Paul Scholes Offers Advice On How to Get the Best Out Of Wayne Rooney At World Cup 2014

Paul Scholes has chastised Wayne Rooney and given some advice to England manager Roy Hodgson as the 2014 World Cup approaches. Scholes, who played for eight and a half seasons with Rooney at United and recently coached him for a handful of matches following Ryan Giggs appointment as caretaker manager, had keen observations he gave in his new weekly column:

“The England management team has to get the best from Wayne Rooney for the World Cup.

“He’s got a brilliant scoring record for his country with 38 goals in 89 internationals, but he’s played in eight World Cup games without a goal. You expect more of him. If Wayne is going to be one of the best footballers in the world, this World Cup is where he has to produce.

“I’m not saying Wayne needs to be dropped but if form doesn’t get up to scratch in the warm-ups, or in the first game of the World Cup, it’ll be interesting to see if the England management team has the balls to make that decision. We have quality forwards in the squad this time. That should give Wayne the competition he needs to spur him on a little more.

“Wayne wants all the responsibility to score. He’ll try to play left-back, right-back. Sometimes he does that too much instead of saving himself and his energy for what his teams need – the ball in the net. He needs to use his energy more effectively now as he’s a player who likes to be up front on his own and I don’t think he’s great with partnerships. To get the very best from Wayne in Rio, the manager [Roy Hodgson] needs to tell him: ‘Don’t bother running back. Stay up top. Stay centre-forward. Score goals. That’s your job in my team.’”

Hodgson has an array of options of up-front of players to pair with Rooney — the most notable and in-form being Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge.

What are your thoughts about Scholes’ commentary regarding Rooney?