2. Not Enough Match-Winning Stars
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is once again expected to spearhead England's World Cup hopes next summer. Which is a pretty bad omen considering it can be argued the soon-to-be 28-year-old has suffered from a dramatic dip in form over the last season. The ex-Everton man struggled to get into the United team last season, with recently-retired manager Sir Alex Ferguson preferring Robin van Persie up front, and even dropping Roo to be bench for a crunch Champions League encounter. At international level, things are a bit different, where Rooney is the undisputed top-dog in the side, but as Michael Owen
eloquently put it, taking the striker out of the equation, "the dearth of quality elsewhere is enormous." If Rooney fails to perform, or if he picks up another injury or suspension that threatened to wreck his Euro 2012 campaign, where else are the goals going to come from? Danny Welbeck? A man who scored just once for his club all season in 2012/13? Jermain Defoe? A player who can barely play an entire 90 minutes anymore? Rickie Lambert? Who is still huffing and puffing at the age of 31? The answer to that question is probably Daniel Sturridge, who has been in top form for Liverpool over the past six months or so, but again, are we not pinning too much hope on the ex-Chelsea man? He has after all only been capped by the Three Lions six times.