Stop it. Stop it now.
Rooney in Midfield
- Thread starter gooDevil
- Start date
His short passing game is genuinely woeful, he also has an annoying habit of getting the ball stuck under his feet and losing it.
In summary, he looks like a striker playing in midfield. Who'd have thought it?
His insistence on getting the ball in midfield and trying to ping it out wide to the wing is almost as annoying as his insistence as a striker to always try to chip the goalkeeper
Not only are we wasting one of our best players, it's also a hindrance for the likes of Herrera as"The captain shall always play"
He isn't good enough to start for us anymore in my opinion.
Better midfielders, better 9s, better 10s.
Better midfielders, better 9s, better 10s.
I actually thought he looked ok in midfield today.
Midfield rooney has found his level
Midfield rooney has found his level
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Put him up top with some mix of Di Maria, Herrera, Mata, Januzaj in behind him and he'll soon get back into his goal scoring groove.
That's an overreaction.
Put him up top with some mix of Di Maria, Herrera, Mata, Januzaj in behind him and he'll soon get back into his goal scoring groove.
Understand trying to have Mata and Rooney in the same starting XI-but doesn't work. Rooney needs to play further forward-if that means Mata on the bench, so be it.
I wouldn't play either of RVP or Falcao over him atm, they've hardly been in sensational form.
I've beginning to think this more and more. He isn't as sharp as he was to get away from people closing him down and never takes anyone on as he doesn't have the pace. He's gameplay and influence diminishes more and more.
Having someone like Wilson on the bench who is capable of dragging defenders out of position and runs at them is what we need.
please please play him up front and have the balls to drop RVP
How can most of the fans see Rooney can't play in midfield yet the manager can't.
Surely if LvG doesn't see him as a striker anymore then his days are numbered for us, would be hard to sell with his wages though.
I can even understand it somehow if van Gaal is playing him in midfield because he wants to transform him into a midfielder so he is patient with his performances, but if he is playing him because he thinks it's good for the team at the moment then something is really wrong with van Gaal. I don't think there is a game where Rooney doesn't feck up simple pass in the middle of the pitch.
So Rooney is the one getting Schweinsteigered by Louis van Gaal.
Play him further forward or don't play him at all.
If he's playing in the diamond behind the two forwards, okay I get it. Any of the other three positions? No thanks. It's to the detriment of the team. Blind and Di Maria are made for the positions they played tonight. Mata and Herrera fight it out for the other, or with Rooney for the no.10 role.
It's was all going so well until the turn of the year, even in midfield but slowly he's becoming very very frustrating to watch.
If he's playing in the diamond behind the two forwards, okay I get it. Any of the other three positions? No thanks. It's to the detriment of the team. Blind and Di Maria are made for the positions they played tonight. Mata and Herrera fight it out for the other, or with Rooney for the no.10 role.
It's was all going so well until the turn of the year, even in midfield but slowly he's becoming very very frustrating to watch.
He's so lethal up front along with his defensive bonus of back tracking like feck and the 300k a week we're paying him are all wasted when he's in midfield.
I'm getting seriously fed up with this now. We have mophead playing up front. We have an unproven teenager. We have RvP and Falcao, neither of whom are pulling up any trees. Yet we have the best English player of his generation, a man who will end his career as the leagues 2nd top scorer and possibly our top scorer playing in fecking midfield. There was one instance tonight where Rooney and Blind were the furthest 2 back on OUR CORNER. Our bloody corner. FFS.
This is a total waste of his talents. Aaaargh!
This is a total waste of his talents. Aaaargh!
Theoretically, he should be gettting better and better the more games he plays in that position. If anything, the opposite is happening. He covers a huge amount of ground and is constantly involved but he's losing the ball far too much. With Van Gaal's nervousness about lost possession it really is strange the way he puts up with it.
Today is not the game to judge Rooney in midfield (not that anyone is necessarily - he's played enough games there now to form a rounded judgement on that) - the man clearly was playing at half-pace today.
I could understand it slightly when I thought he was playing him in midfield for more physical presence but to play Fellaini up front rather than in midfield kind if dispelled that. It's bonkers. If he's now a midfielder and isn't being considered to play up front then he shouldn't be first choice.
He's less effective in the midfield, but as a right midfielder he is just terrible. I'd rather have Tony, which says a lot. I was irritated by him all game. Thought he was lethargic, slow and his diagonal passes (and our long passing) need to be curbed a lot. Unless it's on the break, they are easy to defend against and he takes his sweet time on the ball too.
I don't like playing football with a quarterback. Play him up front or not at all please.
I don't like playing football with a quarterback. Play him up front or not at all please.
I can honestly see why Rooney gets so pissed off, though. Yes, it's all well and good doing a job for the team, but the guy's still a top, top striker. I could understand if his goalscoring touch was going and we dropped him deeper, but he's arguably still our best goalscorer, and I'm pretty sure that he could be at most clubs in Europe playing up top in his natural position.
Better 9s and 10s is very debatable.
Sort of reminds me about the clamoring to drop the 3-5-2. LVG stuck with it too long, when it was clear to everyone he should drop the formation. Rooney in MF just doesn't work. Problem is that Rooney should either be a #10 or #9-which requires dropping somebody to play Rooney. That's a better solution than playing Rooney as a MF-but LvG clearly wants to try it a little longer.
This. Neither RVP nor Falcao has shown they are better as strikers.
I used to think this. But I think Rooney is considerably better than both Van Persie and Falcao right now. More dynamic, certainly.
Hope he goes back to playing as a no9 soon
Roo is midfield is a waste of an outstanding footballer.
Props to our mercurial captain for doing whatever the manager asks without complaining (although who in their right mind would complain about it while scoring 300k PER WEEK?), but I hope this is a temporary fixation with Louis Van Gaal and that this gets sorted out next season.
Props to our mercurial captain for doing whatever the manager asks without complaining (although who in their right mind would complain about it while scoring 300k PER WEEK?), but I hope this is a temporary fixation with Louis Van Gaal and that this gets sorted out next season.
Wasted in the midfield. I am just trying to imagine how good we will play if/when LVG plays a proper midfielder in the center of the pitch instead of a striker and plays Rooney as a proper striker.
I thought he was terrible tonight. He seems to be getting worse.
I thought he was fine. I watched the match after reading all these comments, so I was expecting something terrible. It really wasn't like that.
First of all, he was more of a winger than a midfielder. Secondly, it was his presence on the flank that helped McNair have the game he did. Thirdly, his pass completion was 82%, which is better than Di Maria's on the other side. Fourthly, he made 79 passes which is a bloody good output for anyone on the pitch and indicates what an important influence he is on the team. Talk of dropping him is insane.
First of all, he was more of a winger than a midfielder. Secondly, it was his presence on the flank that helped McNair have the game he did. Thirdly, his pass completion was 82%, which is better than Di Maria's on the other side. Fourthly, he made 79 passes which is a bloody good output for anyone on the pitch and indicates what an important influence he is on the team. Talk of dropping him is insane.
Thought he did good today. There were some strange tactics, he played more like a right midfielder most of the time.
I don't think that holding talks of playing him in his dominant position is too much asked either. What irks me about Rooney, the midfielder, is that he is too slow at picking the key pass, and that he loses the ball too easily, leaving us in a vulnerable position for counterattacks. Playing a striker in a midfielder's position is lunacy by any stretch as far as people are concerned.
Don't think he was that bad as some here are making out to be. I do understand the frustration at a key player being utilized out of position though. Average performance from him and he annoyingly does have the tendency to lose possession carelessly (which almost every midfielder of ours, barring Blind, Carrick and Mata possess).
I think LVG sticks with him in midfield for his reliability when it comes to certain aspects. Regardless of his attacking/on the ball performance, he always puts a good shift in, is hard to get past, tends to come out of 50-50 duels with the ball and doesn't really get caught out of position defensively.
I've got to say I'm impressed and pleasantly surprised with his defensive work and especially his steadfast focus throughout the game (perhaps even brought about, as a result of the additional responsibility he shoulders as the captain). Can't say the same about our other conventional midfielders though.
Fellaini has had a few mares in midfield (against Southampton, Pool first half etc) where his passing was atrocious and he does at times, not track runners properly in addition to being caught out defensively.
Herrera has plenty of work rate but not necessarily the defensive nous to ally it with unfortunately. He's by no means a liability defensively, a weakling or a 'luxury' player which quite a few wrongly portray him as, but you can't exactly rely on him defensively can you?
Whilst Blind and Carrick are defensively solid, they lack the mobility and physicality that LVG craves for in a balanced midfield and as a result, they've never played together in midfield when they were both available.
Is it just me or do you guys also think Rooney has been pretty damn good defensively as well? I've read comments blasting his on the ball work/passing but not too many, if any, criticising his defensive work or about him losing the 'midfield battle'. This has probably slipped through unnoticed due to his underwhelming attacking displays or perhaps I'm just imagining it.
It just leads me to think if LVG thinks sacrificing Rooney's on the ball work and productivity, is worth it for the solidity and reliability he offers in return, in midfield.
Don't get me wrong, I hate seeing him in midfield when he's our best striker and our most threatening forward bar Di Maria. It is a criminal misuse of Rooney and not a wise long term option as you can see Rooney getting frustrated soon enough. I'm just trying to find a rational explanation for LVG's actions instead of just attributing it to his idiosyncratic ways.
I think LVG sticks with him in midfield for his reliability when it comes to certain aspects. Regardless of his attacking/on the ball performance, he always puts a good shift in, is hard to get past, tends to come out of 50-50 duels with the ball and doesn't really get caught out of position defensively.
I've got to say I'm impressed and pleasantly surprised with his defensive work and especially his steadfast focus throughout the game (perhaps even brought about, as a result of the additional responsibility he shoulders as the captain). Can't say the same about our other conventional midfielders though.
Fellaini has had a few mares in midfield (against Southampton, Pool first half etc) where his passing was atrocious and he does at times, not track runners properly in addition to being caught out defensively.
Herrera has plenty of work rate but not necessarily the defensive nous to ally it with unfortunately. He's by no means a liability defensively, a weakling or a 'luxury' player which quite a few wrongly portray him as, but you can't exactly rely on him defensively can you?
Whilst Blind and Carrick are defensively solid, they lack the mobility and physicality that LVG craves for in a balanced midfield and as a result, they've never played together in midfield when they were both available.
Is it just me or do you guys also think Rooney has been pretty damn good defensively as well? I've read comments blasting his on the ball work/passing but not too many, if any, criticising his defensive work or about him losing the 'midfield battle'. This has probably slipped through unnoticed due to his underwhelming attacking displays or perhaps I'm just imagining it.
It just leads me to think if LVG thinks sacrificing Rooney's on the ball work and productivity, is worth it for the solidity and reliability he offers in return, in midfield.
Don't get me wrong, I hate seeing him in midfield when he's our best striker and our most threatening forward bar Di Maria. It is a criminal misuse of Rooney and not a wise long term option as you can see Rooney getting frustrated soon enough. I'm just trying to find a rational explanation for LVG's actions instead of just attributing it to his idiosyncratic ways.
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He played as a winger for most of the game. It was only after Young came on that he was remotely central and by then the entire team (bar Wilson) had stopped putting in any effort.
Rooney isn't slow to pick a pass at all. If anything, he's usually too hasty. That's when he usually gives away possession.
And it clearly isn't lunacy to play Rooney in midfield when the player himself sees his future there. The only contention can be if he's there too soon in his career. Not that he was really there today, which makes most of the above comments seem strange. We got to the Champions League final with Rooney playing several games as a winger. That's what he was doing against Cambridge.
Rooney isn't slow to pick a pass at all. If anything, he's usually too hasty. That's when he usually gives away possession.
And it clearly isn't lunacy to play Rooney in midfield when the player himself sees his future there. The only contention can be if he's there too soon in his career. Not that he was really there today, which makes most of the above comments seem strange. We got to the Champions League final with Rooney playing several games as a winger. That's what he was doing against Cambridge.
Does anyone know of any stats related to Rooneys passing and possession etc?
The mind boggles with some of Van Gaal's decisions. He shouldn't have made Rooney captain if he wasn't going to use him as a striker, he said he doesn't fancy him much in that role which is crazy, don't really like Rooney to be honest but it's a shambles that he's playing in midfield.
It's absolutely mind blowing that we choose to either play di maria or fellaini up top while rooney is on the pitch, playing their roles in midfield 
It's happening because while Rooney is playing for the team IMO, he's not happy as he doesn't really want to play there, I mean we know he didn't want to play as a CM under Fergie and now he's playing as a RM for LvG due to the diamond, however I think people are blaming him and and thinking LvG is doing it just to placate him, which in my view is not the case.
LvG likes a proper, robust box to box CM and we simply don't have one, so Rooney is doing that job. He's not, not playing up top because LvG thinks Falcao is better or because he is in love with RvP, it's because he doesn't really trust Herrera and Fellaini cannot play RM in the diamond, it requires too much mobility.
I'd wager that if Vidal's knee had healed fine and we'd bought him that Rooney would be playing up top and Vidal would be in the RM role in the diamond, but circumstances didn't pan out and so Rooney will be play the current role until the end of the season IMO, and in the summer we'll get a CM LvG likes for the RM role and Rooney will return to his striker role.