He will definitely start. I am almost willing to bet my paycheck on it.
Rooney responds.
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At first i was worried that this was a PR exercise ahead of the game tomorrow. Seems it was a pre- arranged interview which means he was just answering questions on his form.
I wonder if there's any bookies taking bets on it?
The problem is that if Rooney is dropped then it shows that Mourinho is almost agreeing with the press. There would've been a bigger chance of him not starting if his recent performances hadn't got so much paper time.
Mourinho will basically be seen as doubling down on whatever decision he makes.
The problem is that if Rooney is dropped then it shows that Mourinho is almost agreeing with the press. There would've been a bigger chance of him not starting if his recent performances hadn't got so much paper time.
Mourinho will basically be seen as doubling down on whatever decision he makes.
I just don't think that sort of admission of inadequacy is in a footballer's lexicon. I'm trying to think of an example of any other footballer saying something similar but I'm drawing a blank. Can anyone else dig up some quotes?
You'd hear it a lot in biographies, looking back on their careers. But while they're still playing? Sport is all about self-belief. I just think they've trained themselves to bury that negativity so deep down that they're basically deluding themselves. They have to really.
Ah it's mostly pointing towards him not starting. He was pretty much the only first team player that started vs Northampton, even De Gea sat it out.
I think it's all a question of balance. Do I think he's finished at this level? Yes, which is unforunate, because relatively, taking into consideration the longevity of Scholes and Giggs, he should still have a few good years in him. However, what I won't forget is the amount of highs and brilliant, determined, hard working performances he's given this club over the last ten years, many of which were responsible and part of our huge success. I think the vitriol he's getting, the focused hatred of the guy is unfair and unwarranted and a sad reflection of the short term memories of fans today in this social media driven society. Sure he should be out of the team and it's frustrating when he plays like shite because it affects the rest of the team so much, but it's not his fault he's selected to play, that is up to the manager.
If it happens, it really shows fecked up a club we've become. Horror show after horror show, stinks up a cup tie vs a lower league team and still starts. Would be unreal.
I'm pretty sure he'll be "rested" though so I'm hoping I'm right.
Have patience lads. Even if he does start, the scrutiny will be intense. If he doesn't improve quickly the situation will soon become untenable.
The most important thing is that issue is now out in the open. Things should come to a head more quickly now.
The most important thing is that issue is now out in the open. Things should come to a head more quickly now.
Andy Mitten's column yesterday all but said Rooney's starting at the weekend. His take was Mou played him to get his confidence up...
...that worked didn't it?
Ah, bless, I really feel for him. You tell 'em Wayne.
That's Rooneys take on it. I find it all too quintessential that in a moment both fans and media are talking about the fact he needs to be dropped, Jose throws him in with our second string.
My thoughts exactly.
who was the one telling reporters he's a midfielder without consulting his manager?
Well put.
That'll be Rooney on the bench then. Andy knows feck all.
It's not short term memories though. He's been putting in shitter and shitter performances for years now. fecking years of this shit from him.
If he's still here until his contract runs out his terrible seasons will outnumber the world class ones.
Yeah this is what will happen. I don't expect him to improve, so we'll keep getting bad performances and unfortunately for him, he'll have no leg to stand on very soon. So start him. The only problem is, can we get results whilst that is happening? This is the worrying bit. Otherwise, he'll completely play himself out of consideration. The situation will be taken out of the club's hands no matter how much they back him because his body is gone and it's not coming back.
On another note, the lad doesn't actually have any true friends does he? His ex team mates and people at the club can't like him very much if they refuse to tell him the truth. Instead, they'd rather he continue humiliating himself with his performances.
He's going to start on Sunday, isn't he?
Fuk sakes.
Fuk sakes.
People would be more sad and less angry about his decline if he stopped being so arrogant. You can't perform this badly for this long and then say that critics are all talking 'rubbish'. That comes across as genuinely delusional and not for the first time this season. Add in the manner in which he announced his eventual England retirement, the post-match interview when he stated he didn't have to prove anything to anyone, publicly talking about United giving him a new contract...
It's funny but back when Rooney was a brilliant player I thought he was remarkably humble. Sadly his ego seems to have grown at the same rate his ability has shrunk.
That's a fair point. But he would have been better off remaining silent and not doing any press.
The thing is, if we, the fans didn't say something, and as much as its over the top at times, it looks like he'd carry on playing badly and being a large part of United's poor play ad infinitum. Pundits, reporters (and managers it seems) just won't call him out.
United and England need to move on and plan for the future, post Rooney.
That would be ideal... the game is on Saturday!
In contrast Keane said he was driven by fear of failure, and letting people down
What does that say about this club?
Instead of responding in the media, why not respond on the pitch?
Shit response instead of saying the rest of the world is talking balls it would have been more encouraging if he said yes I've been shit but I'm working hard to get back on form
Not that it matters, Rooney out etc
Not that it matters, Rooney out etc
I think this notion of vitriol and hatred is being massively overblown. I'm in the Rooney threads quite a bit and the vast majority of the criticism is fair. There might be the odd person who goes too far but nothing that warrants so many complaints.
Then again I look at the posters who keep accusing others of hate and bile and coincidentally it's often the guys who were happy with his performances upto a couple of weeks ago.
Bingo. One even said wishing Rooney were off to China was abuse. Ignore these guys.
Well, I'm not just talking about the Caf - this isn't the be all and end all of talking/discussing United. As my first sentence said 'it's all a question of balance'....
a few weeks ago people were saying it was only on the Caf he gets this unwarranted abuse, agendas etc. So we are in agreement everyone can see it now. Hell, supposedly the Watford performance was reported in China. Bad day for our noodles partner
The lid has blown off and it's been coming for a long long time. If he starts playing well again which would be a mini miracle, I'm sure most will cut him some slack. What needs to happen right now for the good of the team though is Rooney needs to be axed until he can prove he's good enough to play in our starting eleven as every other player in our squad needs to. Enough is enough.
Re the bold, he might still have a few years left in him if he'd looked after himself better and paid more attention physical conditioning. Instead he's smoking and drinking in off-season periods and it's really no surprise that he's lost that explosive play we all loved.
To compare footballer with boxers for the sake of an illustration, if Giggs is Mayweather then Rooney is Hatton.
Could he not run the United twitter account?
Regardless of what happens with him, if his career is coming to an end, hes been an exceptional player for us. One of the best Ive seen in a United shirt.
The romantic in me wants to see him rediscover his form but the realist knows he wont. Not for a sustained period anyway.
Best thing for him now is to limit his game time so that he can be effective in select matches instead of every starting 11.
Oh dear, we are gonna let city run away with it coz we want to be gentle and propitiate this undeserving twat. Do we have any ambition? feck off ogre. Move your swamp to China. Thief.
Seriously, i thought Mourinho would have a spine.
Seriously, i thought Mourinho would have a spine.
This really pisses me off. More so than the actual shit he's producing week in, week out.
Because if he thinks its not a problem, then how the feck is going to turn it around?
Because if he thinks its not a problem, then how the feck is going to turn it around?
Everyone used to say that we United fans have it in for Wayne Rooney but truth is he isn't a very like-able lad. He does come across quite self-centered (partly because media hyped him up).
1. 2008 - United had many world class players like Ronaldo and Tevez so often Wayne had to sacrifice his status as the main man. We were very successful but the feeling was Wayne was being suppressed and not allowed to flourish as he could for England. Again it was a great decision as Ronaldo was different class.
2.Wayne was given his chance to be the main man and in 2011, yet started the season in terrible form. He then handed in transfer request because "he wanted us to buy Ozil" and we lacked the ambition to buy world class players to support him. Sir Alex offered him a bumper new contract. Wayne ended the season with 16 goals all comps, Berbatov netted 20 league goals and we went on as league winners and CL finalists
3. After losing the league to City on goal difference Sir Alex signed the previous seasons top scorer RVP. RVP swiftly displaced Rooney as main striker, scored vital goals when we were playing shit. Again Wayne was moved around to accommodate this "world class player" which resulted in him eventually being on the benched for key games due to his poor form and RVPs electric goalscoring. At some point, Wayne suggested he should move on and United won the league.
Seems Wayne wants us to sign world class players, EXCEPT in his position (so they don't compete with his place as he MUST play irrespective of performances) a case of wanted to retain his cake and eat it. He wants to be the main man whilst playing with world class players who are better than him. Basically occupy a Cristiano or Messi esque role except he never was as good as them and there are teammates who can upstage him. He hasn't hit 20 league goals in his last 4 seasons and players like Nani and Valencia have been voted players player of the year ahead of him.
Fast forward to today where Wayne is now one of the least effective attackers in the league. He regularly tells us he has nothing to prove (he was great so must play irrespective of performances) and that he doesn't listen to the haterz. There was a period under Van Gaal where he had scored something like 4 league goals in 10 months in 2016. The 1st half of 2016 he had 2 in 17 league games there about, hit some form in new year, got injured and now he has 2 in his last 16. Is this a problem for Wayne? nooo sir, no problem as he doesn't need to perform regularly. he just needs to be on the pitch. He is a captain that has ZERO accountability for his performances which for me is a shit captain.
Players like Wayne are soooo pampered by the media that they cannot accept the slightest criticism and rather than hold his hand up and say " I haven't been at my best" they just go on the defensive. You saw it with Terry when Savage was "diggin him out." It isn't very endearing to fans and doesn't inspire us with confidence when a player cannot see his decline, thinks he is doing enough when he has been shit. It makes them seem delusional, dishonest and shows low standards. Gerrard has similar attitudes. I am interested to see whether it is the same in other countries. I know tennis players tend to admit when they haven't played well
1. 2008 - United had many world class players like Ronaldo and Tevez so often Wayne had to sacrifice his status as the main man. We were very successful but the feeling was Wayne was being suppressed and not allowed to flourish as he could for England. Again it was a great decision as Ronaldo was different class.
2.Wayne was given his chance to be the main man and in 2011, yet started the season in terrible form. He then handed in transfer request because "he wanted us to buy Ozil" and we lacked the ambition to buy world class players to support him. Sir Alex offered him a bumper new contract. Wayne ended the season with 16 goals all comps, Berbatov netted 20 league goals and we went on as league winners and CL finalists
3. After losing the league to City on goal difference Sir Alex signed the previous seasons top scorer RVP. RVP swiftly displaced Rooney as main striker, scored vital goals when we were playing shit. Again Wayne was moved around to accommodate this "world class player" which resulted in him eventually being on the benched for key games due to his poor form and RVPs electric goalscoring. At some point, Wayne suggested he should move on and United won the league.
Seems Wayne wants us to sign world class players, EXCEPT in his position (so they don't compete with his place as he MUST play irrespective of performances) a case of wanted to retain his cake and eat it. He wants to be the main man whilst playing with world class players who are better than him. Basically occupy a Cristiano or Messi esque role except he never was as good as them and there are teammates who can upstage him. He hasn't hit 20 league goals in his last 4 seasons and players like Nani and Valencia have been voted players player of the year ahead of him.
Fast forward to today where Wayne is now one of the least effective attackers in the league. He regularly tells us he has nothing to prove (he was great so must play irrespective of performances) and that he doesn't listen to the haterz. There was a period under Van Gaal where he had scored something like 4 league goals in 10 months in 2016. The 1st half of 2016 he had 2 in 17 league games there about, hit some form in new year, got injured and now he has 2 in his last 16. Is this a problem for Wayne? nooo sir, no problem as he doesn't need to perform regularly. he just needs to be on the pitch. He is a captain that has ZERO accountability for his performances which for me is a shit captain.
Players like Wayne are soooo pampered by the media that they cannot accept the slightest criticism and rather than hold his hand up and say " I haven't been at my best" they just go on the defensive. You saw it with Terry when Savage was "diggin him out." It isn't very endearing to fans and doesn't inspire us with confidence when a player cannot see his decline, thinks he is doing enough when he has been shit. It makes them seem delusional, dishonest and shows low standards. Gerrard has similar attitudes. I am interested to see whether it is the same in other countries. I know tennis players tend to admit when they haven't played well
He'll have the last laugh against Leicester when one of his passes reaches a team mate. He'll be sliding on his knees to the corner flag in celebration before cupping his hand to his ear and asking where all the doubters are now.