London, July 19: Ex-Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier has blamed Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney for England''s shocking World Cup performance.
Fabio Capello''s side crashed out of the tournament with a 4-1 drubbing at the hands of Germany in the second round.
"Probably the key to understanding why England didn''t perform at the World Cup is that the top players didn''t do as well as we could expect them to,” The Sun quoted the French coach, as saying.
He added: "I''m thinking mainly about Wayne Rooney. He''s an outstanding player but whether he was tired or wasn''t in good shape I don''t know. If Rooney, who for me is a top player and finisher, had scored a few more goals maybe...”
"England was also unlucky because of the goal that was disallowed against Germany. It was a good goal," he said.