Topics: World Cup 2014, FIFA World Cup, Portugal, Wayne Rooney, England, Daniel Sturridge
Wayne Rooney was on the end of a lot of criticism after England's defeat against Italy. Facing elimination, Roy Hodgson has some decisions to make.

England are staring elimination in the eyes on Thursday, as are their opponents. After their narrow defeat in their opening match against Italy, Roy Hodgson now has some decisions to make.

Football analysts have questioned Hodgson’s decision to play Daniel Sturridge and Wayne Rooney together. But what may have come as more of a surprise was why the Manchester United striker wasn’t operating down the middle of the pitch.

Raheem Sterling was deployed in a more central role in an attempt to pester Andrea Pirlo. Quite frankly, that did not appear to have worked as well as Hodgson will have expected, as Pirlo could be seen walking the ball across the park, and picking out sublime passes more often than not.

Former AC Milan manager Clarence Seedorf believes that the England manager needs to make a decision in regards to the two England strikers.

“Yes, it is a tough decision for Roy Hodgson to leave one of them out but they both play the same position,” Seedorf told DailyMail.

“There would also then be the advantage of bringing one of them off the bench to change the game. You need to keep back one of your ‘firework’ players for when the opposition are tiring - Argentina did it well with Gonzalo Higuain against Bosnia.”

Apart from the assist, Rooney was not all that influential against Italy. Slotting him into a more central role could really take a lot of pressure off Steven Gerrard, who looked extremely fatigued. The Liverpool captain was forced to defend, create and attack, which at this level and at his age, it can be extremely difficult without any help.

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