England and Manchester United star Wayne Rooney admitted he was hurt by the events of the past few months, Sky Sports reported today.
The star striker talked candidly about his struggles on and off the field. He has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons recently and his form in England’s Premier League suffered — just as it did with England at the World Cup in South Africa.
Rooney conceded he was far from his best: “It’s obviously been a hard time but I just need to try to get back to doing what I do best, and playing football the way I can do. I’m only a human being, I hurt as well, but I need to get through this and get back to playing football the way I know I can do and I’m sure everything else will settle down after that.”
Rooney has yet to score from open play for Manchester United this season — his only goal came from the penalty spot against West Ham — and he is currently sidelined with an ankle injury.
For the first time, the 24-year-old player admitted he was well below par at the World Cup, but insisted it was nothing to do with his fitness.
“I was in the right state of mind. There was nothing physically wrong with me, I just can’t see why I didn’t perform and it still puzzles me to this day, and it’s always, to me, going to be a mystery why I didn’t perform — not even to half the performance levels I know I can do,” he said.
“It was a poor World Cup. I know by my own standards I didn’t reach the form I would have liked to in the World Cup. It’s frustrating and disappointing really. You try and forget it and move on. But obviously you know it’s difficult. You’re going to the biggest tournaments in the world and you want to try and express yourself, do well for the team, and we didn’t do that,” Rooney added.
