Wayne Rooney defends England's 'Golden Generation' after Steven Gerrard's criticism

Steven Gerrard feels England had many egotistical losers in the squad during his time.

Steven Gerrard has been blasted as “disrespectful” by Wayne Rooney for referring to England’s golden age as “egotistical losers.”

Gerrard claimed he ‘hated’ the environment on international duty earlier this week and blamed a split culture for England’s inability to contend for trophies in the 2000s and early 2010s.

It occurs as Thomas Tuchel attempts to prioritise team spirit over big names, even going so far as to leave Jude Bellingham out of his squad. This strategy appeared to have worked in Thursday night’s 3-0 thumping of Wales.

Wayne Rooney responds to Steven Gerrard’s egotistical losers comments

Rooney and Gerrard combined to play 234 games for England, but never advanced past the semifinals. However, the Three Lions made it to two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final under Gareth Southgate.

“Obviously, we didn’t win anything. I wouldn’t quite put it that [Gerrard’s] way but I know what he’s saying. There was a lot of big characters in the dressing room,” Rooney told his BBC podcast.

“I wouldn’t say [England squads now have a] better attitude. That’s disrespectful to us as players because we worked hard, we tried. We didn’t quite manage to do it.”

“Even when you look back with the players we had could we have done better? We could have but it wasn’t to be.”

The Three Lions have had their own golden generation, which had the likes of Frank Lampard, Rooney, Paul Scholes and Gerrard, but never achieved any major international trophy.

It was a big shame for the Three Lions, who boasted such great players but achieved nothing. This will certainly continue to sting the former stars, as all had the quality to lead England to a major trophy in their career.

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