Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson says Wayne Rooney suffered at the World Cup because of expectations from the English public.
Rooney failed to live up to his billing as one of the stars of the tournament, heading home without scoring a goal.
"I think there was such expectation on him," said the Manchester United manager, who contacted Rooney and urged him to relax following the player's angry outburst after the draw with Algeria.
"There was talk he was going to be the player of the tournament. Don't forget, that was the prelude to the whole thing. He was going to be the star, he was going to outshine them all. And he's not got great experience of the World Cup, really. You wait, in four years' time you'll see a different player."
Ferguson claimed the level of expectation weighed heavily on the whole squad, adding that England paid the price for having such an easy passage in qualifying.
He said: "I was baffled by what I saw, too. That expectation was huge. It was a burden on them. They qualified from a group which you'd have to say was a million to one that they wouldn't qualify, so it was an easy passage.
"Maybe it would have been better if England had been in a tougher group. They'd have earned the right to be one of the favourites and it would have helped."
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