Wayne Rooney is too deep… Wales will be delighted England and Manchester United captain is playing in midfield

IF I was Chris Coleman and saw that Wayne Rooney would once again be playing in a midfield role, I would be quite happy.

The Wales manager will probably think, ‘Right we don’t have to worry about him’.

Not because Rooney didn’t perform well in that deeper roll for England against Russia.

In fact, I could not quite understand why he was taken off when we seemed to have the game under control and won.

It was more that he was not in a position to really hurt the opposition in front of goal.

So if I was to change anything for the Wales game, it’d be to push Rooney further forward.

I’d get him in behind Harry Kane — up in a position where he can create in more dangerous areas and get more shots away himself.

And, after pushing him up the pitch, I would then start Jack Wilshere in the deeper midfield role and move Dele Alli out wide to the left, leaving Raheem Sterling out of the starting XI.

The Manchester City winger was the one player whose performance against Russia suggested he could be left out on Thursday.

But I would not change anything else about the side because, after all, before that last-gasp equaliser it was a decent display from England that was winning plaudits.

Some of that credit was a bit off the mark because — for all our possession and decent play — there was still not enough clear-cut chances created or enough shots on goal.

But I’m sure that can change with Rooney further upfield, particularly against Wales, which will be more like a Premier League encounter.