Monday 5 September 2016 11:46, UK
Wayne Rooney is good enough to play the number 10 role for England but there may be better attacking options to support Harry Kane up front, says Stuart Pearce.
England scraped to victory against Slovakia on Sunday in their opening 2018 World Cup qualifier with a 1-0 win in manager Sam Allardyce's first game in charge.
Rooney started in a midfield three alongside Jordan Henderson and Eric Dier despite Allardyce saying beforehand he wanted to use his captain only as a forward.
Adam Lallana scored the game's only goal deep into stoppage time but that was after Rooney dropped deeper into midfield following the introduction of substitute Dele Alli.
Rooney felt he did a "good job" in his role but Sky Sports pundit Alan Smith believes England were much more effective going forward when Alli was brought on as he offered more of a threat.
And Pearce agrees England need to reconsider their tactics if they are to continue employing Tottenham forward Harry Kane as a lone striker.
"We need to get someone closer to the centre forward if we don't play two centre forwards - that was a main problem for us [against Slovakia]," he told Sky Sports Now.
"Wayne has decided to play a little bit too deep and we needed to get someone a little bit closer to Kane and you saw the improvement when Alli came on.
"He's [Rooney] good enough to be in the team but if he doesn't want to play behind the centre forward then England are going to miss a trick.
"Is he one of the two best midfielders in our country? I think in our qualification group he'll be more than comfortable to hold his own and contribute.
"Are there better midfield players man-for-man in his position? Maybe there are but at the moment one or two are off-form."
