Rooney VS Scholes

By Adedayo Ayodele

In response to the criticism from Scholes, Rooney said: "To be honest, I'm not really interested in what anyone else has got to say.

"I'm interested in what Roy Hodgson and the coaching staff here and the people around me say. People have their opinions but I don't agree with them.

"[Scholes has] been a team-mate but he's been away from the first team for a long time.

"I've seen a lot of you (in the media) saying he's coached me and been around the team but he hasn't. I'm not really going to react. I'm not interested. He's got his opinions so let's leave it at that."

I don't know about you guys but I feel Paul Scholes has become quite a disappointing character in the past few months. As a player, he didn't say much. He had a non-existent ego. He turned up, he played, he went home. There are players who have burst into tears and revelled in the attention of their last fixture before they retire, where as Paul Scholes seemed to hate the attention, and looked uncomfortable that all eyes were on him in his final game.

He was a human being, in a game controlled by bewilderingly wealthy yet bewilderingly immature boys. It was refreshing. These days, he's got a lot to say, and whilst his opinion can seem earnest and honest, he also comes across as if he's taking swipes for the sake of it. Judging from his book, I suppose that's his natural way. Scholes didn't like praise. He cringed at the thought of Zidane and Xavi calling him the best, and he wanted people to slag him off and tell him what he was doing wrong, not what he was doing right. 

I think what Scholes needs to understand is that not everyone is like that. Especially not Wayne Rooney, who has proven many times that he does not respond well to criticism. Fergie, Moyes, previous England managers, the media etc have all criticised him in the past, and his response hasn't been favourable. Rooney wants to be praised, and he lavishes that praise. 

I think Wilshere responded well to Scholes' criticism, and that's just Scholes' way I suppose, but I think he needs to reel it in a bit. These modern players don't want to be kicked when they're down. Morale seems to be such a fragile thing in the modern game, and it's not really doing much good for the England players to be told that they've not done enough. They won't respond the way footballers from 10+ years ago would.