England needs Allardyce to get tough with Rooney
England managed to earn a win in Sam Allardyce’s first match, but their new boss has failed his first true test in charge of the Three Lions. He deferred entirely too much to Wayne Rooney in the 1-0 win over Slovakia.
If you want tactical analysis of how Rooney played too deep to truly help Harry Kane in the attack, I’ll refer you to Chris Sutton’s excellent piece in The Daily Mail. He makes a very compelling case that Rooney played much too deep to help trouble the Slovak defense.
My argument, instead focus on how Allardyce has failed his first true test in charge. He needed to take control of the squad in his debut. Instead, he passively deferred to his captain Wayne Rooney. That’s an awful tone for his tenure.
The statement that he can’t tell Rooney where to play sets a terrible tone. When Allardyce was appointed to take over for Roy Hodgson, the hope was that he’d take the most pragmatic approach possible. In other words, that he’d value winning matches over any sort of style or politics.
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Instead, he opted for sentiment over performance by bowing down to the legend of Wayne Rooney. It’s highly questionable as to whether or not Rooney’s play still justifies inclusion in the squad. His performance on the pitch certainly doesn’t qualify him to choose his own spot on the pitch.
If Allardyce was dead set on keeping Rooney in the squad, it should have been in a substitute’s role. There’s no tactical justification to play him as your starting number ten. By playing him in that spot, the new England boss put his squad in danger of losing an important match. Moreover, he set a terrible precedent that his tenure will worry more about man management than putting the best starting XI out on the pitch.
Some England and/or Manchester United fans will applaud Allardyce for showing the proper amount of deference to a player who’s meant everything to his country. Instead, fans of the Three Lions should be hugely concerned. If Sam Allardyce continues to choose sentiment over pragmatism, his reign in charge of England will be short-lived.
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