If Rooney..

Julian Denny

But that was the price we had to pay for him then - take it or leave it. We wanted Rooney and because of who we are we had to pay for him - over the odds no doubt. Same with Rio. Looking at it today, it was an obscene amount of money. Nevertheless, I'm glad we got him because he is absolutely central to United's success - certainly on a par with Ronnie despite the latter's better goalscoring record.

Pogue Mahone

Exactly. Put it this way, who could we have signed at the same time, for the same money, who would be a more valuable player to us now and a better foil for Cristiano Ronaldo? Nobody, that's who.

Sam#1

If we didn't have Rooney, Ronaldo wouldn't be as good as he is IMHO.

Dippersripper

Seconded. Its the competition between those two that makes both of them better. Rooney was the better player for the first two years, Ronnie dominated the next two. Lets hope Rooney raises his game again for the next two seasons.

Pogue Mahone

Exactly.

It's funny actually, these last few seasons we've only had a handful of games where they've both played at their best at the same time. If we're lucky enough to get a whole season where they both get into a decent run of form, simultaneously, we will be fecking unplayable

CantonaVeron

This finishing issue is getting far too much attention, its not even been that bad, he generally hits the target and is a little unlucky at times. Analysing just Sunday's chances the first he was put through and basically kicked from behind, was completely off balance so much so nearly every other player would have been down on the floor looking for a penelty but carried one and was too close to the keeper to do anything other than he did. Second chance he should have brought out of the air a little better but then the chance was gone, i.e there was no chance to show the finishing qualities he has. Third chance he did every thing right, brought it down with a world class piece of control and then hit it first time almost in the same movement and Reina managed to get in the way, if anything he could have done with mis hitting it but again thats more down to bad luck than anything. This of course will turn and I would expect him to score a few more as the season comes to a close because he is in good form, his movement and creative play have been world class he's a joy to watch, he started running at players again after his injuries and things are coming along nicley in his all round game.

People who claim Rooney isn't a special player must be mad, some of there comments actually make me laugh, he is very important to our team and I wouldn't swap him for anyone, worth every fucking penny.

Raven_Blade

Very true. Rooney and Ronaldo are special players. Those two make our team work so well. I wouldnt swap them for anyone. When they are both on form they are truly unplayable. I hope Rooney can raise him game one more level to match what Ronaldo has been doing because he certainly has the ability.

AdZzUtd

A goal tonight would do him wonders, he's in great form but none can dispute that if he put his goal-scoring boots on he'd make our run-in that bit easier.

amolbhatia100

Obviously its improved. Yes he gets a lot more chances but his composure is just way different to what it used to be. Thing is Rooney doesnt have to become a 'natural finisher' in the michael owen mould. If he just improves his ratio of conversion he'd be banging them in. You add that to his overall game and its just scary.

kanchelskis14

That's obviously an extremely wild statement, you can't say how another player could have turned out.

quiet_united

Fuck sake guys. How many goals we've score this season? Unless you want us to score 200 goals a season and thrashing every team 6,7 - 0, the goal has to be shared in the team. If Rooney scored another 15 goals this season, you guys might change the subject to another player such as Tevez or Ronaldo because they're not scoring enough.

I really enjoy watching Rooney playing, he's such a team player.

Pogue Mahone

It's not wild at all. Obviously SAF is great at developing talent but if there was another player out there who was as good as Rooney and the same age he would have ended up at a top club and we would all know about him.

My challenge to you is to name that player?

Chris H

He's 22. We've already got 4 productive years out of him. And he doesn't want to leave, so we could easily get ten more. Which would means we'll not have had to buy another player in his roster spot for 14 years. That's a bargain.

Similarly, Anderson and Nani look like value for money as well. Big difference in paying 15m for a 19 year old and a 29 year old, which by the way is exactly what Chelsea did to pick up Anelka. In four years time, Nani and Anderson will be worth more than they are now, and the trajectory of their careers will still be on the up, as they become more and more productiive for the club. Anelka? Not so much, in all likelihood. Market value (for resale) and productivity level (should they want to keep him) will both likely be down. It's Chelsea, so money's really not an issue. But rich as our club is, we do have to spend wisely.

Anyway, just my $.02.

zain

I'll stick my head out and say that Rooney won't score that much this season, but the one goal that he will score this season, will be fucking special and important and he will go down as a legend for just that one goal..

There I said it!

Eto'odinho

This sounds like a thread on RAWK or started by a Liverpool fan, if the pitch wasn't green we would have beaten United OR if the game wasn't on Sunday we would have won.

The bottom line is even if Rooney's finishing was better he still wouldn't have been on par with Ronaldo. His positioning during the game is what is missing. Ronaldo may have improved his finishing BUT the improvement is only slight IMO, it is his positioning, timing and spatial awareness that belong to a different galaxy.

In my opinion one can be as good a finisher as Raul (late 90s and early 2000s) BUT still not be as effective if his positioning resembles that of a defensive striker.

Players like Inzaghi and Ruud are all decent finishers BUT it is their ability to sniff the likelihood of a chance in the box that sets them apart.

MadDogg

That's got little to do with pure finishing ability.

Ruud and Rooney are, with all due respect to Ole, much superior players. They will both get far more chances than Ole ever did, so will end up with more goals. However Ole would almost certainly have a better goals-to-shots ratio (no doubt far better than Rooney's). When he did have a chance, he'd be more likely to finish it.

KingEric7

Solskjaer remains as one of the best finishers i have ever seen.
It was still there for all to see last year. Think back to the 3-2 win over Reading in the FA Cup. Ole was put through from a fabulous ball by Kieran Richardson and proceeded to place it with the outside of his foot around the keeper at his near post. Brilliant.