Wayne Rooney roared onto the scene as a player but is taking a more patient approach to coaching as the Manchester United and England great strives to become a top manager.
Nobody could forget his stunning breakthrough as a teenager with Everton and then the national team, leading to his big-money move to Old Trafford in 2004.
Rooney was a force of nature that won trophies aplenty as records fell with United before winding down his career with spells at Everton, DC United and Derby.
The forward hung up his boots in January 2021 to take on the full-time managerial role at County, steering them through tough times during a rollercoaster start to his coaching career.
The 37-year-old decided to return to the USA and has overseen a marked improvement since taking over then Major League Soccer strugglers DC United last July as he builds his coaching pedigree.
“It’s been a great experience,” Rooney told the PA news agency. “Obviously I had the challenge at Derby County, which was a difficult one to say the least.
“But coming out here has just really been about gaining experience and for me to try and develop as a coach.
“I know I am not where I want to be as a finished article, but these next few years are really important in terms of me getting to grips and getting the best out of myself and eventually out of the players. But it is something I really enjoy.”
Rooney seems to be approaching his coaching career with a calm, patient mindset – something that might surprise those that watched this aggressive whirlwind of a forward thunder around the pitch.
“I think patience is key and understanding that you are going to lose games, you’re not going to win every game and staying calm in them situations,” he said ahead of managing the MLS All-Stars against Arsenal at Audi Field.
“I think that’s something that’s really a strength of mine is understanding that.
“I’ve picked two difficult jobs to take, to be fair, but I really believe that they’ll help me in the future.
“When DC came in I felt it was a great opportunity to come out and keep developing.
“A difficult job in terms of where the club was at, so I had to try to improve the club first of all and get them up the table.
“And really just seeing different challenges, different things – obviously languages, culture, religion – and understanding all them different scenarios which could happen if you manage at the top level, which you will have to deal with.”
Rooney’s knowledge and experiences have clearly made him an empathetic, considered coach, who is focused on developing himself as well as his players at DC United.
“I think it’s a place where I’m coming to work and to learn and develop,” he said.
“Of course, after games you can get frustrated and you are always thinking of how the game has gone but I think it’s the right place now, in this moment in time, for me to develop.”
With his family back in the UK, Rooney says he lives a “quite boring” existence Stateside around a 45-minute drive from downtown Washington DC.
He stays with his fellow coaches and the relaxed environment is allowing the football obsessive to try new things.
“If you would have asked me a year ago if I would play with a back five I would have said no,” Rooney said.
“Then I’ve gone to a back five quite a few times this season because of probably the quality of the players and it suited the squad more with the players I had.
“So, there are small things like that which it has allowed me to learn and develop tactically with different formations.
“It’s a great experience for me to come here and work and I think it will really help me moving forward.”
Rooney has never shied away from his ambitions to one day manage at the top level, previously saying he would “love” to coach Manchester United or boyhood club Everton.
But right now it is DC United that holds his full focus in a competition that feels like it is about to take a giant leap forward.
Lionel Messi’s stunning move to Inter Miami certainly has the potential to take football in North America to new heights, while Rooney believes MLS’ true quality has long been underestimated.
“I think it’s surprised a lot of people,” he said. “Still now I get agents phoning me up and saying there’s a striker in League Two and he’s ready now to come to the MLS.
“I’m like: ‘He’s nowhere near good enough to come and play in the MLS!’
“I think that’s a lack of understanding of the league maybe and there’s maybe a little bit of disrespect towards the league from that point of view.
“There are some really quality players in this league who can play at a high level.
“There’s different challenges, there’s technically some great players in this league, athletically there’s some really fit players in the league.
“It’s a league which I feel is still improving and can get better, but I think it’s really got to a very good level.”
Gravenberch ready to show off Liverpool form ‘to the world’, says Gakpo
Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo expressed his pride in seeing compatriot Ryan Gravenberch show off his qualities ‘to the whole world’ after a fine start to the Premier League season.
Though the Netherlands pair did not become teammates at Liverpool until late summer of 2023, Gakpo knew well Gravenberch’s talents from their respective Eredivisie spells with PSV Eindhoven and Ajax.
Now in his second season at Anfield, Gravenberch has drawn widespread plaudits for his form in a new deeper-lying midfield role under new head coach Arne Slot, having largely been used as a substitute under Jurgen Klopp.
Gravenberch is the only midfielder in Europe's big-five leagues to both make 30+ tackles (30) and 30+ interceptions (33) in all competitions this season, and Gakpo insisted that his Netherlands team-mate can continue to go from strength to strength, starting against Southampton this Sunday.
“We [the Dutchmen at Liverpool] knew Ryan already from the Eredivisie when he played at Ajax, and I think everybody knew already that he is this good,” Gakpo recently told Men in Blazers.
“After that, he made a move to Bayern Munich, and maybe he didn’t play that much over there, but still everybody in Holland knew how good he could be when he was playing.
“And I think maybe the manager [Slot] also knew this. At the beginning of the season, he put him in a slightly different position, but he gave him the confidence to play there.
“Ryan showed his quality in that position, grabbed his chance as well and turned out to be a good match. He is playing outstandingly for us this season.
“I’m very happy that we can see Ryan, as we Dutchmen already knew, but now he can show it to the whole world. I’m very proud of him.”
Southampton, meanwhile, welcome the Reds to St. Mary’s on the back of a 2-0 defeat to Wolves ahead of the international break, leaving them bottom of the table after 11 games of the season.
The Saints are the lowest scorers in the Premier League this season (seven), while only Crystal Palace (5.1%) have a lower shot conversion rate than Russell Martin’s side (6.2%). Just 30.1% of Southampton’s shots have been on target this term (34/113), a league-low ratio.
However, the Southampton head coach is relishing the opportunity of facing Liverpool, with his players performing well against the likes of Arsenal and Manchester City already this term.
"I'm really excited about Sunday. We're playing the best team in the country at the moment, on their current form and what they have been doing with their manager, built on an incredible foundation from the previous manager, so I'm really looking forward to it,” Martin said.
"I think we showed the guys the Premier League table last season and how much it changed by the end and by the end of December. But it's honestly such an exciting month.
"People talk about the difficulty of the game and every competition we face in the next four or five games, but it's what we all worked so hard for. We should be excited about the challenge.
“I think teams have shown in the last few weeks that you can pick up big results against big teams, good opposition, and we are going to have to. Our level of performance against teams at the top end of the table has been good on the whole."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Southampton – Mateus Fernandes
Fernandes has become a mainstay in the Southampton team, starting the last eight Premier League games in a row, and has been one of Martin’s standout performers in a lacklustre start to the campaign.
In the Saints’ 2-0 defeat to Wolves last time out, the Portuguese contributed a team-high expected goals (xG) tally of 0.22 from his three shots, while only Yukinari Sugawara (10) and Flynn Downes (12) have created more chances in the top-flight than Fernandes (eight) this season.
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah has both scored and assisted in the same match 35 times in the Premier League (including four already this term), just one shy of Wayne Rooney’s record of 36 games with both a goal and an assist in the competition. The Egyptian has been directly involved in 11 goals (seven goals, four assists) in 11 Premier League appearances against Southampton.
He has also been directly involved in 67% of Liverpool’s Premier League goals this season (14/21 – eight goals, six assists), the highest ratio by a player for any side in the division in 2024-25. Indeed, only Matt Le Tissier for Southampton in 1993-94 (69% - 34/49) has scored or assisted a higher proportion of a side’s goals in a single season in the competition.
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Liverpool have won nine of their 11 Premier League games under new head coach Slot (D1 L1). A win over Southampton will see the Dutchman become the joint-fastest manager to reach 10 wins from the start of a Premier League career (12 games), alongside Guus Hiddink in May 2009 and Carlo Ancelotti in November 2009 (both with Chelsea).
The Reds’ last Premier League game against the Saints was a 4-4 away draw in May 2023 – they conceded as many goals in that game as they had in their previous six visits to St Mary’s combined.
Southampton have won just one of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool (D3 L10), a 1-0 home victory in January 2021.
This will also be the first Premier League match between the side starting the day bottom of the table and the side starting the day top since April 2023, and Southampton’s 3-3 draw away to Arsenal. The league leaders are unbeaten in 14 such matches (W12 D2) since Wolves won 2-1 against Manchester United in February 2011.
However, Southampton have only lost one of their last eight Premier League home games against sides starting the day at the summit (W2 D5) and are unbeaten in their last four (W2 D2 – including a 1-0 win over Liverpool in January 2021) since a 0-1 defeat to Man City in May 2018.
But Martin’s side have lost nine of their 11 Premier League games this season (W1 D1). Only seven sides in English top-flight history have reached 10 defeats in 12 or fewer matches from the start of a campaign, with all seven going on to be relegated.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Southampton – 9.7%
Draw – 12.6%
Liverpool – 77.7%
Taylor proud of 'gritty' Man City display in Hammarby victory
Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his Manchester City players handled the atmosphere against Hammarby to secure their passage into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Khadija Shaw opened the scoring in the 31st minute before Ellen Wangerheim restored parity shortly after the interval with a finish from close range.
But Shaw continued her fine start to the campaign, scoring the winner to become City's all-time top scorer in the competition, surpassing Georgia Stanway and Janine Beckie (both six).
The result saw City make it to the last eight of the competition for the first time since 2021, though the encounter was far from comfortable at the Tele2 Arena on Thursday.
Hammarby ended the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.15 compared to the visitors' 1.07, despite both sides having 14 shots throughout the match.
However, City maintained their unbeaten record against Swedish sides in the competitor (W6), and Taylor was proud of his side's "gritty" display in Stockholm.
“I’m really pleased. It was about qualification for us tonight," Taylor said.
"There were a couple of ways we could do it. Obviously, we knew a point was enough, but I don’t think the players were thinking that way.
“It was a really gritty performance on a really difficult on this pitch. It probably doesn’t look like that for the viewers at home watching it.
"But it was a really lively surface and we worked so hard.
“I felt there were some areas we could control the play better. I have to give credit to Hammarby, they were really aggressive.
"The referee was on our side a little bit in the first half and maybe not in the second.
“I’m really pleased and proud of the players, they really dug in tonight. You come away from a hostile environment with a win.”
Serie A side Genoa confirm sacking of head coach Gilardino
Serie A side Genoa have confirmed the departure of their head coach Alberto Gilardino, with Patrick Vieira reportedly on his way in.
Gilardino, a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, leaves the club with them sitting just one point above the relegation size with 10 points from 12 matches this season.
A former striker who played for clubs including Genoa, Parma, AC Milan and Fiorentina, Gilardino took charge of Genoa in 2022 and helped them earn promotion to the top division before a 11th-place finish during the 2023-24 season.
"The club thanks Gilardino for the goals achieved together over the years and wishes him the best for his career," Genoa said in a statement.
The 42-year-old saw his side salvage a late 1-1 draw against Cesc Fabregas' Como in their last match before the international break.
Genoa were also knocked out of the Coppa Italia in the second round following a defeat to Sampdoria on penalties in September.
Arsenal legend Vieira is set to replace him, according to multiple reports.
The former France midfielder has been out of work since leaving Strasbourg by mutual consent in July.
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