Englands Best Striker?

[Big Foot]

Watched Auntie Beeb's documentary on Rooney last night

I think a lot of the judgement on him is based on how well he started his England career. People (I included) forget just how good he was when he first emerged and 2003-2006 were some of his best years for England.

That debut at SoL vs Turkey was an amazing performance, he had a gr8 Euro 2004 but I think he's genuinely had bad luck with fitness around tournament times

What the documentary did make me realise is that I'd much much much rather we saw the Rooney of old who occasionally overstepped the line, i.e. got a 2nd yellow for hurling the ball at the ref in "dissent" and then chinned the corner flag on the way off, than the drippy Rooney we've had of the past 2-3 years

[6ft Kerplunk]

Agree with a lot of that BF, he just seems to have peaked at about 20 and after all the hype we expected him to just keep getting better. That's not to say he hasn't been our best forward of the last 10 years just that as fans our expectations were that he'd keep progressing.

[daswonder]

I would say that Rooney had the maverick attitude coached out of him, he could have truly been mentioned as one of the best players in the world if he carried on on his early path rather than a good/great functional plodder he has effectively become.

[Hoop Blah]

I think injuries have really taken their toll on Rooney over the years, both accumulatively and also by hampering his performances at big moments in his career.

As said above, he's still be our best forward of his generation, by quite some distance too.