England Captain Wayne Rooney Happy With New Role
Amid much talk about his position within the England team, captain Wayne Rooney insists a midfield role suits him best.
England captain Wayne Rooney insists a midfield role suits him at international level, having helped his side to a World Cup qualifying win over Slovakia.
There had been a lot of talk in the build-up to England's opening Group F fixture about the Manchester United star being listed in Sam Allardyce's first squad as a midfielder rather than a striker and he consistently sat deeper in the 1-0 victory in Trnava.
And Rooney, who became the most-capped outfield player in England's history with his 116th appearance in the match, claims that he is happy with his position in Allardyce's side.
"That's where Sam wanted me to play, we worked on it through the week," he told ITV.
Great to start the 2018 World Cup qualification campaign with 3 points. Congratulations to @officiallallana on his first international goal ⚽️👏🏼 A photo posted by Wayne Rooney (@waynerooney) on Sep 4, 2016 at 12:43pm PDT
"Once the team was announced, a lot of people thought I was going to play higher, but I think it suits me for this team, for the way we play.
"I have no problem playing there and I thought I contributed to the game."
While it was a special day for Rooney as he set another national record, Adam Lallana celebrated his first senior goal for his country.
The Liverpool midfielder was a bright spark in a fairly uninspiring England display, striking the post with one effort, before stealing the points with a 95th-minute winner.
📸 Flashback to my England Youth days. Looking forward to starting our 2018 World Cup qualification campaign on Sunday against Slovakia! A photo posted by Wayne Rooney (@waynerooney) on Sep 2, 2016 at 4:08am PDT
"I put pressure on myself to score goals and I knew it was only a matter of time," he told ITV. "I had a few chances tonight.
"[The one that hit the post] was a great effort, but it was just unlucky and we kept plugging away.
"Coming anywhere away from home in World Cup qualifiers is going to be tough and I thought we were very disciplined at times. As the game went on, and they were down to 10 men, we did create our chances.
"Sometimes you've just got to stick at it until the last minute and, thankfully, we got the goal."