Every time a side fails to deliver in a high profile game, all fingers are pointed over the players but when it is the manager who took some brave decisions during the game and placed key players on the unorthodox positions, then it is the manager who faces all the aggression from everyone and this is something that seems to be happening with English national soccer team who could not overcome Slovakia in final Group B clash. The game eventually ended in a goal less draw and all fingers are being raised over the manager Roy Hodgson who made several changes in the well-known field spread including resting Wayne Rooney in the midfield. Actually, the chance to enter into the second stage have now diminished for Three Lions after they could only secure a second position after Wales hence they will have to play with Iceland in Nice on Monday while if they could defeat Slovakia, they would have been facing Northern Ireland in Paris on Saturday.
Anyways, while almost everyone is after the manager for his surprising field spread in the crucial games including football association whose members want to take some strict action for showing a relaxing attitude in critical games, Rooney is the only one who is backing his mentor. He said praising 68-year-old English soccer brain, “I think it’s a decision we had to make in terms of keeping players fresh for the knockout stages. I respect Roy’s decision to play me or rest me. He’s the manager, it’s his decision, not my decision, and I have to respect that. As a player you want to play, of course, but in terms of me now going into the game on Monday I’ll be a lot fresher.
“It’s a great chance for the players who had the rest to use the energy we gained from not playing the 90 minutes and I’m sure that’ll be good for us in the later stages of the tournament. He had a tough call with what he had to do and he decided to leave six players out from the previous game. I’m along with the manager, I go with the manager and respect the decisions he made.”
While adding about all the rumors in the air talking about various possibilities of ifs and buts for English side, he said, “I’ve seen a lot words saying that England will have to beat Iceland then France, Spain… whoever — but who says they are going to go through? Who says we are going through? This tournament has already thrown up a lot of surprises. If we’re to go further in this competition we’re going to have to beat some very good teams. We have to concentrate on Iceland now and try to get the win and see who we face after that. By us being in that side of the draw, everyone else in that side will be looking at us rather than us looking at them.”
Wayne Rooney: Marco Iacobucci EPP / Shutterstock.com