I love the player he is... thank god we have him!
Is this the start of Rooney's transition into midfield?
- Thread starter Carl
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
He's had it easy today but he's played well.
Will be interesting to see if Fergie leaves him there for the rest of the season.
--- Carrick Rooney
Winger Kagawa Winger
------ Van Persie
Could be interesting...
Will be interesting to see if Fergie leaves him there for the rest of the season.
--- Carrick Rooney
Winger Kagawa Winger
------ Van Persie
Could be interesting...
Definitely interesting, he looked excellent early on.
Him and Kagawa are playing well so far.
It's not bad but at the same time it's against Stoke so it means next to feck all.
I sincerely hope not - we'd be looking a lot more coherent today with him playing deep behind Van Persie and in front of a quality midfielder
He's been good. I just hope this role is only makeshift and not a permanent one for him.
Of all the shit R.N7 posts in the 50k thread, this is the first time a post of his has made me laugh. Well played, sir.
As the commentry said, its been a good game for him to play there. They just cut their midfield out and allow ours all the time in the world. He's done well but nothing Cleverley couldn't have done.
He has done well so far.
I'd rather see him play behind the striker, but given the fact that our midfield is weak and our forwards have been our best players and most of them (mainly Chicharito, Kagawa and Welbeck) haven't been given as many minutes as they deserve I don't see this as a bad thing.
He hasn't played as a CM often, but when he has he played that role very well, and I honestly feel sorry for some of the previously mentioned players, they really deserve more time for the effort and attitude they showed
He hasn't played as a CM often, but when he has he played that role very well, and I honestly feel sorry for some of the previously mentioned players, they really deserve more time for the effort and attitude they showed
It's actually the only way I think we can accommodate both him and Kagawa into the team, as neither is really influential off the wing. We can shift 1 to the wing in "big" matches, when we need another CM in there.
------Rooney------Carrick
Valencia----Kagawa---Welbeck
---------------RvP
It should work against 80% of the opponents we face.
------Rooney------Carrick
Valencia----Kagawa---Welbeck
---------------RvP
It should work against 80% of the opponents we face.
To be fair he drove forward and hit a great shot, something which Cleverley is capable of but wouldn't have attempted.
He played well there today, but the real test would be against a possession team that will look to press him a lot more. Stoke basically bypass the midfield, so we could play a more attacking minded player there. I don't have any issues with trying him in CM in future games.
He certainly looked very comfortable.
If the league is tied up, I'd like to see him try it against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea.
If the league is tied up, I'd like to see him try it against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea.
I enjoyed seeing him there. Alot of us claim that Anderson offers us something no other midfielder in our squad does, but Rooney played a similar game to Anderson, picking the ball up and just driving it forwards 20 or 30 yards and giving us a good attacking position, and you know that Rooney has alot more ability if he was to make those late runs into the box, or if he receives the ball on the edge of the box. You know you get alot of legwork from him when we don't have the ball, and he was dropping into positions just infront of the back four when Stoke had the ball. A very competent midfield performance in a very tough away game.
None of us can really say he's definitely being groomed into a midfielder, as he has played there a few times before. I don't think it should be set in stone that Rooney is now a midfielder and a midfielder only. It's obviously a very good asset for us to have a player who is comfortable playing alongside Carrick in one game and alongside RVP in another. Not many teams can really boast such a versatile attacker.
I do hope he stays with us and doesn't leave this summer!
None of us can really say he's definitely being groomed into a midfielder, as he has played there a few times before. I don't think it should be set in stone that Rooney is now a midfielder and a midfielder only. It's obviously a very good asset for us to have a player who is comfortable playing alongside Carrick in one game and alongside RVP in another. Not many teams can really boast such a versatile attacker.
I do hope he stays with us and doesn't leave this summer!
Sorry mate I dont think that's a great idea at all. I'd rather see powell or cleverley playing to be honest. Young lads who should get some game time in their preferred positions. Better than an experiment I think we'll rarely use.
Shouldn't be much more than a last resort for us. I always feel better when he's able to directly influence what happens in and around the box. Stoke weren't much of a test for him and he played well enough there today.
But he's got more than a few years before he can transition to that role.
But he's got more than a few years before he can transition to that role.
The league won't be wrapped up until full time at Arsenal at the earliest anyway, but if we manage to win it there, then there's a few games we can experiment with. We won't want to get shown up by Chelsea. There's no reason why Rooney can't play there against Chelsea, and Powell and/or Cleverley against Swansea and West Brom.
Depends completely on what exactly the future plans for Rooney are, in fairness. If this midfield thing is to become more common, it'd be bloody handy to see how he fairs there against a proper team.
Aye, I doubt City will slip between now and then.
i've always liked his work in the middle in the past. if that's the plan then so be it.
They've nothing left to play for in the league now, Spurs will beat them and we'll be champions next Monday.
Best he's ever played there for me. We need to see it in a high intensity game to know if it's going to work long term though.
I hope it isn't, he's fine there but he's still not a center mid. I'd much rather we just sign an actual center mid.
I dont think its long term but itd be just like Fergie though, he's resisted signing that central midfielder all this time, he's played 40 year old wingers there, centre backs there and now a centre forward there.
Stoke playing long ball, bypassing their own midfield and putting minimal pressure on ours
Hardly a test for a midfield player
Hardly a test for a midfield player
Yes. Yes it is. SAF sees Rooney as the next Giggs. He'll very slowly but surely transform him into a CM to prolong his career and make the most out of his passing, vision and footballing brain.
He's (Rooney) shown once or twice how he is capable of running a game from midfield and he'll always be a goal threat.
If he works on his concentration and short passing, I could see him reach something like the same level as Scholes.
I don't really care as long as he gets the hell away from the AM position where he frankly just works as a second striker that drops deep. Fergie knows much better then, so I'm not gonna bother thinking too much about this. I just hope he ends up as either A) a lone striker or B) a modern winger or C) a CM. Anything but AM is fine with me. That spot should belong to Kagawa.
Don't like him in midfield. He tends to play at walking pace there and with Carrick alongside him, we lack dynamism. As someone above said, has to be a last resort option.
I think there's a reason we don't play him in midfield against the likes of Chelsea. Stoke really did very little in terms of pressuring our CMs. I just think the game today suited Wayne. He was given time and space to operate. You don't get that in high intensity games.
It's why I don't buy the idea at all. It seems nice but I would rather play Cleverley honestly. A youngster who needs the experience more than Rooney.
I dot really get this, I think his ability as an attacking mid is why so many people think he can drop in to cm. I suppose if your reasoning is you'd rather see Kagawa in that position then that's fair enough, I feel the same way. But I don't want to see Rooney in cm at all, I'd much rather he was the lone striker. Unfortunately that won't happen for a while since RvP is here.
I suggested years ago that rooney could convert to midfield for us as he gets older and I was laughed out of the place.
I think people have always thought he could do a job there but it's whether or not you think he'll be good enough there to lose his ability as a striker. Personally I don't see it.
The thing for me is that he's not really an AM, even if he plays there on paper. He's just a second striker. The reason people want to see Rooney in AM is because of his goals/assist ratio(and partly because we have other lone strikers). But that's not really saying anything about his abilities as a pure AM, which is more about close control, ball retention, vision, short passes, through balls and general delivery. Rooney isn't really that good when it comes to these aspects..
I'd personally prefer it if Rooney just remained a lone striker, but that's not gonna happen when we have RVP and Hernandez. The perfect solution would be to rotate Rooney between CM and CF, depending on the game and whether or not RVP is fit. He could also fill in for Kagawa when needed.
Rooney is a versatile class player. We ought to take advantage of that! Right now Carrick needs a partner, so that's where Rooney should play. We also need wingers tbf(especially on the right), but he works better as a CM, so that's where I'd play him right now.
He really is a crap Centre Midfielder. Hope we don't see him there at all next season.
Got it in one.
That's how I feel. It's completely unnecessary.