Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has said that he was still surprised at the way Wayne Rooney struggled to reproduce this excellent club form for the England national team at the Euro 2012.

Despite having scored almost 30 goals in the league alone for Manchester United, Wayne Rooney managed only one goal at the Euro 2012, although he was suspended for the first two matches of the group stages. He was especially poor in the quarter-final match against Italy. This has led to criticism from many saying that Wayne Rooney does not produce his best for the England national team.

Sir Alex Ferguson has not come in support of his player, but has said that he expected Wayne Rooney to struggle because he did not start in the two matches against France and Sweden. Sir Alex Ferguson has said that Wayne Rooney is the kind of player who gets better with regular game time. Due to the fact that he was suspended for the first two matches of the group stages, he was not able to pick up the pace in the quarter-final match against Italy. Ferguson has also said that he expects another good season from Wayne Rooney this time around as well.

"I always thought it was difficult. We know him better than anybody and he needs a lot of football. Wayne`s a stocky lad. If he misses a couple of games, it takes him three or four to come back. He didn`t look as sharp as normal [against Italy]. It is very hard to play two big games in four days," Ferguson said. The goal scored by Wayne Rooney in the win over Ukraine was his first in a major tournament since Euro 2004, but he scored 29 goals in the league alone for Manchester United last season.