Wayne Rooney to captain England against Scotland
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Rooney was dropped for the goalless draw with Slovenia last month while he has also been left out by Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho at club level recently.
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Hide AdThe 31-year-old returned to United’s starting line-up in the 3-1 victory over Swansea last weekend and England interim boss Southgate says his skipper is now “in a better place”.
Speaking at a press conference, Southgate added: “He’s confident and I think experience in a game like this is important, in a team that has a lot of energy and potential, but you also need a lot of experience.”
Southgate continued: “He’s in a better place than he was for the last get-together in terms of his sharpness, his confidence. There was no hesitation to be playing him.
“He’s playing well. He’s played well in his last couple of matches for Manchester United. When he’s in a rhythm of playing that helps.”
Jordan Henderson, who captained England against Slovenia in place of Rooney, also said the Manchester United forward’s experience is invaluable to the squad.
Rooney played in each of the last two friendlies with Scotland and is England’s second most-capped player of all time, and Henderson says the knowledge his team-mate has gained over that time has been put to good use.
He said: “Wayne will speak to a lot of the players, with his experience. Not only for this game, but for a lot of the games Wayne uses his experience for the players very well, especially the younger lads that have not experienced as many games or as big a game as this is. So he’s a big part in trying to get the victory.”