Paul Parker: Roy Hodgson isn’t brave enough to drop Wayne Rooney at Euro 2016… but he should

The press have announced it: ‘Wayne Rooney is back’. But he’s not, he’s just scoring a few more goals.

If you look at his general play, there’s no justification to signal his return – and absolutely no reason for Rooney to start for England at Euro 2016.

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England manager Roy Hodgson is obliged to include Rooney in the 23-man squad, but beyond that? If you look at his general play, he is giving the ball away repeatedly and showing no appetite to run in behind. The press is elevating him, but in my opinion scoring goals isn’t enough. I’m still looking for much more from Rooney.

However, Hodgson isn’t brave enough to drop Rooney when it matters. Other managers might ignore the captaincy and focus on form, but Hodgson would view it as a blemish on his record if he dropped his skipper – even though I would call that strong management, doing something difficult for the good of the country.

Perhaps Hodgson fears a sort of Graham Taylor effect – when the former England manager took off Gary Lineker on his final international appearance as England bowed out at Euro 92. But this is different.

Even if you play two strikers, Rooney hasn’t done enough to warrant a starting spot. If he's dropped, I'll take back everything I've said about Hodgson, but I just don't see it happening.

I want to see Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy given an opportunity for their recent exploits. They are very much in-form and their confidence must be very high – but they can’t make the same impact from the bench.

Kane is happy with his back to goal; Vardy is adept at making runs from deeper areas. Because of this, I really believe you could play them both in attack.

I don’t think you would want to isolate them in set areas – i.e. Vardy on the left flank. They need freedom. Against better opponents we would need to pack the midfield, but in the warm-ups and against lesser opposition, we should be looking to play them together. Rooney shouldn’t be playing in the warm-up games. We already know what he can and – more recently – what he can’t do.

So could Rooney play a midfield role? Not for me. You look at Dele Alli, he has to start. Ross Barkley, too, would be ahead in the pecking order. Their performances have been consistent – and consistency is the most important thing in any team. Even Danny Drinkwater at Leicester, he’s not setting the world alight, but he’s obviously doing something right. You have to pick players on form.

Rooney could feasibly be fourth in the pecking order when the Euros roll around. For me, Daniel Sturridge is number one, because he brings assists and goals, with Kane and Vardy just behind. But you can’t pick Sturridge at the moment – he has to be fit and firing on all cylinders, otherwise you can’t risk him. Obviously, he's not at the same level as 18 months ago. And for that reason Rooney can at least consider himself the third best striker.

He could force his way back into the frame before the summer, but he has to have one hell of a season-ender, not only scoring goals but putting in much-improved performances. Being captain is not enough. He’s not a leader. He’s just a PR captain. That’s all he is.

As to the autumn World Cup qualifiers, I think England have to change it up – both from Hodgson and Rooney. England need a manager who’s willing to come in and do it their way, someone who will focus purely on the youngsters. We need to forget about the dark ages, in which we’ve picked the wrong players purely because of who they are. It’s time to forget about the older players.