Capello: Rooney at ease with form

11:52pm Sunday 7th September 2008

Fabio Capello insisted Wayne Rooney is not becoming frustrated at his failure to hit peak form for England ahead of Wednesday's vital World Cup qualifier with Croatia in Zagreb.

Rooney has hit the target only five times for his country since the start of the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign and his last international goal was 11 months ago.

But Capello said: "Is Rooney getting frustrated? No. I believe that when you start the season, the biggest players need more time to find their form. He has to find the form."

He added: "The game against Andorra was not the perfect game for Rooney. He tried to touch a lot of balls. He did one fantastic pass for the second goal and also one other in the first half for Theo Walcott.

"He needs space. Rooney needs space to work. I hope in the next game, he will find the space against a team who will not have nine players behind the ball for most of the game.

"He plays well, but he is not fantastic, but, for me, it is important for the team, the movement he is trying."

Emile Heskey could come into the frame to start alongside Rooney against Croatia and he linked up well with Michael Owen on his return to the England side 12 months ago.

The Wigan striker was brought on as a half-time substitute against Andorra along with Joe Cole and the pair of them made strong cases to be in the first XI against Slaven Bilic's side.

Capello said: "When you play against this team (Andorra), you need one big player. The big man is dangerous for defenders and Heskey did some good movement when he came on.

"This is dangerous for defenders and, for this reason, we find the space. Jermain Defoe also showed some good movement but he is small. He had one chance to score. It was not easy with no space."

Editors Choice