Wayne Rooney stands tall in shallow end of England’s shrinking talent pool

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/aug/28/wayne-rooney-england-captain-roy-hodgson

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It was the night of Manchester City’s game against Liverpool when Roy Hodgson arranged to pull off the M56 a few junctions early for a secret meeting with Wayne Rooney at the offices of his agent, Paul Stretford, in Wilmslow. The conversation lasted 30 minutes and, by the time everything had been said, Rooney left for home as the new England captain.

“Some people grow in their roles as captain, because it is such a prestigious position they get confidence from it,” Hodgson said. “Others get weighed down. Only time will tell with Wayne. I said to him: ‘I want you, but do you want it? Do you know what being England captain means, and are you ready for it?’ He certainly convinced me that he was, but he knows he has to convince other people as well.”

Rooney, by Hodgson’s own admission, does not necessarily fit the stereotypical image of the England captain. “But I’ve never been 100% certain about what a natural leader is,” the England manager continued. “I would shy away from the stereotype of the natural leader: the loudmouthed, up-and-at-’em, screaming and shouting type who makes himself noticeable everywhere he goes. That wasn’t Steven Gerrard, that wasn’t Bryan Robson. That isn’t Wayne Rooney. What is personality? Is someone shouting jokes at parties, and boring you, is that personality? Sometimes leaders have other qualities, deep within, that are actually more important.”

And, besides, who else was there? Hodgson has not even named a vice-captain, the role Frank Lampard used to take, and admitted he might keep the position open. After Rooney, there are only two other players in the squad Hodgson named on Thursdayyesterday with more than 30 caps: James Milner and Joe Hart. Rooney has 40 goals; the other players have 27 between them. The squad is noteworthy only because, overall, it is so mundane. Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole have gone and, for now, their replacements are Fabian Delph, Jack Colback and Danny Rose. They are all accomplished players for their clubs but, however it is dressed up, all it really tells us is that the talent pool of English footballers is shrinking before our eyes.

If that sounds unduly negative, it is worth pointing out that Hodgson did not try to deny it, admitting it would be harder for the current squad to get results than their predecessors and pointing out, justifiably, that someone in his own position could only pick the best of what was available.

“They are all we have,” he said at one point. And he did not sugarcoat it either when it was put to him that there was a startling lack of leadership among his players. “Ten years ago, even five years ago, it was unthinkable that someone who was playing for England would not be a first-choice player in their club team. I don’t have that luxury any more. Now I need to select players who aren’t even guaranteed a starting place in their club teams because of the way the Premier League has developed. That is where we are. I can’t wave the magic wand and bring back a leader in defence, with one or two in midfield and one or two up front. I can’t replicate it because it doesn’t exist.”

His thinking has been swayed by a considerable injury list and it is true that Rose, Delph and Colback have begun the season impressively. Calum Chambers has been fast-tracked on the basis of his first few performances for Arsenal but the other three are aged 24 and in Colback’s case he has been off England’s radar since coming on as substitute for the Under-20s in a 2-0 win against Italy at Loftus Roadin March 2009.

Hodgson said he was impressed after learning that someone “who knows him well up there” had nicknamed Newcastle’s summer signing the “Ginger Pirlo”. Pushed further, he said he could not quite remember who it was. Pushed again, he asked his press officer for help and it turned out it was actually from a column on the Daily Mail’s website, written by TalkSport’s Adrian Durham.

Andrea Pirlo, for the record, made 1,744 passes (1,391 forward) from his 30 games for Juventus last season, compared with Colback’s 845 (518). Pirlo created 68 chances as opposed to Colback’s 20 and outdid him for assists and goals as well. Colback is a tidy player, quick to the ball, with a good appreciation of what is going around him and at least we know the answer to the question Durham posed about whether the former Sunderland player was being ignored because of the colour of his hair. But the Ginger Pirlo? That’s the equivalent of calling Bolton’s goalkeeper, Adam Bogdan, the Ginger Buffon.

The problem for Hodgson is that when the choice is so limited it tends to backfire on the manager. Not now, perhaps. His description of England’s qualifying group for the next European Championship as “relatively easy” was an understatement bearing in mind they can finish third and still feasibly qualify via the play-offs. Yet if the qualifying turns out as everyone imagines – potentially the most boring process England have ever known – it is not going to win back the public’s trust.

England, as Hodgson acknowledged, have one heck of a job trying to shift the mood and that is not going to happen beating San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia and Slovenia. The large expanses of empty seats at Wembley for the Norway game will be one gauge of the current apathy. Another came in the question to Hodgson about whether he should consider himself lucky to have kept his job. “I don’t think it’s a correct question to ask me whether I should feel lucky or unlucky,” he said. “I signed up for four years. I want to do the job for four years. I believe that we’re doing the job as well and honestly as we possibly can and I’m happy that the FA and the people who make those decisions have got the same opinion.”