Wayne Rooney will be asked to start England’s friendly against Ecuador almost certainly in the left-wing position he is on record as disliking, after Roy Hodgson admitted he was concerned enough about the striker’s sharpness to change his mind about fielding an entirely new side in their penultimate warm-up match before the World Cup.
Hodgson had said after Friday’s win over Peru that he intended to make 11 changes but Rooney’s ongoing fitness issues have persuaded the England manager to alter his plans, meaning Raheem Sterling no longer gets the chance to stake his claim for a starting place in Brazil.
Rooney is set to begin as the left-sided player in a 4-2-3-1 system and Hodgson set up his team during their training session at the Sun Life Stadium with Ross Barkley playing in the No10 role. Rickie Lambert, Liverpool’s new signing, will play as the principal striker and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be on the right of a midfield in which Jack Wilshere will start his first game, at any level, since March. Frank Lampard will captain the team and Rooney will not be the only player asked to play out of position, with James Milner dropping back from midfield into the right-back spot for Wednesday’s game.
Rooney’s selection, however, is a clear admission on Hodgson’s part that he is not fully satisfied with the physical condition of a player whose last three major tournaments have been undermined by fitness problems. The England manager had previously stated there was no problem and that Rooney could be rested along with everyone else who started the Peru match. Now he has concluded it would be better to give Rooney another run-out rather than starting the match with Sterling.
“The thinking behind Wayne starting a second game is that he played only 60 minutes the other day,” Hodgson said. “He didn’t play many games before he joined us.” Rooney had suffered a groin injury for Manchester United towards the end of last season.
“We think that he’s recovering his match fitness and that starting a game will be to his advantage. We’ll see how long he plays and that will be based on how we think his fitness is progressing.”
Rooney has stated on several occasions that he is not happy playing on the wing but Hodgson does not anticipate any problems if he uses him there. “Wayne is one of 23 players. I’m very happy to have him here. I don’t have to share the obsession that ‘he has to play here or he has to play that’. As far as I’m concerned, I look at the players at my disposal and decide what they need and what we need. Then I expect them to do it.
“Wayne can play in several positions and he’ll play in a position which we think will suit the team and which he is capable of playing.
“He can [play on the left], absolutely. I think Wayne’s a very useful player in the sense you don’t have to pin him down and say this is the only position he can play. He can play centre-forward, behind the centre-forward and wide.
“If he’s done all of those things at the very top level for Manchester United, there is no reason why I can’t use him in those positions as well.”
In changing his mind about Sterling, Hodgson said he was aware there would be a lot of people back in England who wanted the teenager to get his opportunity. “If I concentrate totally on where the clamour is, I’d be changing my team every other moment because, with respect, the clamour does change.
“But you don’t have to have any doubts about how we feel about Raheem Sterling. We feel he’s an exceptional player and we’re hoping he’ll be a very useful cog in our wheel at this World Cup. Let’s just hope the clamour doesn’t reach proportions which will affect his game. The reason I’ve chosen the young players, and I’ve said this to them, is that ‘you’re here on merit, I didn’t choose you because you’re enjoying a moment of fame, you’re getting good reviews in the papers and people are excited about you because you haven’t had a chance to fail on the big stage’.
“I said: ‘I’ve chosen you because I think you’ve got the ability to be a top-class player at this moment in time.’ They will get their chance to show what they can do. Barkley, for example, is more than capable of doing a very good job for us.”
Of Milner’s switch to right-back, Hodgson added: “He’s got the qualities to play there. There may be moments in the World Cup when we’d like to use him there. This will give him some experience. He’s in the squad as a right- or left-sided midfield player and that’s where we see him mostly, but it will be interesting to see how he gets on.”
