Paul Parker: 'Wayne Rooney is overweight and slow.'

[noodlehair]

Has Rooney ever had a six-pack in his life? People will say his body build is different but I don't buy it. Atleast someone is speaking the truth now. I don't know why so many other players and managers keep defending him.

His body build is also irrelevant when he is noticeably fat and slow and just plain unfit at the start of every single season...as well as every time he has more than a week away due to injury.

There is only one reason that happens, and it happens to such an extent that you have to wonder whether he's even that fit when he is up to speed, or what he actually does to himself to get himself out of shape so quickly.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

His body build is also irrelevant when he is noticeably fat and slow and just plain unfit at the start of every single season...as well as every time he has more than a week away due to injury.

There is only one reason that happens, and it happens to such an extent that you have to wonder whether he's even that fit when he is up to speed, or what he actually does to himself to get himself out of shape so quickly.

WARNING: What am I about to say is possibly/probably a tissue of lies.

A friend of mine knows someone who occasionally uses a "fixer" in New York to take clients out and make sure they have a good time, without doing anything stupid. Allegedly, he was tasked with taking out a bunch of guys for a stag do that included Rooney as one of their crew. This was mid-season, during one of the last two seasons. The dude says he was astonished by how hard Rooney was "partying" (read into that what you will) and his job involves being around people who party extremely hard.

This is all hearsay and may well be complete fiction but it's coloured my opinion of him since the story was told to me. As per a post I made on the previous page, I don't doubt his commitment at training and on the pitch but I worry that a lot of his problems are down to what he gets up to when he's not training or playing. I mean, I remember there was a big fuss about him having a pint at Old Trafford watching a game when he was injured a while back. It seemed really over the top at the time but, let's be honest, how often do you start tucking into pints mid-afternoon? And what usually happens to the rest of the day from that point on?

 

[#07]

His body build is also irrelevant when he is noticeably fat and slow and just plain unfit at the start of every single season...as well as every time he has more than a week away due to injury.

There is only one reason that happens, and it happens to such an extent that you have to wonder whether he's even that fit when he is up to speed, or what he actually does to himself to get himself out of shape so quickly.

This.

Look at Ricky Hatton, who has a very similar build to Rooney and used to swell up between fights.

Because of his diet Hatton had to go through brutal weight cutting for fights. He never turned up to the ring looking like 'Ricky Fatton' though.

Why can't Rooney do something similar to get ready to play for United? When was the last time Rooney turned up to Man Utd looking like Hatton did when he fought Kostya Tszyu...?

 

[noodlehair]

WARNING: What am I about to say is possibly/probably a tissue of lies.

A friend of mine knows someone who occasionally uses a "fixer" in New York to take clients out and make sure they have a good time, without doing anything stupid. Allegedly, he was tasked with taking out a bunch of guys for a stag do that included Rooney as one of their crew. This was mid-season, during one of the last two seasons. The dude says he was astonished by how hard Rooney was "partying" (read into that what you will) and his job involves being around people who party extremely hard.

This is all hearsay and may well be complete fiction but it's coloured my opinion of him since the story was told to me. As per a post I made on the previous page, I don't doubt his commitment at training and on the pitch but I worry that a lot of his problems are down to what he gets up to when he's not training or playing. I mean, I remember there was a big fuss about him having a pint at Old Trafford watching a game when he was injured a while back. It seemed really over the top at the time but, let's be honest, how often do you start tucking into pints mid-afternoon? And what usually happens to the rest of the day from that point on?

The pint thing I did think was kind of a big deal because of the reasons you've just said...plus if you're supposed to be a professional athlete at 100% of your peak fitness, you really shouldn't be drinking pints in the middle of the day even if it is just 1, ever. Have you tried excercising or doing anything fitness related after having a pint? I think if your employer is paying you hundreds of thousands a week to be a professional athlete, they have a right to demand that you are 100% a professional athlete. In fact they SHOULD be demanding this.

But there have been plenty of other insights into Rooney's idea of looking after himself too. Like when he fecked off on holiday to Dubai mid season because he was injured for about 2 weeks. Or the United fitness coach who compared him to Ronaldo as basic polar opposites...or the time Fergie dropped him because he performed so poorly in training due to being out on the piss. Or the time Fergie came out publicly and basically said he was too fat. Or when he was whining on twitter about the club chef forcing him to eat healthy food. None of it on it's own is a big deal but it doesn't reflect particularly well either.

He hasn't helped himself putting himself on a pedestal with the contract fuss. I wouldn't give nearly as much of a shite about Rooney's fitness if he didn't make a big deal out of wanting to be THE United player. He's a horrific example to want other players to aspire to.

 

[iHicksy]

Ok, so I do natural body-building competitions and have the same body type as Wayne but sit at around 8% body-fat, so I feel i'm pretty well placed to comment on his commitment to being in shape, or lack of.

Firstly, a little background for those that don't know much about losing body-fat and because i'm bored at work. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. There is no way around it, no special foods. You could eat nothing but pizza and doughnuts and as long as your out going energy was higher than your intake (food) you would lose weight. This is the law of thermodynamics.

Now we can assume that Rooney does a lot of cardio on his training days and at his weight and height his daily energy expenditure while sedentary would be between 2,500 and 2,700 calories. That means that if he just sat on his ass all day and ate roughly those calories he would neither gain nor lose weight. With this in mind, and assuming Wayne does a 2 hour training session which burns another 700-1000 calories, we can safely assume that Wayne is eating at least 4k calories on the days he trains. it's incredibly difficult to ingest that amount of food without a lot of it coming from unhealthy calorific sources.

If he was serious about getting in shape then he would simply need to eat less and his body fat would drop off, making him a better athlete. However, he seems content to go home and eat whatever crap he fancies.

In conclusion, his "body-type" is no excuse for him being out of weight, it's all because his attitude sucks.

 

[Adisa]

WARNING: What am I about to say is possibly/probably a tissue of lies.

A friend of mine knows someone who occasionally uses a "fixer" in New York to take clients out and make sure they have a good time, without doing anything stupid. Allegedly, he was tasked with taking out a bunch of guys for a stag do that included Rooney as one of their crew. This was mid-season, during one of the last two seasons. The dude says he was astonished by how hard Rooney was "partying" (read into that what you will) and his job involves being around people who party extremely hard.

This is all hearsay and may well be complete fiction but it's coloured my opinion of him since the story was told to me. As per a post I made on the previous page, I don't doubt his commitment at training and on the pitch but I worry that a lot of his problems are down to what he gets up to when he's not training or playing. I mean, I remember there was a big fuss about him having a pint at Old Trafford watching a game when he was injured a while back. It seemed really over the top at the time but, let's be honest, how often do you start tucking into pints mid-afternoon? And what usually happens to the rest of the day from that point on?

That is all possible but I have a hard time believing the club would stand for that.
What possible leverage could he have over a manager that he would accept that, unless he was scoring every week?

 

[Raees]

I don't think it is just his weight.. he's always been very stocky. I think what Pogue said about his diet etc is the key but it is also because he's played for a long time, got injuries and was rushed back a few times.

His movement after the second metatarsal injury has never been the same. Pre WC 2006, the old Wayne Rooney was still there.. after that injury, he had to change the way he ran with the ball and became a more all round player but was never as explosive a ball carrier again. He still had more than enough talent to become a world class striker.

By 2008, you could tell he wasn't the Wayne Rooney of old and the only way he was going to be a maintain his status as top class player was as a goalscorer as his general play was never going to be as mind-blowing as it used to be. That ankle injury v Bayern, was the first sign of a potential death knell and he was finished as a world class striker a few seasons after that injury. He had a limited amount of time and he worked hiss ass off and managed to pull out a fantastic 11/12 but after that it has been a huge drop.

Since then His movement is sluggish, his decision making on the ball isn't what it used to be.. it is very conservative, not decisive at all and his touch has deserted him. He never had a top top class first touch, it has always been inconsistent but it has got worse with age. I think it is the effect of drink and bad diet, combined with injuries. He's put his body through an awful lot of pain and it is coming back to haunt him..he reminds me of Ricky Hatton. His reaction times seem much slower to a guy whose reaction times were the fastest on the pitch as a youngster. He was the very definition of electric as a youngster..

FWIW he isn't the first player to be shot by the age of 27, guys like Raul (who was never a fattie) seemed burnt out at a much earlier age. Personally I think Rooney has shown more than enough longevity to avoid criticism for being lazy, he has been a top player for 10 years and it isn't his fault re injuries, as most of them were impact injuries rather than brought about by his own carelessness.

My only issue with the Rooney saga has been this stone cold refusal that this man is past his peak, like he is some sort of second coming of Ryan Giggs. It is absolute bullshit. He is just inviting unnecessary criticism.. his time has come and gone. He should just accept it and so should the media and his fans.

• 02-04 - Wayne Rooney at his physical peak.. perfect combination of pace, power, strength.. he looked like an English Maradona, next coming of Gascoigne
• 04-06 - First metatarsal injury does not hold him back, he is pretty much still at his physical peak at this stage - very dynamic
• 06-08 - Second metatarsal injury, definitely has had an impact. He becomes stockier during this phase. He moves from star man in team to side dish, relies more on his endurance which has remained but regresses in terms of dynamism, no longer running at players fearlessly, taking shots from range. This was the key phase where if he had not been injured, we could have seen him become a sensational 10 combining magic and goal output.
• 09-12 - Comes to terms with his new physical state, Ronaldo leaving also means the team is built to his strengths and develops into a deadly striker. He's not the wonderkid Rooney of old, but using his intelligence and natural feel for the game.. combined with work ethic, turns himself into one of if not the best 9 in the world.
• 12-present begins to feel the pace, Fergie detects father time has come and wants to cut him loose. This is when he should have been sold.

 

[Adisa]

There was a time Fegie dropped him for off field stuff in 2012. I can't remember what it was but it was a big deal then. I remember we lost to Blackburn during that period.

 

[dichinero]

Ok, so I do natural body-building competitions and have the same body type as Wayne but sit at around 8% body-fat, so I feel i'm pretty well placed to comment on his commitment to being in shape, or lack of.

Firstly, a little background for those that don't know much about losing body-fat and because i'm bored at work. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. There is no way around it, no special foods. You could eat nothing but pizza and doughnuts and as long as your out going energy was higher than your intake (food) you would lose weight. This is the law of thermodynamics.

Now we can assume that Rooney does a lot of cardio on his training days and at his weight and height his daily energy expenditure while sedentary would be between 2,500 and 2,700 calories. That means that if he just sat on his ass all day and ate roughly those calories he would neither gain nor lose weight. With this in mind, and assuming Wayne does a 2 hour training session which burns another 700-1000 calories, we can safely assume that Wayne is eating at least 4k calories on the days he trains. it's incredibly difficult to ingest that amount of food without a lot of it coming from unhealthy calorific sources.

If he was serious about getting in shape then he would simply need to eat less and his body fat would drop off, making him a better athlete. However, he seems content to go home and eat whatever crap he fancies.

In conclusion, his "body-type" is no excuse for him being out of weight, it's all because his attitude sucks.

From one BB to another to another, Spot ON!

 

[Adisa]

This.

Look at Ricky Hatton, who has a very similar build to Rooney and used to swell up between fights.

Because of his diet Hatton had to go through brutal weight cutting for fights. He never turned up to the ring looking like 'Ricky Fatton' though.

Why can't Rooney do something similar to get ready to play for United? When was the last time Rooney turned up to Man Utd looking like Hatton did when he fought Kostya Tszyu...?

Hatton was fighting every couple of months. Rooney players every week.
So for Rooney, avoiding bad habits in the first place, is paramount

 

[Tosicsleftpeg]

I don't think he's fat its just that he's getting worse technically and that is probably down to his age. His body type and fitness isn't the best and I think because of that he is declining much faster than he normally would do if he was in better shape.

 

[Adisa]

Ok, so I do natural body-building competitions and have the same body type as Wayne but sit at around 8% body-fat, so I feel i'm pretty well placed to comment on his commitment to being in shape, or lack of.

Firstly, a little background for those that don't know much about losing body-fat and because i'm bored at work. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. There is no way around it, no special foods. You could eat nothing but pizza and doughnuts and as long as your out going energy was higher than your intake (food) you would lose weight. This is the law of thermodynamics.

Now we can assume that Rooney does a lot of cardio on his training days and at his weight and height his daily energy expenditure while sedentary would be between 2,500 and 2,700 calories. That means that if he just sat on his ass all day and ate roughly those calories he would neither gain nor lose weight. With this in mind, and assuming Wayne does a 2 hour training session which burns another 700-1000 calories, we can safely assume that Wayne is eating at least 4k calories on the days he trains. it's incredibly difficult to ingest that amount of food without a lot of it coming from unhealthy calorific sources.

If he was serious about getting in shape then he would simply need to eat less and his body fat would drop off, making him a better athlete. However, he seems content to go home and eat whatever crap he fancies.

In conclusion, his "body-type" is no excuse for him being out of weight, it's all because his attitude sucks.

Fergie often used Rooney's body type to defend him in the press but I don't junk he really believed it.

 

[Adisa]

I don't think he's fat its just that he's getting worse technically and that is probably down to his age. His body type and fitness isn't the best and I think because of that he is declining much faster than he normally would do if he was in better shape.

I don't think Rooney is getting worse technically. You don't forget how to control a ball.
Rooney has always been technically inconsistent. The problem is his physical deterioration has made his inconsistency more profound.
Rooney could burst past players for fun despite his poor first touch, when it was younger. Nobody complains about a poor first touch when you are beating players for fun and scoring audacious goals.
Because those things have gone, his lack of a consistent touch becomes more glaring.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

That is all possible but I have a hard time believing the club would stand for that.
What possible leverage could he have over a manager that he would accept that, unless he was scoring every week?

I think the only leverage he has is what he brings to the team. Which is (IMHO) appreciated more by football managers (and team-mates) than it is on here.

I also don't think he's some kind of massive piss-head. I'm sure he's reasonably disciplined most of the time. Just takes it too far whenever he can justifiably ease off a bit.

 

[jojose]

WARNING: What am I about to say is possibly/probably a tissue of lies.

A friend of mine knows someone who occasionally uses a "fixer" in New York to take clients out and make sure they have a good time, without doing anything stupid. Allegedly, he was tasked with taking out a bunch of guys for a stag do that included Rooney as one of their crew. This was mid-season, during one of the last two seasons. The dude says he was astonished by how hard Rooney was "partying" (read into that what you will) and his job involves being around people who party extremely hard.

This is all hearsay and may well be complete fiction but it's coloured my opinion of him since the story was told to me. As per a post I made on the previous page, I don't doubt his commitment at training and on the pitch but I worry that a lot of his problems are down to what he gets up to when he's not training or playing. I mean, I remember there was a big fuss about him having a pint at Old Trafford watching a game when he was injured a while back. It seemed really over the top at the time but, let's be honest, how often do you start tucking into pints mid-afternoon? And what usually happens to the rest of the day from that point on?

Mate, I raised this “theory” in the “how is rooney in our 11” thread.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think its healthy in moderation for the players to go out and have a drink together.

However, you raise the above about partying in NYC, about boozing at a game and he was also drinking at an England game.

In addition, he turned up for training “worse for wear” in the Fergie days.

There was a rumour prior to the Wolsburg away game after Rooney was inexplicably missing that he’d turned up over the limit.

It honestly would not surprise me if not a full blown alcoholic but is boozing way more than a professional elite level athlete should be.

 

[noodlehair]

Ok, so I do natural body-building competitions and have the same body type as Wayne but sit at around 8% body-fat, so I feel i'm pretty well placed to comment on his commitment to being in shape, or lack of.

Firstly, a little background for those that don't know much about losing body-fat and because i'm bored at work. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. There is no way around it, no special foods. You could eat nothing but pizza and doughnuts and as long as your out going energy was higher than your intake (food) you would lose weight. This is the law of thermodynamics.

Now we can assume that Rooney does a lot of cardio on his training days and at his weight and height his daily energy expenditure while sedentary would be between 2,500 and 2,700 calories. That means that if he just sat on his ass all day and ate roughly those calories he would neither gain nor lose weight. With this in mind, and assuming Wayne does a 2 hour training session which burns another 700-1000 calories, we can safely assume that Wayne is eating at least 4k calories on the days he trains. it's incredibly difficult to ingest that amount of food without a lot of it coming from unhealthy calorific sources.

If he was serious about getting in shape then he would simply need to eat less and his body fat would drop off, making him a better athlete. However, he seems content to go home and eat whatever crap he fancies.

In conclusion, his "body-type" is no excuse for him being out of weight, it's all because his attitude sucks.

Exactly right.

It's quite hard to fathom. It's not that hard to keep weight off once it's off...especially not when you're training two hours a day and presumably doing muscle/gym work a fair bit...so actually would both burn and need more calories.

If anything it'd be quite difficult to put weight on. It'd have to be food AND booze I think...and then when you factor in alcohol that will effect your fitness a lot as well as your weight.

Fitness is the other thing. Regardless of weight he is just slow and unfit whenever he comes back. If you carry on doing some basic fitness stuff and look after yourself you wont lose all that much in terms of fitness level in any short spell of time...it'd mainly be muscle strength. If you do absolutely nothing 2 weeks off can take a month or so to claw back. If you do nothing AND cram your body full of crap it will be significantly longer and you're probably never going to get to your peak fitness level in the first place.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I believe all those rumours about Rooney unfortunately. You can see from his recent post match interview how arrogant he is these days. "nothing to prove to anybody" why should he work hard and keep himself in 100% peak condition, he's had a great career and scored lots of goals, we should be giving him a place in the team on merit. It's that mentality that separates him with players like Ronaldo Giggs and Zlatan. Rooney at 35 is going to look like a fat washed up pub player. I fear that if we give him a new contract he is going to have us by the balls for many, many years.

Surely Woodward the rest of the board have to make an easy decision, let his contract run down.

 

[dichinero]

I
FWIW he isn't the first player to be shot by the age of 27, guys like Raul (who was never a fattie) seemed burnt out at a much earlier age. Personally I think Rooney has shown more than enough longevity to avoid criticism for being lazy, he has been a top player for 10 years and it isn't his fault re injuries, as most of them were impact injuries rather than brought about by his own carelessness.

Unless you're on his coaching staff, no one can accuse him of being lazy. He is just not showing the dedication to push his boundaries imo. A player can be overweight and yet be physically fit enough to run around for 90mins, passing the minimum requirements for fitness test and training hard. Hummels went a whole season being overweight iirc. Yakubu banged in goals in the PL while piling on some weight during the season. So when Rooney bursts up and down the pitch, it is not indicative that he isn't overweight but that he is physically fit in that respect. The same with Adel Taraabt, Andy Reid, players that could last a PL 90 and mask deficiencies with good technique.
The onus is on Rooney to go over and beyond his comfort zone and be in the peak of his physique regardless of body type. On visual examination, Rooney's body could be much more leaner than it is. Tevez is another high intensity player if not higher than Rooney, with a stocky frame but was significantly leaner than Rooney. Lampard is another great example of a stock but lean footballer.

 

[OJKernow]

Strangely, after watching our last two games I actually thought that Rooney looked in pretty good shape for him. Obviously it's hard to tell but I felt he looked leaner than usual for this stage of the season.

I think everyone (including Wayne) needs to just accept the fact that his best days are long gone, but he can still remain a useful player and score 10-15 goals this season if used correctly and if he remains committed to working hard and staying in shape.

His current situation isn't down to just one thing. His body shape, his seeming lack of interest to be really committed and push himself to the next level (ala Ronaldo) to get and stay in a top physical state, on top of a handful of injuries that affected his natural game and the fact that he is simply burnt out after breaking onto the scene so young (15 was it?) have all contributed to his downfall.

Personally I think he gets a hard time on here though. Yes he's not the player he was and I know some still can't forgive him for his previous contract fallouts, but he has been a key part of our team for a very long time, has broken records, will probably break more records and has been a part of some of the best years we've had as a club in terms of success. For that alone he deserves a degree of respect.

This will probably be his last season as a regular starter unless something drastically changes, and when the time comes that he parts ways with the club, I for one will be giving him a standing ovation and thanking him for his efforts.

 

[Adisa]

I believe all those rumours about Rooney unfortunately. You can see from his recent post match interview how arrogant he is these days. "nothing to prove to anybody" why should he work hard and keep himself in 100% peak condition, he's had a great career and scored lots of goals, we should be giving him a place in the team on merit. It's that mentality that separates him with players like Ronaldo Giggs and Zlatan. Rooney at 35 is going to look like a fat washed up pub player. I fear that if we give him a new contract he is going to have us by the balls for many, many years.

Surely Woodward the rest of the board have to make an easy decision, let his contract run down.

I don't think he was being arrogant. He can get quite defensive about his form.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I don't think he was being arrogant. He can get quite defensive about his form.

He's always been self centred and arrogant, at the time we needed him the most he nearly moved to City. That's fine though, he's a sportsman and he does what's best for him. The affection has to work both ways though, once he's not good enough for us he needs to be binned. He's walking a very thin rope in my eyes. I personally don't enjoy watching him as a footballer anymore, those rare goals keep him alive IMO.

 

[SwansonsTache]

He is not overweight, but he could easily drop 2-5kg and be better off for it.

In fact he should to compensate for his lack of pace and acceleration, a more dedicated person would I suspect.

What worries me about Rooney is examplified by something he said in the Bournemouth post match interview with Zlatan, when the journalist asked him if he were worried about his place in the team and if he felt like he had something to prove he answered no and said that he didn't need to prove anything, since he has proved so much over so much time. Well newsflash, Rooney, you gotta perform TODAY to be picked TODAY. No one cares about old highlights videos.

 

[NextSeason]

People in this thread actually know what Rooney goes home and eats?!

 

[Adisa]

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[amolbhatia50k]

Rooney will come in for huge critisism all season but it will never be anything we don't know already. Jose kept Drogba and Terry well passed their sell by not because they were the best but because they could still make a difference even if the game mostly passed them by. Fergie did the same with Scholes, Giggs etc and every week fans groaned and muppets like Robbie Savage and Garth Crooks etc questioned whether Fergie had lost the plot.....but you can't put a price on a player who can be a hame changer even if most of the game passes them by

Nothing youve posted is anything we dont know already either, yet you're entitled to share your view and that's how it should be.

Yes, players who were once great can have a part to play, but it must be on merit, unlike last season where Rooney was consistently the worst player on either side for a big chunk of the season and yet the first name on the team sheet. Casillas was once a goalkeeping hero but Mourinho dropped him when he didn't deserve to play. The same manager revitalised Terry during his second stint and stuck with him when he was performing superbly but dropped even him when he thought he didnt deserve to play.

And of course you can put a price on him. It wouldnt even be very high.

I do think he has a part to play for us. Just not by virtue of his name alone.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Rooney will come in for huge critisism all season but it will never be anything we don't know already. Jose kept Drogba and Terry well passed their sell by not because they were the best but because they could still make a difference even if the game mostly passed them by. Fergie did the same with Scholes, Giggs etc and every week fans groaned and muppets like Robbie Savage and Garth Crooks etc questioned whether Fergie had lost the plot.....but you can't put a price on a player who can be a hame changer even if most of the game passes them by

Nothing youve posted is anything we dont know already either, yet you're entitled to share your view and that's how it should be.

Yes, players who were once great can have a part to play, but it must be on merit, unlike last season where Rooney was consistently the worst player on either side for a big chunk of the season and yet the first name on the team sheet. Casillas was once a goalkeeping hero but Mourinho dropped him when he didn't deserve to play. The same manager revitalised Terry during his second stint and stuck with him when he was performing superbly but dropped even him when he thought he didnt deserve to play.

And of course you can put a price on him. It wouldnt even be very high.

I do think he has a part to play for us. Just not by virtue of his name alone.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

People in this thread actually know what Rooney goes home and eats?!

Almost as though there's some sort of visual clues that give hints about how much a person eats, right?

 

[RedDevil@84]

Has Rooney grown any fatter recently or are people just pulling out things like "he is having too much junk" just out of thin air

 

[NextSeason]

Almost as though there's some sort of visual clues that give hints about how much a person eats, right?

Yeah, for someone significantly over or underweight perhaps...

 

[Dobbs]

Ok, so I do natural body-building competitions and have the same body type as Wayne but sit at around 8% body-fat, so I feel i'm pretty well placed to comment on his commitment to being in shape, or lack of.

Firstly, a little background for those that don't know much about losing body-fat and because i'm bored at work. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. There is no way around it, no special foods. You could eat nothing but pizza and doughnuts and as long as your out going energy was higher than your intake (food) you would lose weight. This is the law of thermodynamics.

Now we can assume that Rooney does a lot of cardio on his training days and at his weight and height his daily energy expenditure while sedentary would be between 2,500 and 2,700 calories. That means that if he just sat on his ass all day and ate roughly those calories he would neither gain nor lose weight. With this in mind, and assuming Wayne does a 2 hour training session which burns another 700-1000 calories, we can safely assume that Wayne is eating at least 4k calories on the days he trains. it's incredibly difficult to ingest that amount of food without a lot of it coming from unhealthy calorific sources.

If he was serious about getting in shape then he would simply need to eat less and his body fat would drop off, making him a better athlete. However, he seems content to go home and eat whatever crap he fancies.

In conclusion, his "body-type" is no excuse for him being out of weight, it's all because his attitude sucks.

So how much does Rooney weigh?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yeah, for someone significantly over or underweight perhaps...

You can guesstimate body fat % fairly well just by eyeballing someone with their shirt off. If you know that person is an athlete, who will burn a tonne of calories just doing their job, then you can combine these two pieces of information to conclude that Rooney isn't very disciplined when it comes to his diet. There's a reason that the vast majority (I would reckon 90%+, if not higher?) of professional footballers are ripped. When you see someone who's never had that kind of physique then it has to be down to more than just genetics.

I remember a bunch of similar discussions about Anderson. "He's not fat, he has a barrel chest". Next thing you know, the fat bastard is sucking on oxygen at half time in his first match after leaving United!

To be fair to Rooney, he gives the impression that his aerobic fitness is decent. It looks as though he works hard at getting/staying fit but his physique tells us that his diet could be better.

 

[SteveJ]

His clubs share the blame. According to Moyes' 'memoirs' of his time at Everton, Wayne was often in DM's office for misdemeanours and the like; yet both parties knew that he'd be let off & indulged because of his talent and his worth to Everton. This failing on clubs' part has carried over to United: first, because of his talent (again) and, more recently, possibly because so much United money is tied up in him.

As much as Wayne can be criticised for not being the ideal professional, United's higher management are at fault...as they were when they appointed Moyes, ironically.

 

[Born2Lose]

Ok, so I do natural body-building competitions and have the same body type as Wayne but sit at around 8% body-fat, so I feel i'm pretty well placed to comment on his commitment to being in shape, or lack of.

Firstly, a little background for those that don't know much about losing body-fat and because i'm bored at work. You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight/fat. There is no way around it, no special foods. You could eat nothing but pizza and doughnuts and as long as your out going energy was higher than your intake (food) you would lose weight. This is the law of thermodynamics.

Now we can assume that Rooney does a lot of cardio on his training days and at his weight and height his daily energy expenditure while sedentary would be between 2,500 and 2,700 calories. That means that if he just sat on his ass all day and ate roughly those calories he would neither gain nor lose weight. With this in mind, and assuming Wayne does a 2 hour training session which burns another 700-1000 calories, we can safely assume that Wayne is eating at least 4k calories on the days he trains. it's incredibly difficult to ingest that amount of food without a lot of it coming from unhealthy calorific sources.

If he was serious about getting in shape then he would simply need to eat less and his body fat would drop off, making him a better athlete. However, he seems content to go home and eat whatever crap he fancies.

In conclusion, his "body-type" is no excuse for him being out of weight, it's all because his attitude sucks.

Agreed completely, and the main reason for it is because nobody ever picked him up on it. This is the irony of being a Rooney "can do no wrong" supporter because it's been evident to me since his early days with us that he was more of a stick than carrot personality. I don't consider it fanciful to believe that if Ferguson or the media had been questioning his weight/lifestyle 10 years ago that we'd be seeing a better player now than what we have ended up with.

For what it's worth I think over the last 2 or 3 years he's realised he had to sort himself out, the sad truth as we are seeing on the pitch now is that the damage had already been done.

 

[jderbyshire]

Mate, I raised this “theory” in the “how is rooney in our 11” thread.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think its healthy in moderation for the players to go out and have a drink together.

However, you raise the above about partying in NYC, about boozing at a game and he was also drinking at an England game.

In addition, he turned up for training “worse for wear” in the Fergie days.

There was a rumour prior to the Wolsburg away game after Rooney was inexplicably missing that he’d turned up over the limit.

It honestly would not surprise me if not a full blown alcoholic but is boozing way more than a professional elite level athlete should be.

I remember a couple of years back we played on New Years Day and Rooney was "injured" - only to make a miraculous recovery for the next game a few days later.

 

[jojose]

I remember a couple of years back we played on New Years Day and Rooney was "injured" - only to make a miraculous recovery for the next game a few days later.

Yeah he'd ben out with Evans and Gibson hadn't he?

Then there was the party where Gibson laid him out.

 

[Red Ryan]

Yeah he'd ben out with Evans and Gibson hadn't he?

Then there was the party where Gibson laid him out.

Details please?!

 

[Theonas]

I don't think it is just his weight.. he's always been very stocky. I think what Pogue said about his diet etc is the key but it is also because he's played for a long time, got injuries and was rushed back a few times.

His movement after the second metatarsal injury has never been the same. Pre WC 2006, the old Wayne Rooney was still there.. after that injury, he had to change the way he ran with the ball and became a more all round player but was never as explosive a ball carrier again. He still had more than enough talent to become a world class striker.

By 2008, you could tell he wasn't the Wayne Rooney of old and the only way he was going to be a maintain his status as top class player was as a goalscorer as his general play was never going to be as mind-blowing as it used to be. That ankle injury v Bayern, was the first sign of a potential death knell and he was finished as a world class striker a few seasons after that injury. He had a limited amount of time and he worked hiss ass off and managed to pull out a fantastic 11/12 but after that it has been a huge drop.

Since then His movement is sluggish, his decision making on the ball isn't what it used to be.. it is very conservative, not decisive at all and his touch has deserted him. He never had a top top class first touch, it has always been inconsistent but it has got worse with age. I think it is the effect of drink and bad diet, combined with injuries. He's put his body through an awful lot of pain and it is coming back to haunt him..he reminds me of Ricky Hatton. His reaction times seem much slower to a guy whose reaction times were the fastest on the pitch as a youngster. He was the very definition of electric as a youngster..

FWIW he isn't the first player to be shot by the age of 27, guys like Raul (who was never a fattie) seemed burnt out at a much earlier age. Personally I think Rooney has shown more than enough longevity to avoid criticism for being lazy, he has been a top player for 10 years and it isn't his fault re injuries, as most of them were impact injuries rather than brought about by his own carelessness.

My only issue with the Rooney saga has been this stone cold refusal that this man is past his peak, like he is some sort of second coming of Ryan Giggs. It is absolute bullshit. He is just inviting unnecessary criticism.. his time has come and gone. He should just accept it and so should the media and his fans.

• 02-04 - Wayne Rooney at his physical peak.. perfect combination of pace, power, strength.. he looked like an English Maradona, next coming of Gascoigne
• 04-06 - First metatarsal injury does not hold him back, he is pretty much still at his physical peak at this stage - very dynamic
• 06-08 - Second metatarsal injury, definitely has had an impact. He becomes stockier during this phase. He moves from star man in team to side dish, relies more on his endurance which has remained but regresses in terms of dynamism, no longer running at players fearlessly, taking shots from range. This was the key phase where if he had not been injured, we could have seen him become a sensational 10 combining magic and goal output.
• 09-12 - Comes to terms with his new physical state, Ronaldo leaving also means the team is built to his strengths and develops into a deadly striker. He's not the wonderkid Rooney of old, but using his intelligence and natural feel for the game.. combined with work ethic, turns himself into one of if not the best 9 in the world.
• 12-present begins to feel the pace, Fergie detects father time has come and wants to cut him loose. This is when he should have been sold.

Top post!

 

[Red Ryan]

Agreed completely, and the main reason for it is because nobody ever picked him up on it. This is the irony of being a Rooney "can do no wrong" supporter because it's been evident to me since his early days with us that he was more of a stick than carrot personality. I don't consider it fanciful to believe that if Ferguson or the media had been questioning his weight/lifestyle 10 years ago that we'd be seeing a better player now than what we have ended up with.

For what it's worth I think over the last 2 or 3 years he's realised he had to sort himself out, the sad truth as we are seeing on the pitch now is that the damage had already been done.

I'm not sure - he doesn't look like he would turn food down.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

These haters!

Paul Parker also says that Mikel is better than Pogba!


Ex-Manchester United defender Paul Parker has questioned where Paul Pogba will fit in at Old Trafford, arguing John Obi Mikel is a better holding midfielder than the France star.

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1862/pr...as-good-as-john-obi-mikel-parker?ICID=SP_HN_1

even if I were to believe that article from a dog shite site like that, I would not call Pogba a holding midfield player. Apples and Oranges.

 

[Minimalist]

You can guesstimate body fat % fairly well just by eyeballing someone with their shirt off. If you know that person is an athlete, who will burn a tonne of calories just doing their job, then you can combine these two pieces of information to conclude that Rooney isn't very disciplined when it comes to his diet. There's a reason that the vast majority (I would reckon 90%+, if not higher?) of professional footballers are ripped. When you see someone who's never had that kind of physique then it has to be down to more than just genetics.

I remember a bunch of similar discussions about Anderson. "He's not fat, he has a barrel chest". Next thing you know, the fat bastard is sucking on oxygen at half time in his first match after leaving United!

To be fair to Rooney, he gives the impression that his aerobic fitness is decent. It looks as though he works hard at getting/staying fit but his physique tells us that his diet could be better.

Oh for sure his heart/cardio is still in great nick I'm certain - especially with his weekly training and undiminished love of football. I'm sure his performances in training are as enthusiastic as anyones.

But it's a bit like when you're in a gym and see a 40 year old man with a beer belly who can run for an hour on the treadmill without stopping or any apparent discomfort - physically fit compared to most of society but never optimal. Or maybe that was friends' dads that I knew.

Some see it as harsh and it's United's own fault for paying him what he gets, but for his wages you'd expect a Cristiano Ronaldo -esque athlete at least in terms of his physical appearance - regardless of any technical regression. I don't think we expect anything special either - as someone alluded to earlier, we're just talking about him being lean and making the small lifestyle choices with his diet (or sacrifices if you want to be overdramatic) that his role and pay check demand.