Wayne Rooney believes some United players pretending to be injured

Myself and a few others have already said a while ago that we think Rashford is or was doing this. Maybe Shaw, definitely Martial because he can't be arsed. Perhaps a few others but can't think of any at the moment.
 
Rooney wasn’t accusing people of lying I don’t think. He’s accused them of not being willing to sacrifice themselves as he would’ve. That they may be hurt but they’re the kind of hurt that could play if it was a cup final rather than against Burnley in a dead rubber.

Ah ok. Yeah I'm sure it's a lot easier to play through pain when you are winning week to week rather than facing whatever this is atm.
 
I don't think Rooney said fake, I think he implied they could have been back by now but chose not to. I think shaw probably only needs to show a little of fitness to get selected, so if he plays the FA cup final, that's enough for Southgate to pick him. He's probably decided to not risk anything until then.
No matter how you look at it, Rooney is either accusing them of faking, or refusing to risk re-injury in a dead rubber game. Which is a bit rich considering how he used to get rushed back in his early days to play for club and country and it either resulted in poor performances or aggravating the injury.
 
The worry isn't that players are taking extra time off because they don't want to miss the Euros/Copa America when we have nothing to play for. The worry is that they're taking extra time off because they've had enough of ETH.

That wouldn't bode well for our cup final.
 
No matter how you look at it, Rooney is either accusing them of faking, or refusing to risk re-injury in a dead rubber game. Which is a bit rich considering how he used to get rushed back in his early days to play for club and country and it either resulted in poor performances or aggravating the injury.

That's one way of putting it, a more charitable way would be they are purposely not playing when they could for their own benefit and not the clubs.

As for your second sentence even forgetting the merits or not of his decisions, that is precisely why he is calling them out. He put it all on the line and expects that of others in the same position.
 
That's one way of putting it, a more charitable way would be they are purposely not playing when they could for their own benefit and not the clubs.

As for your second sentence even forgetting the merits or not of his decisions, that is precisely why he is calling them out. He put it all on the line and expects that of others in the same position.
Well said
 
Rashford has been in poor form and his England place is far from guaranteed with plenty of other options. Would make no sense at all to be saving himself for the Euro's.
 
we have a history of rushing players back, then being flabbergasted when they immediately get injured again for a long period of time.

can see why players would say “jog on I’m not ready yet” why risk an injury for a team that’s playing rubbish in games that are pointless.
 
Is he guessing? Or has he been told something
Not guessing but perhaps from experience and just common sense he realises that from all the injuries, while some are real no doubt, if we were in a league challenge, top 4 race, or CL ko stages etc our injuries would not be as severe and it’s very likely we’d see one or two injured players be available.
 
I think he said it as a throwaway comment and then when Dave Jones picked up on it, he realised what he'd said could actually make waves, but didn't want to look a mug so just carried on. I don't think he has a clue tbh.
 
I dont buy it and its same old same old with our ex players blaming the players for everything and acting like the managers can do no wrong and should be given infinite amount of time
 
Its not exactly what he said, he insinuated that some players aren't rushing back and/or are not playing unless they're 100% fit.

What surprises me is that this surprises some of you.
 
I think he said it as a throwaway comment and then when Dave Jones picked up on it, he realised what he'd said could actually make waves, but didn't want to look a mug so just carried on. I don't think he has a clue tbh.
Jones fully set it up for Rooney to agree and create the headline, he’d spent the previous ten minutes trying to coax them into slaughtering Casemiro
 
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Its not exactly what he said, he insinuated that some players aren't rushing back and/or are not playing unless they're 100% fit.

What surprises me is that this surprises some of you.
Ten Hag said himself I think that he is making sure players are 100% ready to come back, which seems wise given our issues this season.
 
Its not exactly what he said, he insinuated that some players aren't rushing back and/or are not playing unless they're 100% fit.

What surprises me is that this surprises some of you.
There are a whole spectrum of injuries, from “you can play through it” to “muscle injury 3 weeks” to “needs surgery, out 9 months”. I think that at this point in the season, with no way to make top 4, those “you can play through it” knocks are just a reason to sit out. Why risk aggravation in meaningless games when there is an FA Cup final coming around. Certain players like Licha have a mentality that always makes them want to play — and he was denied by Ten Hag.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with it.
 
Jose accused Shaw of this a few years back, so it’s one of the more likely ones imo

Mourinho also said it about Robben when Robben played at Chelsea. Robben actually turned out ot be one of the hardest working players to get fit and be able to play football. He was just very injury prone. Likely same story for Shaw. Mourinho isnt exactly an expert on that front.
 
I don't believe that our players are feigning injury. What I think is happening is that they are using every niggling injury as an excuse not to play. Which makes perfect sense in a squad were most players are injury prone/old and were the fitness team is renowned to be shit. Why should a player pick a potential career threatening injury when they know very well that they'll probably on their way out?
 
People naming Rashford, after his back problems I feel he’s never been fully fit again, fair play to him taking so much flack when as far as I can tell he is never at full fitness due to the injury he suffered.
 
It’s such a generic, throwaway comment to make about an underperforming team. He has no clue what going on behind closed doors.

Does Shaw think he’s just suddenly going to produce his best form for the cup final and England after missing half the season? I doubt he’s that stupid.

Rashford has played through injuries plenty of times and must be desperate to get a few goals and try and push into the Euros squad.

Bruno has literally never missed a club game before this week due to injury. People mentioning him specifically are mental.
How the feck do you know :lol: . Keyboard warrior telling the clubs all time leading goalscorer he knows feck all, caf summed up in this thread.
 
Jose accused Shaw of this a few years back, so it’s one of the more likely ones imo
You’d think so but it doesn’t make that much sense for him. It’s Southgate and his favoritism, so anything’s possible but you’d think that playing at least a couple of games before the Euros and showing that he’s in good form would improve his chances of getting the call up… which aren’t exactly great at the moment.

Rashford is in a slightly better position but even he risks missing out on the tournament entirely and a couple of goals could really help him out.
 
that isnt a flippant thing for a united legend to say about current united players. If souness is backing it up then theres no smoke without fire
 
There are a whole spectrum of injuries, from “you can play through it” to “muscle injury 3 weeks” to “needs surgery, out 9 months”. I think that at this point in the season, with no way to make top 4, those “you can play through it” knocks are just a reason to sit out. Why risk aggravation in meaningless games when there is an FA Cup final coming around. Certain players like Licha have a mentality that always makes them want to play — and he was denied by Ten Hag.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with it.

Yeah so I don't disagree with that in principle and I'm not really 'arguing' with you as such, because you're not really contradicting anything I say in my post...but I think there's a couple of things I'll add...

1) It's a dangerous precedent for footballers to pick and choose what games they consider 'important'. Where does that end? Should they not have considered Europa League qualification quite important, for example?

2) Motivated and happy footballers are more likely to play through pain or knocks than disengaged, unhappy footballers - so it says something about the general spirit at the club.

3) Waiting to be 100% isn't really viable for any athlete in any sport. You're almost always going to have a little bit of a knock, or feel slightly under the weather, or feel a little bit of a twinge...some people get in their own head and end-up becoming incapable of doing anything ever because they won't or can't knuckle down when they're 80/90% right.
 
Can you blame players not wanting to play through an injury to battle for 8th place when it may aggravate the injury further and result in them missing out on the Euros, etc.?
Yes. It's their job. I'm not here not showing up for work on Monday because I'm saving myself for Friday.
 
Hate to call a player's professionalism into question, but it wouldn't surprise me if some of these guys have the mindset of being in no big hurry to get back on the field this month.

The only ones whose heart I don't question are Bruno and Licha. I think they'd both be out there fighting for it if they were fully fit.

Shaw, Maguire, and Rashford will all have their eyes on the Euros and won't want to take any risks, I'm sure.

Varane is probably fully checked out of football mentally at this point. Wouldn't surprise me if he just retires, honestly.

Lindelof, who knows.

Mount, I'm starting to think, is like Martial and made of glass.

And Martial, speaking of which, is probably also mentally checked out at this point.

Oh, and poor Malacia, do we even know if the young man is still alive?
 
Its not exactly what he said, he insinuated that some players aren't rushing back and/or are not playing unless they're 100% fit.

What surprises me is that this surprises some of you.
The caf flip flops. They will attack the players for "faking" injuries, and the club for having the worst physios and doctors and rushing them back.
 
Some of our players can't be surprised that this would be brought up at some point, the injury situation is a joke.

Maybe they're still writing them, but not seen any stories yet from the club about anyone disputing what he had to say.
 
Yes. It's their job. I'm not here not showing up for work on Monday because I'm saving myself for Friday.
Then you don't understand football or basic athletics. You don't play injured or half recovered.
 
How the feck do you know :lol: . Keyboard warrior telling the clubs all time leading goalscorer he knows feck all, caf summed up in this thread.
Keyboard warrior? Im just giving my opinion like everyone else in this thread. At no point did he say he’d been told this information, he’s guessing. I guess we’ll see when the final comes round who’s available and who isn’t.
 
Then you don't understand football or basic athletics. You don't play injured or half recovered.
Evans has played injured two games in a row. Varane has played with an injury for multiple seasons. Bruno is for the first time being sidelined because of an injury stoppingh him. You think he's been completely fine all these years?

Rarely are professional athletes fully fit. To think that is naive beyond believe. They are always being injected with things, putting off surgeries for off season.
 
When we had this a few years ago, Shearer said something like, “as a professional player, it’s rare that you’re ever 100% niggle-free. Usually something hurts, but most of the time you can play through it”.

It’s this that’s probably the case, player X has got a little niggle, probably could play….but doesn’t fancy it
 
Keyboard warrior? Im just giving my opinion like everyone else in this thread. At no point did he say he’d been told this information, he’s guessing. I guess we’ll see when the final comes round who’s available and who isn’t.
If Graeme Souness has been told the info it’s a guarantee Rooney has as well, he doesn’t need to say he’s been told because then everyones looking at each other the next day. It was the same as Scholes and Owen talking about Steve Mclaren. They don’t stick their necks on the line by guessing.
 
Look at who have been near ever present in the team and are suddenly missing. The context was clear, players making themselves unavailable until the cup final. He wasn't talking about Shaw being out last September or Maguire's groin problems in January.

It's players that seem to have made themselves unavailable recently.

He also said 'Because they're getting a little bit of stick, it's easy for players to stay out and come back towards the cup final'

So player's who have been ever-present, have stated recently to get stick and are suddenly unavailable saving themselves for the cup final?

We can pretend we don't know who this is and ask "Is it Tyrell Malacia?" if we like. If only there were clues, like a player whose dedication and effort has been suspect all season and throws a PR hissy fit when criticised.

Maybe it's Mount, he's suddenly missing after playing so many games this season.

When Souness backed this up on Talksport Jim White raised the fact Rashford had trained on Thursday. Souness wouldn't be drawn but White didn't pull that out of the air. He'll have heard the name(s) going around.
 
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Yeah so I don't disagree with that in principle and I'm not really 'arguing' with you as such, because you're not really contradicting anything I say in my post...but I think there's a couple of things I'll add...

1) It's a dangerous precedent for footballers to pick and choose what games they consider 'important'. Where does that end? Should they not have considered Europa League qualification quite important, for example?

2) Motivated and happy footballers are more likely to play through pain or knocks than disengaged, unhappy footballers - so it says something about the general spirit at the club.

3) Waiting to be 100% isn't really viable for any athlete in any sport. You're almost always going to have a little bit of a knock, or feel slightly under the weather, or feel a little bit of a twinge...some people get in their own head and end-up becoming incapable of doing anything ever because they won't or can't knuckle down when they're 80/90% right.
Yeah, I think we’re on the same page. No disagreement. I’m less of a “shaking my fist” and complaining that these players are soft. There is nuance here. Also agree that when players are fit, they should play when picked.
 
It’s probably true, ranging from the absolute worst which are players who blatantly dive out of games ‘injured’ like ADM and Pogba, to players who probably need to toughen up and get on with it like Martial.

The former absolutely need to be booted out the club immediately and the latter probably need to be notified that they’ll lose their spot if they aren’t that dedicated and subsequently booted out the club if they don’t like that.