England boss Fabio Capello is set to unleash the United striker in a free role behind a target man when England face the USA at Wembley tonight.
Capello tried playing Rooney as the main striker against France in March, but is now set to give him a chance in the roaming role that he believes suits him better.
The Italian agrees with Sir Alex Ferguson's opinion that Rooney is too committed for his own good.
"I have spoken to Rooney maybe three times now. And I've said to him that he is too generous," said Capello.
"He has been trying to do too much. He needs to play in the best position for him. He needs to be more selfish, otherwise he is tired and not fresh. It is important to be fresh near the goal.
"When I saw Rooney at Euro 2004 he played very well. He has to play like he did then."
It seems certain that Dean Ashton will be used as the foil tonight, with Rooney ghosting around the penalty area.
"Rooney is very important to us," said Capello. "His potential is huge but he can do better.
Position
"In my opinion, his best position is as a central striker, just behind the person who plays up front.
"That way he can play with his face to the goal rather than his back. You need someone more advanced but then have someone who can move around him.
"It is good for Wayne because he knows he must score more goals."
If he can find the best position for Rooney, Capello should then be a significant step closer to solving the conundrum involving Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, which so perplexed Sven- Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren.
The presence of Lampard under Capello for the first time means interesting team selection and formation are guaranteed.
As he reaches the halfway point of the five friendlies he has to build a team ahead of the opening World Cup qualifier with Andorra in Barcelona on September 6, Capello knows he must get Rooney's involvement right.
And, bizarrely for someone steeped in the continental approaches of Italy and Spain, the 61-year-old will do so in a typically British style.
"Overall, we need more intensity and more speed in our game," he reflected. "We need to press more." Tweet
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Whilst Fabio has hit the nail on the end (with regard to roon) it still leaves the problem unsolved at United.
He was arguably our poorest player in moscow, & not for the first time, as he tried to play in an alien postion. He worked his backside off (as normal) & the ball he put in on the deck for tevez in the first half was real quality.... but he ain't no winger.
I've said a thousand times he can't play back to goal & needs to be off a main or at least central striker. This unfortunately doesn't sit with SaF's 'ideal' formation!
So it leaves the question of what is SaF going to do to arrest the slide of a striker who in 2004 was ready to tear the world apart?
Only time will tell.......
still, happy, happy days !!
balders pair him with benzema and you will see the real wayne
Balders, completely agree with you mate, it's almost as if (if you look through last season) that he's forgotten how he used to play.....his finishing just got worse and worse.
I'm a HUGE Roon fan, just very disapointing as I know he takes a lot of slack in the press and from some fans on here because of it......
i honestly thing fergie has slightly slowed down waynes progress and made him lose a bit of the player he was. Rooney is always best behind the striker everyone knows that, but how many times does he actually play there for utd. hes normally the main striker or out wide. hopefulyl an out and out goal scorer will eman fergie can put him in his proper position. he has also played way too many games and has started pickign up injuries. ronaldo for his first few yrs was given a break at christmas, rooney has never had that.
Balders, Tier 2 Stretford
28/05/2008 at 13:58
i agree with what u are sayin. mybe roony has changed. we know he has changed as a player but as person mybe his personal goals are not what they once used to be. i am a fan of roony but mybe just mybe he was over rated. at the time roony came on to the picture micheal owen was built up. he was compared to ronaldo of Brazil and pele. then before him was Beckham
the press always build a player up to be somthing beyoned what they actruly are.
they give england a messiah each major tornmant. rember when beckhams foot was broken and the hype around him being fit. they made out that without him england had know chance.
we seen the power of the press also at the last world cup . sven was so scared to leave out owen that did not play all season. and roony had just broken his foot. he then left out englands top goal scorer of the past two seasons and took to injured players to the world cup.
roony was once a great player but i doubt we will ever see the 2004 roony again. he is long gone.
these are things that have led to his downfall
his book roony my story story so far
and stupid programs like inside the body of wayne roony.
i said it many times befor and i have know seen that some fans noticed roony did't play that well lst season.
Here are my pros and cons about Roony pos 1 undoublty qulity when playing behiend a striker 2can go past people with strength and skill 3can strike a ball with distance 4 has a good range of passing 5 always wants to play 6 works like a dog
right befor i go on it is clear i am a roony fan but but was not been up to standered last season. yes he had injuries but still was he great.where was he in the finale
most of the positives things i said where the old roony not the on of last season.
anyway negatives 1 to uncready 2lost ability to score one on ones 3lost that rare ablity to hold of players 4 has lost the ablity to run past players with same strength 5 cofidence , and strange temper 6 needs to many chances to score 7 gives the ball away alot
know i no alot of people are going to be mad. but i am sick of people saying he is a great team player that runs all day one minute he is in defence then the next he is attacking kuyt runs like a dog for the scum but what is our opinoin of him better yet what is their opinoin of him? i have said this before anycole the second highest scorer in the primership was critised for needing to many chances to score and as a result was never given a chance at international level.
know wait a minute i know you lot are geting mad. roony star of because he blow on to the scene with everton and was so dangerous and unpredictible for england. he could pick out players with great passes and score great goals. so he was much beter than cole and had a a better all around game. my agument is roony has been playin in coles position as a centre forword so he has not really been doing that much i admit he has a lot of assits but still he has not been as sharpe or as fatst as he used to be
i am 19 and get hooked to utube some times when i look at old roony vidoes and compare him to todays roony it's almost like looking at two difernet players. he looked fat and over weight this season mybe he is prone to putting on fat i don't know at the end of the day if you check out utube you will see that roony has changed.
i hope we will get the old roony back next season and i hope fergie buys a striker that can play in front of him benzema would be aswme with roony tevez comming of the bench and playing instead of roony know and again.
i sad a few moths ago that defoe would be as good as roony that was not a smart thing to say but i wonder would the signing of a young world class striker see the real roony return. another question whats roonys record compared to ronaldos at internalinal level when you check this out consider there postions. befor i go roony had the same potentiel to be the world payer of the year at united in your honest opinion can you say that he will become the world finest player and better yet is he even world class 12 primership goals would suggets not.
don't get it twisted i like roony i am just a worried fan
manu fan rooneys problem is that saf spent 28m to buy the best young deep lying forward in the world. he has then spent the last 3 years trying to turn him into
a left winger
a right winger
a wing back
a centre forward.
old grumpy has at last recognised that he has done young wayne no favours and intends to team him up with a centre forward next season. we will see the real wayne then. incidentally its only taken capello 2 games to realise that wayne is best played behind an out an out striker.
ftr, my opinion is that there is still one of the greatest & natural strikers/footballers still in him..... it just needs to be brought back out of him.
So mnay times last season he looked too determined to show/prove that he was a footballer in the same bracket as Ronaldo or even Scholesy. i.e he tried to overplay rather than just being a bully in the mould of say dogba. (eg pompey at home - he was a real handful or Villa away [when he was sub]).
bobby d - i totally agree. it's no co-incidence that wayne played (imo) his best football for us when alongside saha !!
"Be more selfish, Wayne"...
Rooney should spend some time in politics then.. :)
i agree roony looked good when he played with saha. if he was with benzema they would be incredible and unstopable.
Rooney mustn't be more selfish - he must be more clinical. He doesn't finish enough of the easier chances that he gets, and that is why he will never be a top scorer unless he works really hard to improve that. I would be more than happy to see him playing with a top class finisher at United.