For all the impressive records, Rooney’s time in an England shirt will always be judged by the failure to repeat his jaw-dropping form from Euro 2004There is an irony that Wayne Rooney, a player plenty, including the England manager, had considered surplus to requirements last season, has chosen to retire from international football just as the national team were wondering whether they might be in need of him again. Adam Lallana and Ross Barkley are in rehabilitation. Other forwards have yet to find form this term. Cue Gareth Southgate’s telephone call this week, the tone of which, Rooney implied, was that the former captain’s presence might be beneficial in the squad for the forthcoming qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia. Related:...
The Everton player, as well as Sergio Agüero, were involved in challenges that led to sending-offs, possibly through making them seem worse than they were, but still the FA’s new panel cannot make its first judgmentWhat a disappointment. The Premier League season is only two matches old and already it looks as if the Football Association’s initiative on diving and simulation is struggling to keep pace. Related: Calvert-Lewin and Agüero face no action under new FA simulation rules Continue reading...
Adam Lallana’s thigh injury has opened up berth in Southgate’s squad and he must be impressed at how Rooney is back knocking in the goals for EvertonWayne Rooney’s 200th Premier League goal was particularly sweet as it came before a Manchester City crowd who just love to detest the former Manchester United captain. Rooney left Old Trafford in the summer for Everton as record scorer with 253 goals. Here he registered a 19th finish for his boyhood club, an instinctive left-foot jab that squeezed under Ederson’s legs before ricocheting in via the left post. Rooney duly put extra spice into his celebration at a venue he has previously enjoyed for United. Related: Raheem Sterling draws comfort for 10-man Manchester City...
A fee of £45m may seem excessive but the quiet and dedicated Icelander is a set-piece master with a bright football brain and Everton are set to reap the benefits now the transfer saga is finally overIt turned into one of those dreaded transfer sagas, leaving senior figures at Swansea City and Everton exasperated with the snail’s pace of the discussions to the point that even those on the inside became bored with the story, yet confirmation finally arrived on Tuesday evening that Gylfi Sigurdsson was on his way from the Mumbles to Merseyside for £45m.The passage of time – more than a month – has arguably diluted some of the excitement at one end and certainly the level of...
Liverpool’s defensive frailties, Wayne Rooney’s nous in both boxes, an unwanted headache for Paul Clement and Manchester United’s unsung heroesSo, why was it that Chelsea decided they could afford to let Nemanja Matic join Manchester United and willingly pass over one of the more brilliantly effective midfield players of the modern game to a major rival? When that question was posed to José Mourinho after Manchester United’s biggest league win since he took over as manager he made it sound as if he was slightly bewildered, too. “It depends on what is happening, or what was happening, behind doors and we don’t know,” he said. “The only thing I know is that, with Chelsea’s money, I brought him to Stamford...