Wayne Rooney's Absence Leaves Capello Searching for Plan B

Thirteen minutes into England’s game with Ukraine on Saturday night, West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green was sent off and his team were forced to play with 10 men. Not that Wayne Rooney’s performance would have had you believe it.

The Manchester United forward was universally absolved of all blame by the English media, a rare occurrence indeed, and widely acknowledged as being the only player wearing the three lions to leave with his reputation enhanced from the first defeat of the campaign.

However, despite playing the full 90 minutes in Dnepropetrovsk, Rooney has withdrawn from the national squad with a calf injury and will not feature in England’s final World Cup Qualifier.

Therefore, Capello will be forced to shuffle his front line for the visit of Belarus to Wembley on Wednesday night, no longer able to rely on the joint top-scorer in the UEFA Qualifying section.

Rooney has been a mainstay of the Capello regime, as the Italian has insisted on playing the forward in more central positions. The player has rewarded his manager’s faith by scoring 11 times in 16 games. 

Wednesday night will be only the fourth game he has missed under Capello. On the last two of these occasions, the Italian has turned to Gabriel Agbonlahor. The Aston Villa frontman may appreciate being handed another chance against less stellar opposition, having won his previous two caps against Germany and Spain.

Jermain Defoe, hitherto Capello’s go-to man up front, is missing from the squad as he recovers from a hand injury, leaving the Villa striker with the opportunity to impress.

Agbonlahor is definitely in-form, having scored five goals in his past six games but could find himself in the surprisingly unfamiliar situation of partnering club team-mate Emile Heskey in attack.

The pair started on the first day of the season against Wigan but have yet to do lineup again since Heskey has first found himself limited to a substitute’s role and has now overtaken by John Carew in the pecking order, as Martin O’Neill has switched back to a 4-4-2 system with a partner for Agbonlahor.

Heskey himself has continued to start for England this season despite his lack of action at club level and has featured heavily in England’s successful qualifying campaign, missing only the two home games against Ukraine and Andorra.

Peter Crouch replaced him on those two occasions, but Carlton Cole appears to be in favour at the moment having appeared in three of England’s four games so far this season, whilst Crouch is yet to figure.

In any case, it appears that Agbonlahor is most likely to benefit from the absence of Rooney and Defoe as it looks doubtful that Capello will approach the game with two ‘big men’ from the options of Heskey, Cole and Crouch.

Steven Gerrard limped out of England training this morning, just as he did the Ukraine match on Saturday when he was forced off at half-time with a groin injury.

James Milner replaced him then and looks set for his first start at full international level tomorrow evening as Capello adopts a more traditional 4-4-2 system with two out-and-out wingers.

Aaron Lennon will retain his place on the right and hope for better luck, his early substitution at the weekend having been necessitated by Green’s red card.

Gerrard and Rooney have dovetailed promisingly for England of late, the two offering an enviable ability to interchange roles and both operate astutely either in behind Heskey or in an attacking position coming from the left.

Capello doesn’t have the luxury of like-for-like players with which to replace the pair (arguably only Joe Cole would be able to fill either position effectively and even he is not fully fit after nine months out with a knee injury) so will be forced to find an alternative system with which to find success.

Fortunately, with England already qualified the game allows such experimentation but whilst there is effectively nothing at stake in terms of points to be won, the opportunity for the likes of Agbonlahor, Carlton Cole and James Milner to impress is one not to be missed as the race to be part of the final 23-man squad for South Africa hots up.