a better team.
I would suspect Les President to be on the defensive with a missive to not lose another match.
The French are struggling for goals, which brings me nicely to the subject of Edin Dzeko, who I think is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment, and the lack of a big money move for him.
Perhaps, Jose Mourinho could come calling in January to bring him to Real Madrid, or by some twist, who knows, Spurs might bid for him, too!
He is the man the French defence will have to be wary of as his power can unsettle any defender let alone the possible pairing of Phillip Mexes and Adil Rami.
On the subject of defenders, the Portuguese certainly could have done with some against Cyprus. And it does not get any tougher than a visit to Norway tonight.
It is apparent Portugal needs a new coach and new ideas to kickstart their campaign. The staleness of the World Cup still hangs over them like a cloud and it does not help with the suspension drama around Carlos Queiroz either.
It is certainly going to be good tonight, viewing the reactions from coaches and players who have found themselves in the mire already after having played only one game in their quest for a ticket to Poland and Ukraine 2012.
* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.
