Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney feels that this summer’s World Cup showed one way that Sir Alex Ferguson stood out from the rest of the managerial competition.
The 2026 World Cup concluded at the weekend and Argentina fell short of their title defence after Euro 2024 title holders Spain were crowned world champions.
Spain inflicted a 1-0 defeat on 2022 World Cup champions Argentina in extra time at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sunday evening.
England finished third in the FIFA competition after Thomas Tuchel’s men defeated France in a stunning 6-4 win at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Saturday.
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Wayne Rooney’s criticism of England under Thomas Tuchel brings to the forefront his point about Sir Alex Ferguson
England fell short of reaching their first World Cup final since the Three Lions’ 1966 triumph after a dramatic late comeback win from Argentina last week.
Anthony Gordon opened the scoring for England in the second half of their semi-final clash, but Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez both netted for Argentina.
Wayne Rooney was deeply critical of Thomas Tuchel’s tactics for the 2-1 defeat and made a major comparison to his time under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.
Speaking on his podcast, Manchester United’s all-time record scorer claimed that Ferguson would have taken the match by the scruff of the neck in a bid to win.
“We encouraged Argentina,” he said on BBC Sport’s The Wayne Rooney Show.
“And I’ve said this, I was speaking to someone last night and I said this to them: this is why Alex Ferguson was the best, because he used to say, when you go a goal up, you have to go for the kill. That’s when they’re at the weakest.
“You know, they’re thinking, ‘How do we get back in the game?’ And for the next five minutes, you go at them.”
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Sir Alex Ferguson’s tactical approach was very much made public by the Man Utd legend himself
Ferguson was not one to mince his words and the 84-year-old former United manager made his feelings clear about wanting his side to have a “killer instinct.”
“This present team doesn’t kill off sides as well as they should,” he told Inside United, as per Sky Sports in 2010.
“At Goodison [Park], we had three or four chances at 3-1 [against Everton] to really put the game out of sight, but we were wasteful and ultimately paid the price.
“We threw away two goals in injury-time. That’s unthinkable. That killer instinct just isn’t there at the moment and it’s something we need to develop.
“We haven’t had a problem scoring goals. We got three against Liverpool, Everton and West Ham, two away at Fulham, three in the Community Shield; that suggests we don’t have difficulty finding the net. What we’re not doing, though, is killing teams off.”
Rooney was part of the final United team that lifted a Premier League title under Ferguson before the legendary Scotsman bowed out of Old Trafford in 2013.
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