To Take, Or Not To Take?

That is the question. Is Wayne Rooney’s presence at the European Championships that precious to the England team? I’ve been mulling over this all week, and I’m still not sure what would be the right thing to do. I wouldn’t like to be in Capello’s shoes when he makes that decision – it could make or break England’s chances.

I have to admit, that being an Arsenal fan has caused me to learn to hate Wayne Rooney at any given opportunity. This prompted me to think no, he doesn’t deserve to be taken to Poland for kicking someone. Then I thought about what really matters – the team – and concluded that Rooney is irreplaceable in the England line-up. It really is one of those head vs. heart moments. I think the bottom line is, at his best, there is no one more important to the squad than Rooney. I’d do anything to make sure Darren Bent isn’t leading the line; why isn’t Capello picking Jermain Defoe at least?

Rooney is vital to England's chances

After all, it’s never too late to have an effect – Andrey Arshavin only played the knockout stages last time and look at him now – oh, wait…

If they do decide to take Rooney, he will (along with all of us), be crossing his fingers that the team make it far enough for him to get a game – if my suspicions are correct we could dealt a pretty tricky group when the draw is made in December. Good thing we’ve got two testing friendlies to get us into shape. Spain and Sweden are the perfect opposition to trial Rooney’s temporary replacement. There’s a few in the running, but I’ll be going for Defoe, or failing him, Peter Crouch. Darren Bent is useless in front of goal; have you noticed most of his England goals have been tap-ins or flukes (and sometimes a combination of the two)?

This debate will rumble on and on until the belatedly-departing Capello makes his selection. Apart from Rooney, he still has big choices to make; will he finally pick Theo Walcott? Something that we have seen lately is that the future is bright for English football. The emergence of Danny Welbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will give Fabio a huge selection headache. Knowing Fabio though, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Heskey or Hargreaves on that plane - that man is bonkers at times.

Away from the national problems and dilemmas; there’s a brand-new weekend of club football back on our screens after a week off. I hope you guys got through the week alright. Saturday’s nearly here, thank God. Liverpool vs. Man. Utd is going to be game of the weekend. This will tell us whether United really mean business – if their away form is as good as their home form then they’ll walk it this season. Unlike the Emirates, Anfield is more of a fortress, so here’s hoping to a Red victory – I really hope United are knocked off their perch soon, or I will be worried the Premier League will become too predictable – and we can’t have that. Suarez hat-trick anyone?

There’s some good news for Arsenal fans – I’ve taken Robin Van Persie out of my Fantasy League team, so we should see goals galore from the Dutch master on Sunday. (If this works, I’ll never choose him again). Unfortunately, that’s the only good news I can offer Gooners at this moment in time, all I can ask is for us to be patient. As I’ve said before, good things come to those who wait. In that case, great things should come to those who wait a little longer.

Now, I’ve been told I don’t put enough Chelsea-themed pieces in my blog (from Chelsea fans, funnily enough), and have been asked to give a couple of them shout-outs to keep them happy. So here goes, two slightly reluctant shout outs to Alex Baxter and Danny Sartori (there you go guys, can you stop bullying me now? Cheers.)

So, on the subject of Chelsea, I suppose the least controversial thing I can come up with is that their title challenge looks like it is starting to gather up some pace. Leaving Lampard out of a few matches seems to have done the trick, whether AVB meant it or not, because he’s started to score again. This makes me wonder what people are thinking when they say Lamps is past it – whether you’re an Arsenal fan or Crawley fan, Lampard is world-class.

Well, that’s all from me, see you all on Monday. Come On You Reds!