Jamie Carragher defends Wayne Rooney after hotel drinking session

Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has leapt to the defence of England captain Wayne rooney. Reports in The Sun newspaper have been focused on the striker spending a night in the hotel bar where the England squad were staying following their victory over Scotland in the World Cup Qualifiers and ahead of the friendly with Spain at Wembley.

Wayne's indiscretions

Rooney has been criticised for reportedly drinking until the early hours of Sunday morning with members of the England backroom staff, but Carragher thinks he's been harshly singled out.

"Rooney wasn't the only player to go out. Where's the collective responsibility? Why is it all on Wayne Rooney?"

Gary Neville, Rooney's former Manchester United team-mate had also earlier questioned why Rooney was alone in apologising.

Carragher who was speaking on Monday Night Football following West Brom's 4-0 victory over Burnley also said the pressure on the England captain could be better understood, "The Pressure that lad's been under all season. Every performance gets scrutinised so much. He's a human being.

He needs a release, maybe this is it."

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho didn't start the striker in Saturdays 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford, but said after the game that it was nothing to do with the reports about the players behaviour on England duty and purely for tactical reasons. "I believed ones like Mata, Martial and Rashford were faster than Wayne, better attacking opponents one to one in the last line.

I thought it was the best option".

Wayne's future in football being questioned?

Rooney who earlier in the week issued an apology through a spokesperson, spoke after the Arsenal game and hit out at the media reports "I'm proud to play for my country and I'm proud of my achievements. It's not finished yet. I think what's been going on is disgraceful.

It feels as if the media are trying to write my obituary and I won't let that happen".

Another former England player had also jumped to the 31 year olds defence earlier in the week. Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker took to Twitter and seemed surprised at the reaction to the story.