Roonet Fit For World Cup

[Sussex]

Radio 1 just said he'll be back training 2 weeks from now.

[DMR]

It's all being blown out of proportion.

Broken metertarsal = 6-8 weeks before it heals. End of. He's out lets move on.

[Iffy's Onion Bhaji]

i think he will be rushed back  :|

[Kinky Tom]

I'm of the opinion that as a team we may be stronger without him, if Sven were to make the right selections (Carrick in for Gerrard in CM with Gerrard just behind Owen).

Gerrard has shown recently that he's basically the best CM in the world, for my money he should be given a chance to show this off on a world stage by having his England shackles loosend a little - if he were given the freedom that Rooney is given then he could really be the force that takes us forward.

What I'm trying to say is I suppose is that I'd rather see Stevie G given a chance there than a slightly unfit Rooney - Rooney still has plenty of time to flourish whereas Gerrard is slap bang in the middle of true world beating form - the team should be built around him for the purposes of this tournament in my opinion.

Rant over. :|

[pumbaa]

I'm of the opinion that as a team we may be stronger without him, if Sven were to make the right selections (Carrick in for Gerrard in CM with Gerrard just behind Owen).

Gerrard has shown recently that he's basically the best CM in the world, for my money he should be given a chance to show this off on a world stage by having his England shackles loosend a little - if he were given the freedom that Rooney is given then he could really be the force that takes us forward.

What I'm trying to say is I suppose is that I'd rather see Stevie G given a chance there than a slightly unfit Rooney - Rooney still has plenty of time to flourish whereas Gerrard is slap bang in the middle of true world beating form - the team should be built around him for the purposes of this tournament in my opinion.

Rant over. :|

Agree KT. Given two major assumptions are proven true, that is:

(1) Rooney is passed fit following the scan on 14th June;
(2) England qualify for the 2nd Round

the game will take place on 24th or 25th June. That gives Rooney 10 days to get match fit. He's not played since 29th April.

I'm really of the opinion now that we leave him behind, promote Defoe to the squad and line up from the start like KT said.

[Piemonte]

Its hard to argue with that Tom.

If we make it to the later stages and Ronney does get fit then I'd prefer him to be used as an "impact" sub, unlike Beckham at the last WC who was clearly not fit to play.

[Piemonte]

I like the idea of "ROONET" too.

Sounds like some super intelligent Rooney-cyborg hybrid, possibly related to the earlier, trial model - The peaconator  

No broken metatarsals there thats for sure.

[Onion_Jimbo]

yeah I'd like to see Gerrard but you just know he'll play 4-4-2 with crouch up front. that will upset me.

[Ben Wah Balls]

I definitely don't think the team will be stronger without him but we have plenty of decent alternatives.

Against Paraguay Crouch and Owen would be the most sensible choice, Paraguay have a short goalkeeper who doesn't like to come off his line and their centre-backs are not good in the air, they won't be able to cope with Crouch's height. Gerrard as a second striker and Carrick as a holding midfielder is an option in some games too, particularly teams who use a second striker.

[red macca]

carrick are you joking??did you watch last night.he has had one good game for england he is not the answer in midfield

[flammableBen]

maybe so rm, but how many good games have lampard and gerrard had together in the middle of the park? I'd prefer to use an unfit rooney for an excuse to split them up and explore our options.

[red macca]

how many games have england lost with those two in the middle??although i agree gerrard is played out of position for england

[Simon Pieman]

Crouch showed some excellent touches on Thursday but he can't get into a decent position in the box on most occassions. A player with his height advantage should attack the defence more when off the ball - he sat too deep.

[Batch]

Crouch showed some excellent touches on Thursday but he can't get into a decent position in the box on most occassions. A player with his height advantage should attack the defence more when off the ball - he sat too deep.

He showed some excellent touches. But he also showed some piss poor ones as well. And for a big lad he is shit in the air. Gets his head to it but doesn't seem to direct it properly.He will definitely worry defenders. But t if he was 5"11 he would be nowhere near the England squad.

So IMHO we should play 4-5-1 with cole/Gerrard pushed forward. Crouch would be fine in the group stages, my worry is the better teams will pretty much nullify him in the knockout rounds.

Unless of course there is a Rooney miricle!

[STFCDude]

Crouch showed some excellent touches on Thursday but he can't get into a decent position in the box on most occassions. A player with his height advantage should attack the defence more when off the ball - he sat too deep.

He showed some excellent touches. But he also showed some piss poor ones as well. And for a big lad he is shit in the air. Gets his head to it but doesn't seem to direct it properly.He will definitely worry defenders. But t if he was 5"11 he would be nowhere near the England squad.

So IMHO we should play 4-5-1 with cole/Gerrard pushed forward. Crouch would be fine in the group stages, my worry is the better teams will pretty much nullify him in the knockout rounds.

Unless of course there is a Rooney miricle!

What's a miricle?