To be fair there has been allot of negative stuff to post about United in the last 3 years...It's the same here in Malaysia. Every time he speaks about United he will focus on the negative sides. Maybe he does post here. Or at least read the forum.
Paul Parker: 'Wayne Rooney is overweight and slow.'
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I'm at that age and it's interesting the way people can be extremely aerobically fit, while still carrying around a bit of a gut. I have friends who do full Iron Man triathlons several times a year but still have a classic dad bod. I think the older you get the more important it is to do some sort of strength training if you want to avoid getting a spare tyre. Either that or be super strict with your diet. But life's too short to not eat nice food, especially when you've lived over half that life already!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.
I was wondering why the Indian Poster's dismissed Paul, it makes sense now.
We can argue all day about if he is overweight or not, we won't know unless we can get hold of the actual official club stats...
What we can say for sure however is that he is too slow to justifiably be in the positions we require on the pitch and his first and second touches have deteriorated and they were not the best in the first place in my opinion. I just think his speed/power used to get him out of trouble in his younger days now if he has a sloppy touch he can't sprint his way out of trouble, he either loses the ball or has a wrestling match to stay on it.
There seems to allot of people deflecting the obvious issues I have mentioned by trying to highlight the narrative about what does and does not constitute being fat/overweight.
What we can say for sure however is that he is too slow to justifiably be in the positions we require on the pitch and his first and second touches have deteriorated and they were not the best in the first place in my opinion. I just think his speed/power used to get him out of trouble in his younger days now if he has a sloppy touch he can't sprint his way out of trouble, he either loses the ball or has a wrestling match to stay on it.
There seems to allot of people deflecting the obvious issues I have mentioned by trying to highlight the narrative about what does and does not constitute being fat/overweight.
Paul Parker might be right but he is the most useless pundit and for some reason always bitter about United. Shebby Singh is better than Paul Parker.
Tbf there's already a whole bunch of threads for people to slag off his ability as a footballer, this thread went down the overweight tangent because of its title.
He's had 1 too many pies
I get that but being slightly overweight does not necessarily mean that you are slow whereas, in this case, Rooney is slow or too slow to contribute on the pitch at the level we require.
No white textI think you are on to something here its only on the Cafe where such unwelcome opinions are allowed to float around, the idea that Rooney is no longer a top footballer has no basis in reality.
was he ever? I never felt like that about Rooney, even at his peak...
he is just awful now though.
And have you seen him with his shirt (and under layer) off recently then? If so, please show me because I haven't. To me, he looks in the same shape he's been in for most of his career, which is not optimal but bulky (natural or not).
I know Rooney hasn't looked after his body like he could have over the years but if anyone really thinks they can guess what Rooney eats at home now, then I believe that they think they know too much. We know he likes a beer and a cigarette in the off-season but that's also partly down to the English culture - for which Paul Parker knows about!
That's my point actually. I don't think he's suddenly put on loads of weight. I think he's always been a bit hefty. Which is why he's so often talked about as ready to retire, despite being relatively young. Carrying around even a few extra kg (as well as the effect of the diet needed to keep an elite athlete with body fat at around the 20% mark) can have long term consequences in terms of the toll it takes on athlete's body.
Is he the first pundit to have a dig at Rooney, specifically his continued inclusion in our first team? I think Ince left him out of his England XI for the Euros. Just happy to see that there are media personalities who are willing to tell the truth and not propagandise on behalf of their pal or ex colleague.
He's finished and not worthy of a place in out starting eleven week after week. Ferguson would have already phased him out of the starting eleven if he was still in charge. Hopefully Mourinho will have the bottle - and sense - to do the same rather than rewarding him with an improved contract. The fact he's still among the highest earning footballers in the world reeks of a kind of football cronyism.
He's finished and not worthy of a place in out starting eleven week after week. Ferguson would have already phased him out of the starting eleven if he was still in charge. Hopefully Mourinho will have the bottle - and sense - to do the same rather than rewarding him with an improved contract. The fact he's still among the highest earning footballers in the world reeks of a kind of football cronyism.
He wasn't that, no. Or - at the very least you'd have to be very round handed in order to say so. He was pretty good, though.
And as a prospect - which he was, in a sense, longer than most because he emerged so very early as a top (but unfinished) player - he was top, top, top (as Sven would say), though. I genuinely believed, at one point, that he had a realistic shot at true greatness - by which I mean Charlton territory in United terms.
He looks in reasonable shape, to me at least. I reckon some of his the problems lie more with declining speed of thought and feet.
Probably not. The closest he's ever been to that was 2009/2010 and the second half of the following season was around those standards too, played a big part in us winning the title back. Dragging us to that 2-4 win at West Ham was vital.
He's physically shot. It's not that he's overweight (significantly), or that he doesn't have the hunger any more, it's just that he isn't capable of playing the game he did when he first joined us. He's lost his explosiveness, and much of his physicality. He can still score goals, but I don't think he'll ever be prolific.
I agree. how likely do you think that he will be dropped? There seems to be a general consensus that he will be played ahead positionally to Pogba. IF this is the case I think we are both wasting allot of money and not allowing the team and Pogba as an individual to play to their potential.
Considering such a talent and world renown player like Pogba is now on the scene, Jose is going to need an upgraded shoehorn to beat LVG's efforts of the last 2 seasons.
his form aside i think he is far from slow. when he sprints is is still extremely fast. he just doesnt sprint that often anymore what is understandable when you consider his age.
Acceleration is far more important than top speed in football. I've heard one or two players recently say Rooney is one of the fastest players.
His pace over ten yards is very slow imo. He had that sudden burst when he was younger. Where he would stop and suddenly breeze past players.
He has also lost a lot of athleticism. He's slow in shifting his body. But I only, the most obvious now, is that he can't turn. Rooney used to be able to change direction in an instant. He would receive he ball turn and face goal before his marker moved.
Now when he receives the ball with his back to goal, he has to pass it back.
This is it for me. He doesn't look fatter than he did in 2010. But he's definitely slower and weaker. I also think he's mentally exhausted.
In the last 18 months, he's often lost duels to players much smaller than he is. Getting shoved off the ball easily.
I don't think there's anything different about he's fitness.
That's why I think the argument that he need a run of games to get up to speed is no longer viable.
He's even worse than Gerrard/Lamps for Liverpool and Chelsea respectively but he's got much more power.. Overgrew the club long time ago when Fergie left, happy to see journos having a go at him, finally. As it is big pain to see this club having a great potential to grow but got stuck because of him..
He defo has no quality to play in the premier league but it will unfortunately take another year to slowly bench him and HOPEFULLY sell him for good in the end... This year will be really long one, gets me angry to even see him on the bench getting gametime which younger and already much better players deserves than him..
He defo has no quality to play in the premier league but it will unfortunately take another year to slowly bench him and HOPEFULLY sell him for good in the end... This year will be really long one, gets me angry to even see him on the bench getting gametime which younger and already much better players deserves than him..
He clearly is not, and the last season is the proof for it, when he made a run behind the defense he never won a single sprint with his opponent and some defenders are not really pacy.
So basically Rooney is fat despite losing his hunger and bite.
He was Moyes'd in fairness. When you let a Sunderland level manager take control of winners then it doesn't end well........
Have to agree with this, watch the away game against Norwich for proof.
Suarez often runs at defenders like he's heading down an ice-covered slope but there's method to his madness; Wayne sprints like that nowadays because there's not enough in the tank and his legs aren't reliable.
Before last season I said that LVG would drop Rooney if his performances looked like costing him his job.
They didn't, though - to reasonable people. LVG's problems went far beyond Rooney. You could argue - for the sake of argument - that from LVG's perspective he would have been better off getting rid of Rooney and replacing him with some sort of talisman (one with plenty of goals in him and an ability to create something from nothing), rather than banking on Rooney having a grand season (within his - LVG's - specific system, that is).
But most of us would agree that LVG's specific system wasn't working - and you'd have to be pretty blinkered in order to conclude that Rooney was the cause of that.
I'm saying something similar now: If Rooney isn't up to scratch, Mourinho will drop him. He knows what's at stake. Bringing up Ivanovic or whatnot as precedents isn't germane. Ivanovic was an off-form player he could have gotten away with - system wise - if the system itself had worked. Rooney is completely different. If he stinks, it will affect the team's performances markedly even if the machinery as such is sound - and it could very likely cost us points. Mourinho counts on Rooney for tangible contributions (goals, not least), and he won't risk his reputation on playing someone who can be replaced.
And unlike LVG, Mourinho has good alternatives. He can replace Rooney from within the current squad, and still field a strong XI - provided that his system works.
When you let your weight yoyo between seasons it tends to sap at your stamina. No-one's body responds well to regularly going up and down in weight like that.
I don't think mental exhaustion has anything to do with it. He's tired because it takes more effort than it used to for him to get his weight down.
The same thing happened to Ricky Hatton. The more he abused his body the less endurance he had in fights. As a pro-athlete you can't let yourself go during your breaks, especially once you hit a certain age. When you're 21 it doesn't matter. When you're 31 you need to change your approach.
That's what is missing from Rooney: the realisation that now he's older he needs to do more to maintain his condition. Its ridiculous to compare him to people like Giggs. Giggsy took up Yoga to stop his body deteriorating. Where is the evidence Rooney is taking similar action?
All of this could be remedied by Rooney just taking responsibility for himself more. Instead he continues to act like the end of season is like a school holiday, and then he gets snarky when people question his condition.
It's his touch that is overweight, that's the problem.
In. My fm saves rooney went on to become manager and manages us.
Does Paul Parker ever say anything positive about the club? All you hear from him nowadays is negativity trying to keep himself relevant. As we all know ex players who do not create soundbites do not get work in the media.
His place is the bench but at circa £300,000 a week we should have shipped him off to China or the Mrs.
So funny because it's true
Paul Parker: Eyes functional.
People accused Scholes of similar last season, he was right though, some of the more deluded fans wanted to pretend everything was fine and "Get behind the club" as if that makes them a better fan.
He performed an ocular pat-down.
Dunno if he's overweight atm, but he's definitely too slow and has a horrendous first touch.
I also would not be surprised in the slightest to learn the stories about his eating/partying habits are true.
I think another factor to take into account is Rooney's insistence to play every stupid England qualifier and friendly over the years. If he had paced himself a bit more, he might have more in the tank for United now.
I also would not be surprised in the slightest to learn the stories about his eating/partying habits are true.
I think another factor to take into account is Rooney's insistence to play every stupid England qualifier and friendly over the years. If he had paced himself a bit more, he might have more in the tank for United now.