Rooney under fire

Filed in archive England on September 8, 2008

Wayne Rooney has come under fire for the lack of goals he has been scoring for England. He insists that his scoring record is not weighing on his mind as he looks forward to Wednesday's World Cup qualifier in Croatia.

Rooney has scored only five times for England in four years.

"I've no problem with it. It's a new campaign, a new start and hopefully we can do well."

Rooney remains one of England's very few world class players and most people will have noticed what else he brings to the team. He showed the creative side of his game in setting up Joe Cole's second goal against Andorra on Saturday.

Teammate Frank Lampard agrees that Rooney need not worry about his recent lack of international goals.

"The thing with Wayne is that he is not just a goalscorer. He is a creator and works hard for the team, creating angles, not only an out-and-out striker."

Rooney insists his only concern is a good team performance and he added: "Croatia are a good footballing team and we know we'll have to be at the top of our game. We'll have to defend well, first of all, and create opportunities going forward. Hopefully we can do that."

In a time of such a lack of great English players it would be a real shame if the media began a witch hunt against one of the ones we have.