Much has been made over the past 24 hours on Wayne Rooney’s performance against Italy on Saturday night. 

Despite setting up the equalising goal for Daniel Sturridge, Rooney missed a splendid chance with the score at 2-1 and overall put in an uninspiring performance out on the left wing.

Manager Roy Hodgson leapt to his defence after the game, pointing out that the England striker provided the cross for the goal and helped out Leighton Baines on the left when the Italians attacked.

But to the rest of the population, Rooney left Baines unprotected requiring Danny Welbeck to switch over to the left in the second-half to provide more cover.

And it has raised the question, should England’s talisman be dropped for the crucial game against Uruguay on Thursday? I think the answer is yes.

Those who feel Rooney should be played in his favoured position, leading the line, are ignoring how well Sturridge has performed in the number nine role. 

Rooney has played in two World Cups before this and is yet to score a goal. 

It took Sturridge all of 37 minutes to find the back of the net on the world’s biggest stage. 

In this form, the Liverpool striker is undroppable.

It would be equally unfair to move Raheem Sterling out wide to accommodate a player who has scored four goals in five major tournaments, back in 2004 at the European Championships.

Sterling was the stand-out player against Italy and his speed and trickery caused the Italian defenders problems all night. 

No-one will want to play against the 19-year-old and he was unlucky to find the side-netting in the opening minutes with his 35-yard strike.

For all his talent, England can no longer start Rooney in the hope that the 28-year-old will conjure up that bit of magic that can turn a game around. 

Ross Barkley looked promising when he came on for the final 10 minutes. He tested goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu and could have done again, had Rooney not nicked the ball off his toes only to blaze over and sum up his performance on the night.

While Barkley may not warrant a start just yet, Hodgson has other options available.

James Milner may not be the most attack-minded midfielder but he is more then capable of doing what Rooney was supposed to do, that is help out his left-back when the opposition attack.

Welbeck gets plenty of stick from fans for his inability to find the target despite getting into good positions. But he also played well in Saturday’s defeat and it is obvious that he is key to Hodgson’s tactics this summer.

This may seem very harsh on Rooney, a striker who is fifth on the all-time England top goalscorers list with 39 goals, but he has failed to live up to the nation’s expectations on more then once occasion.

On Thursday the Three Lions face a Uruguay side who will be fired up to put Saturday’s 3-1 defeat behind them.

And with Luis Suarez back, England can’t afford to give the Liverpool striker room to breathe let alone turn and run at the defence.

Suarez will want to pull out wide and if England leave as much space as they did against Italy, there is no limit to the amount of damage he will be able to cause Baines.

I argued before the World Cup that Rooney shouldn’t start the first game.After this display, I’m afraid he hasn’t changed my mind.