"Despite disappointing at the World Cup, being suspended for most the Euros, and being far from England's best player in his position, Wayne Rooney has been named captain of the England football team.
In fairness, there isn't much to chose from. Out of the young players, no one has fully imposed themselves on the starting eleven. The once 'next big England midfielder', Jack Wiltshire, is struggling for his club and, as pointed out by Paul Scholes, hasn't really improved since playing at the Nou Camp. Former under-21s captain Jordan Henderson has had only one season without ridicule and is still yet to play in the Champions League. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had been touted by some as a potential captain because of his maturity, but how can a team be based around a player who's best position is still unknown? Phil Jones was also once touted as a future England captain but hasn't managed to hold a spot in his club team, let alone internationally.
What that leaves is the few remaining senior players: Joe Hart, Glen Johnson, Phil Jagielka, Gary Cahill, Leighton Baines, Adam Lallana, and the aforementioned Wayne.
Starting from the top, having a goalkeeper as captain isn't ideal and Joe Hart's struggles with form surely offer him enough to deal with without being captain too. Glen Johnson is Glen Johnson, Phil Jagielka is only a stop-gap till a younger player steps up (hopefully), Leighton Baines isn't a leader, and Adam Lallana, although having been a captain for Southampton, also hasn't played Champions League football and isn't a standout in his position.
That leaves Wayne and Gary.
Both have played at the highest level and have many international caps. One has captained his club and country, becoming permanent captain for his club, the other is a definite starter. It's not an ideal situation.
Hodgson has chosen Rooney - what does that mean for England?
For starters it will mean continuing to play the captain in tandem with Daniel Sturridge, something which forced heads to be banged against walls at the World Cup. For the time being this might not seem such a glaring problem; playing 4231 with Rooney in the 10 will probably suffice against Norway and Switzerland, but once Ross Barkley comes back from injury and the calls for him to be a starter return - where does that leave Rooney?
A possible solution for this would be to take another leaf out of Brendan Rodgers book and adopt a diamond formation. Barkley, Sterling, Lallana, and Oxlade-Chamberlain can all fight it out for the number 10, leaving Rooney and Sturridge to play in their preferred position. It's a formation which Manchester United have had glory with, albeit with wide midfielders, and England used at the 2002 World Cup. The only downside is that it requires a defensive midfielder to slot in-between the centre backs while both full backs have bombed on. Something England tend to lack.
Or, controversially, could we just abandon the idea that the captain must always start games and just let our two strikers duke it out?
By being within the squad Wayne can still fulfil his captaincy duties, coming off the bench to keep up appearances, and when rotated out Gary can fill in on the pitch as the vice-captain should do. The rotation of key players will keep club managers happy, Roy can stick to his favoured system without clogging it up with out of position strikers, there's a place for Barkley, Sterling, and co. It's perfect!
But no, England politics. Shut up."
Taken from Sportlobster
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