By Myles Palmer
He’s very new,Wayne Rooney.
Rooney is not mentioned as an Everton squad member in Rothmans.
Slovakia’s coach can’t look him up in the bible.
Why has Rooney had such a meteoric career?
Because he’s better than Andy Cole, better than Matt Le Tissier,better than Sheringham, better than Keegan, better than Shearer at the same age, much better than Lineker, who wasn’t good enough to get an Under-21 cap.
Heskey is a big dumpling who should not be in the England team anyway. But now that Rooney has arrived, you can’t start Heskey.
Sven knows that Rooney is one of those freak talents who comes along once every 20 years.
Sven also knows that Rooney has arrived just in time to save his job and his reputation.
Rooney can see a lot, like Beardsley.
He can see three-dimensionally, he can create, finish,time runs, head the ball, win the ball, tackle, cross.
He can make runs beyond defences, and he can also hold it and use it.
Rooney is one of the most economical footballers I have ever seen.
Like Gazza, like Dalglish, like Romario, he is the eye of the hurricane.
He has composure.
He can make time stand still and, more than that, he can divide seconds into nano-seconds, can change his mind at the last moment, play a different pass, try a different shot.
Rooney excites crowds because crowds are excited by not knowing what a player will do next.
When Wayne Rooney gets the ball fans somehow know that they have to start concentrating, to start playing twice as much attention.
Thirty yards out, Rooney might shoot, might dribble, might play a killer pass, might play a one-two.
He is human, so he might make a mistake too. He might lose the ball.
Rooney is by far the most gifted player to come into the England team since Gazza in 1990, a period I remember very well.
I had seen, as a reporter, every England home game since 1982.
There was a game against Uruguay where I walked into the Wembley press lounge for my half-time cup of tea and said to the BBC’s Rob Bonnett, “There’s something different going on out there tonight.”
I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
And then I twigged it and said, “Up till now, every player
arranges himself in relation to Bryan Robson – the team revolves round him. For years and years we have sat here and watched every player defer to Robbo. But now, tonight, for the first time, we are watching every player defer to Gazza. Every player, including Bryan Robson,is deferring to Gazza.”
And that was it.
I will never forget watching that happen.
Gazza was young, but commanding, authoritative.
From that night on, Gazza simplified England. He gave energy and direction to the other players.
Because it was : Give the ball to me, and then suss out what I want to do, and help me do it.
Gazza was a catalyst, a conductor, a doctor, a sturdy shrink-messiah who soaked up all the fear and nervousness of his teammates and released them from their inhibitions.
Gazza was too young to be scared, too strong.
He enjoyed it. He was willing to play football against anybody.
He took a huge weight on his shoulders and by doing that he took the weight off the other nine.
I still occasionally wonder if I was the only man in the ground who noticed the baton being passed that night.
Uruguay won 2-1 but John Barnes scored an amazing volley from the edge of the box.
But Uruguay’s win and Barnes’s goal were not important.
What mattered was Gazza, who gave us hope for Italia 90.
A month before, he had taken Czechoslovakia apart in a game England won 4-2.
Now, 13 years later, I think the England team should defer to Rooney because Rooney gives us hope for Euro 2004.
If that is too radical for you, read no further.
I could write 20 pages about this but you haven’t got time to read it. So I better just write it in 20 lines.
In sum : You cannot pick a team round Michael Owen.
Owen can’t do enough things.
He is one-dimensional.
When England were crap, they were crap because Sven picked the team round Michael Owen.
Same with Beckham, who is the best one-dimensional midfielder in the world.
But you CAN pick a team round Wayne Rooney.
Because Rooney can do everything.
So the other nine outfield players should be wherever Rooney needs them to be.
Off the field, it’s all about Rooney getting used to the England circus.
But ON the field its all about England getting used to the multi-dimensional Rooney.
I hope the players all realise that Rooney can improve their lives, their careers.
He can make them look good.
LAST WEEK I didn’t write anything about the 2-1 win over Serbia because there was nothing to say.
Of course Gerrard should score goals like that.
He should power forward into the box. Get the ball, beat two men, draw a third, pass wide to Owen, keep running into the box, low cross, stab it in from eight yards.
Steven Gerrard is 23 and fast and should be doing that more often. Not hitting 50 yarders all the time.
Mix it up, Stevie !
Don’t pass and watch, pass and move!
Of course sub Joe Cole should win a free-kick, take it, and whack it past the wall into the top corner.
That’s his job. Of course Joe should do that.
If he ain’t gonna do that, why is he on the pitch?
SLOVAKIA ?
A half-decent side, not mugs. Nemeth could score.
But this will not be a 1-1 draw.
It might be more like that 4-2 game in 1990.
What Gazza did to Czechoslovakia, Rooney might do to Slovakia.
It’s asking a lot, but it could happen
The diamond worked against Turkey – and it will again.
Playing at sea level, sustaining a high-tempo, England can play English football tonight, thump Slovakia, and march on towards Euro 2004.
Gordon Banks does not help by telling us, the day before a qualifying game, that David James is “ a nightmare” on crosses.
You think I’m hyping up a 17-year old kid far too much? Maybe I am.
This is a risky thing to write.
Maybe I’m making a gross error of judgement.
Because a lot of the time on ANR I’m saying : don’t believe the hype.
On Rooney, I’m encouraging the hype because I’m sure he is special.
But let’s see.
Let’s see what Rooney can do at the Riverside tonight.
And let’s see if Upson and Southgate can defend a corner better than they did against S&M.
That’s Serbia and Montenegro,chaps.
June 10th 2003.