Rooney Reminds Us What He Can Do

I left Carrow Road today believing that I had seen one of the finest goals all season. Little did I know that it was going to be trumpeted for best goal of the day. It made me think about Wayne Rooney and the recent discussion we have had here at TLR regarding his selection for the starting 11 against Italy.

I think we have all agreed that he is a fine player. A man who can change the game and one of the Worlds finest on his day. However we also agreed that to play the free-flowing attacking football we desire, he may have to be sacrificed. Sacrificed so the likes of Sturridge and Sterling can play their natural roles.

However today we saw why someone like Rooney gets paid what he does, and why leaving him on the bench is always dangerous. Quite simply, he can change the game with one kick of the ball. He can lift a team to victory and he can suck the life out of any home-crowd advantage.

The problem has always been, why can't these players deliver moments like this on the World stage. In fairness, Rooney has probably tried that 1000 times on the training pitch and 50+ times over the course of his career. None of them had gone in until today. You don't get that much time in International football.

So as we continue to discuss Rooney's selection against Italy, I'll leave you with two goals. Rooney's against West Ham and Alex Tettey's against Sunderland, and I'll let you decide which was your goal of the day.