The Game is Crazy

There's a lot of love in the papers for Rooney this morning, with the News of The World leading the cheering squad with this report:

the Manchester United striker dominated this game from start to finish. And how appropriate he rounded it off with his second strike deep into stoppage time.

He wasn't just the Man of the Match, he was the Men of the Match. If there are no centre-forwards left for Wednesday, Rooney can partner himself. ...

There is little point debating Rooney's best position. Just put him on the field. Honestly. Simple as that.

Whether it's dropping deep to send laser-precisioned passes into the flight path of Aaron Lennon or floating flankwards to deliver a drop-dead gorgeous cross for Heskey.

Unfortunately, neither could do justice to Rooney's vision, Heskey's nodded miss so bad it was a hoot.

Wayne Rooney's attitude comes through in this post match quote, from The Guardian:

"We should have scored more goals in the first half when we had the chance," Rooney said. "It was sad to lose so many players but I'll have no problem playing up front on my own against Ukraine."

And Capello makes another joke about his craziness, from The Independent:

Rooney played very, very well. He's like a joker in the pack – a crazy joker!"

Rooney is also the centre of a few opinion pieces. Alan Shearer sticks his neck out and says Rooney will be central to England's 2010 World Cup chances:

"'Wayne Rooney is a pivotal player for England, there's no doubt about that.

"He's a special talent who has been criticised in the past for not scoring as many goals as he should, but he brings a lot more to the table than that.

"It is clear that he brings more than goals to England - he brings work rate, he brings commitment, he brings assists. Over the next few years Capello will continue to build his team around Rooney if he keeps playing in this way.''

Sir Bobby Robson looks at Rooney in relation to Paul Gascoigne:

there is a lot of lessons he can learn from what Gascoigne did not achieve - and I'm talking in purely football terms, not the off-field problems of recent years. ...
Gascoigne could get overexcited before big matches, lose his discipline and therefore make bad decisions and judgments on the pitch.

I was far happier picking the likes of Bryan Robson, Ray Wilkins or Glenn Hoddle when I knew cool heads were needed against the best opposition in the world. ...

I was in Gelsenkirchen in 2006 when Rooney was sent off against Portugal for a stamp. I was convinced England were on their way to winning that game until the dismissal.

Rooney cannot afford to let that happen again when the next World Cup comes around.

His behaviour still needs to improve. Maybe he has suffered because of the lack of other quality strikers to compete for his place.

Whereas I could leave Gazza out and put in Robson and Hoddle, no England manager would leave out a fit Rooney and pick Jermain Defoe, Dean Ashton or Carlton Cole instead.

Mark Lawrenson reveals a bust up between Rooney and Sir Alex Ferguson:

Mark Lawrenson, the former Liverpool player who is now a BBC television pundit, said yesterday: 'Everybody knows that he had a massive row with Fergie after the Liverpool game and was then left out. It's an ongoing problem.'

So no agenda there then... Having the media over flowing with ex-Liverpool players is one thing, having them actively seeking to stir things up against Man Utd is surely a step too far.
Piers Morgan has a piece on Man Utd and uses The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire to try and argue that we've had it - all based on us losing two games of football and Liverpool winning a similar number, but apparently our Fall will only come about if Torres and Gerrard stay fit. Exactly like the Fall of the Roman Empire then... I've summed it up, no need to quote.
Similarly this piece in The Times follows the two lost games is a crisis logic, with one sentence standing out nevertheless, on our win over Inter:

Few other sides would have critics quibbling about a night on which Italy’s champions were vanquished without a goal conceded.

Few other sides would lose two games of football and then be compared to the Roman Empire...
Henry Winter has a more critical look at the Premiership race:

A skilled, seasoned heavyweight at coming out fighting when on the ropes, Ferguson is invariably most voluble in adversity, drawing attention away from his players, throwing down the card marked defiance. Ferguson knows that individual mistakes can rip up any script, a refereeing howler here, a defensive slip there.

He also appreciates that United must take maximum points from April tests against Aston Villa, Sunderland, Portsmouth and Tottenham Hotspur because May shimmers with danger, notably City and Arsenal at home and Wigan Athletic away.

The News of The World decides to turn attention to Ronaldo, with Steve Dunn saying Sir Alex must sell Ronaldo. I won't quote it, it being the usual arguments dressed up in a shiny new coat. They also report that Real Madrid are still after Ronaldo:

A Spanish source told Sport of the World: "There is a cleverly conceived plan in place for Cristiano to join Real.

"The reports that he is unhappy with the treatment he gets in England is part of it and will be used as a lever for him to get his dream move to Madrid.

"Of course, it will have to be achieved with United's approval but part of the strategy is to keep chipping away at their resistance until they give in."

[Suppresses yawn]

A story I've just noticed in The Telegraph - Rooney might be going to be a dad, with this caveat:

A spokesman for the Rooneys refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying: "These pregnancy rumours have been too numerous to comment on and we gave up doing so a long time ago."