Capello - Rooney needs time

Capello says England striker will come good ahead of qualifiers

By Razwan Mirza   Last updated: 15th August 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Capello - Rooney needs time

Rooney: Finding his form

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England manager Fabio Capello believes striker Wayne Rooney needs a few more games before he finds his true form.

The Manchester United forward has hit a barren spell and is looking for his first goal since March after failing to find the net in pre-season for United and for England in their midweek 2-1 win against Hungary at Wembley.

Capello remains optimistic that the 24-year-old will be back to his very best soon enough despite a lacklustre World Cup finals where Rooney failed to make any impression following an ongoing ankle injury.

United kick-off their Premier League season on Monday against Newcastle at Old Trafford with Rooney ready to compete with Javier Hernandez, Michael Owen, Dimitar Berbatov and Federico Macheda for a starting role.

"I expect Wayne Rooney to have a good season but he needs to play," said Capello.

"I studied him, along with a number of other players, for three years when I was a club manager, working out how long you needed to find normal form.

"It was 500-600 minutes minimum. At the moment he has played 150.

"For this reason. I think he needs to play a minimum of three more games to find his correct level."

No fears

The Italian has no fears about the contribution the striker he will make to England's Euro 2012 qualifying campaign, which starts in September with games against Bulgaria on 3rd September and Switzerland four days later.

Capello hopes the former Everton man will not be affected by his poor World Cup showing in South Africa.

"He won't be badly affected by what happened at the World Cup. We know it is possible that he wouldn't play well. But he has to forget. It is part of the job. You have to move forward.

"The reaction of the fans was normal.

"They want to see the best Rooney and the best team. Everything is best, best, best.

"But it is not possible all the time. You have to wait for him."

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