Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez

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In a bout of nostalgia, I started watching this on YouTube :



Just looking at the numbers :

Ronaldo : 42 goals, 8 assists in 49 games
Tevez : 19 goals , 7 assists in 48 games.
Rooney : 18 goals, 14 assists in 43 games.

Ronaldo steals the show, but both Rooney & Tevez also had impressive showings and both scored some big goals throughout the season. How do you remembering the combination? Did the 3 of them get the best out of each other, or was it lacking something? Fergie, decided he needed something else when he went down the Berbatov route in the summer.
 
I post this from time to time so we don’t get wistfully nostalgic about Tevez:

____________________________________________________

After hearing Tevez spout off shit for so long I decided to put together a timeline of all that was said and done.


Here is why Carlos Tevez is a mercenary mary poppin that deserves no sympathy:


I still see alot of United fan's, blaming United and Ferguson for the loss of Carlos Tevez to our biggest rivals. If we take a look at the timeline of events, is it so clear?


August 2007 - Tevez signs for United. United's attack consists of Rooney, Saha, Tevez, Ronaldo.
A
May 2008 - United lift European Cup to compliment the Premiership trophy.

August 2008 - Perenial Injury victim Louis Saha looks on his way out as a squad with just Rooney and Tevez as recognised strikers with Ronaldo (who it is now known was playing his last season with us, something Fergie already knew).

Ferguson knew he would need to add another striker and as he is a manager always looking to the future he felt another dimension
was needed which is why he felt he should bring in Berbatov.

August 2008 - Berbatov signs, seeing that we have Rooney - Tevez and Berbatov with a soon to be leaving Ronaldo as our attack.


December 5th 2008 -
There is no imminent prospect of Tevez signing a contract, despite a series of negotiations between the player's adviser Kia Joorabchian and United chief executive David Gill.


Having been through such difficulties many times before, not least with former captain Roy Keane and Rio Ferdinand – who was famously heckled during a pre-season tour of Asia four years ago as he delayed signing a lucrative extension – Ferguson remains calm about the situation.

"It doesn't frustrate me," he said. "I have been used to it over the years. You just have to be patient.

"It is not as if we have been short of negotiations. But I think we all know they can take a long time, and this one is just going along.

"David has been talking to his agent, so it is best left to him."
Click to expand...

So..... We weren't making any effort to sign him? December 2008 and Carlos and his agent are being "difficult".


December 16th 2008 -
“We have been talking about it and everything is very advanced, as a consequence I think it will be sorted soon.
I feel respected by my team-mates and by the staff.” - Carlos Tevez.
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January 4th 2009 -
“We have not started talks with Manchester United yet, though I am keen to stay. Sir Alex Ferguson has told me he wants me to remain a United player and that is certainly my desire too. My contract ends in the summer and we have agreed to sit down at the end of the season and discuss a new contract, nothing I have heard from the club suggests it will be otherwise. There is simply no reason to sit down now.
I have a great relationship with Sir Alex and I hope that will continue long into the future.”- Carlos Tevez
Click to expand...

April 2nd 2009 -
“From the moment I arrived, he has treated me with respect as a person. His greatest quality is that, for him, there are no star players - everyone is equal, whether they cost many millions or are a young player who hasn’t played many times for the team. When I see him work
he reminds me of Carlos Bianchi, who was my coach at Boca Juniors in Argentina. Both have had a big influence on my career,
and both know how to treat people.” - Carlos Tevez.
Click to expand...
May 10th 2009 -

"Now it's time for me to think about my future," Tevez says.

"It's not as if I feel I have walked out of Manchester United or done something wrong. I have done everything I possibly could at Manchester but they have not offered me a contract.

I have a great relationship with the fans and I think that everyone will understand that wherever I go I give 100 per cent – at United, like I did at West Ham, at Corinthians, at Boca.

I am leaving because the circumstances have created a situation forcing me to leave.I want to be very clear. In the two years I have been at Manchester United I have read that I have asked for '£6 million, £9 million, £12 million, £1 million, £2 million'. But I have never, ever asked [chief executive] David Gill or Alex Ferguson – nor have I had any
meeting with anyone about my contract – for money.

Therefore when I sign for another club if anyone says 'it was impossible for Carlos to sign for Man United because he was asking for too much money'
then it is not true. I know that maybe after, when I leave, people will say 'he left for money' but listen, no. Be very clear that there has not been
one single meeting about my personal contract. And now it's over." - Carlos Tevez
Click to expand...
So what changed Carlos? You were happy to wait until the season was over... "not about money"? No one has said it was.... could it be that City have offered you alot of money and you know the talk will soon start changing to that of money.....

Jun 27th - United are understood to have agreed a £25m deal for Carlos Tevez who's contract runs out on Jun 30th.

Jun 30th - Tevez understood to have agreed a deal 2 weeks ago with Manchester City.

July 14th 2009 - Tevez signs for City on a £150,000 a week contract for a reported £45m.

“I was there for two years and Sir Alex never called or sent any text messages in that time.
The only time he talked to me was after a match against Roma to discuss a situation about going to play for Argentina.
It doesn’t seem that this is the way to treat a player in two years at the club. It doesn’t seem there is a line of communication.” - Carlos Tevez
Click to expand...



So lets get this straight.

1. We talk contracts, Tevez and Joorbachin are impossible to negotiate with. Tevez is happy with how he is treated.

2. Tevez denys talk of any contract talks but says he has agreed with Ferguson to to talk about it after the season has finished...

3. Before the season is finished, he starts talking about how money is not an issue but they have never had any contract talks and this upsets him,
despite agreeing it is best to wait unitl the football is finished....

4.United then agree a deal with Joorbachin for Carlos Tevez, who is one of only three strikers at the club following the departure of Ronaldo to Madrid, but Tevez had already agreed a big money deal with City....

Of course it wasn't the money.

You are a mercenary mary poppin who took all the United fans for mugs, you disrespected Ferguson and still maintain that "you had no choice to leave United" and that we will regret not treating you better".

I hope you get run over by your own Bentley.

You and your crooked agent are an example of everything that is wrong with modern football, so it's more than fitting that you join City.
 
Good write up on tevez. Still wish we had signed him. Loved him for us. I think Rooney gets nowhere near enough credit for the 07 08 season either. He was absolutely amazing and not that far off being as important as Ronaldo.
 
For me the trio is overrated when it comes to the chemistry between them. I struggle to remember many games when they really gelled. M'Boro, Spurs (next season), Newcastle and maybe a couple more. Individually yes, they had good seasons that year. Also, Tevez's time at United was overrated. Scored 3 or 4 massive goals which I loved but nowhere near the beast he became at City, which I think clouds people's opinion.

So basically some look at their peaks and decide it must've happened at the same time.

I always preferred Rooney-Saha-Ronaldo.
 
I fecking loved Tevez at United, thought he was excellent and got the best out of Ronnie/Rooney. He also set a terrific example to the rest of the team by chasing everything.
 
Tomuś said:
For me the trio is overrated when it comes to the chemistry between them. I struggle to remember many games when they really gelled. M'Boro, Spurs (next season), Newcastle and maybe a couple more. Individually yes, they had good seasons that year. Also, Tevez's time at United was overrated. Scored 3 or 4 massive goals which I loved but nowhere near the beast he became at City, which I think clouds people's opinion.

So basically some look at their peaks and decide it must've happened at the same time.

I always preferred Rooney-Saha-Ronaldo.
Click to expand...

Flamed out second half of 06-07.
 
adexkola said:
Flamed out second half of 06-07.
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True. And it might have been worse whatever but I just liked it so much. All of them soooo easy on the eye while Tevez looked laboured in hist time here for me.

That 5-1 Fulham game with Rooney-Saha-Ronaldo was borderline utopia. Especially after all the talk in the summer about where are all the goals gonna come from following Ruud's departure.
 
All 3 were obviously terrific players, but the frequent notion that the interplay between the trio was outstanding simply isn’t true (on the whole).

Ronaldo and Rooney certainly had the odd bit of sublime link-up play, but I think THAT goal they combined for against Bolton has skewed people into remembering this as a more regular occurrence than it was.

Rooney-Tevez looked absolutely outstanding together for literally about 3 matches, then hardly ever flourished as a partnership. Tevez and Ronaldo didn’t seem to combine much at all from what I recall.

The fact is that Cristiano was streets ahead of the other 2 in 07/08. Tevez was very good, but not world-class, whereas Rooney actually had a lot of really poor matches in 07/08, but that gets overlooked as the season ended so well for us.

There was even less interplay between the 3 the season after as Ronny was missing with injury until around October IIRC, while Tevez fell out of favour after Berba’s arrival.

Speaking of Tevez, even though he may have been dropped for Berba too hastily at times, it’s a myth that he was hardly given a chance in his second year here. He made 29 appearances in the league and scored 5 goals - he just didn’t play well. The 4 he scored in the LC against Blackburn goes a long way stat wise to papering over how poor he was.

In summary, all good to great players individually but their link-up play wasn’t that stellar. The successes of 07/08, and to a lesser extent 08/09, were due to the brilliance of Ronaldo far more than they were due to scintillating combo play or excellent individual seasons from the other 2. Rooney was far, far better in 09/10 then he was in the previous 2 seasons when he played with Rooney and Tevez.
 
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Tomuś said:
For me the trio is overrated when it comes to the chemistry between them. I struggle to remember many games when they really gelled. M'Boro, Spurs (next season), Newcastle and maybe a couple more. Individually yes, they had good seasons that year. Also, Tevez's time at United was overrated. Scored 3 or 4 massive goals which I loved but nowhere near the beast he became at City, which I think clouds people's opinion.

So basically some look at their peaks and decide it must've happened at the same time.

I always preferred Rooney-Saha-Ronaldo.
Click to expand...
Interesting. Tevez is one of our most underrated players ever I think.
 
Has to be one of the best attacking lineup's. Ronaldo, Rooney both legends and despite how unlikable he became in the end, Tevez was class. Better than any trio Ronaldo ever had at Real, imo.
 
Tevez had a great first season and then a mediocre or even poor second one, especially towards the end when he threw his toys out of the pram when SAF dropped him. I know some will never agree but I think Berbatov was better in every way other than work rate.
 
As individuals they were absolutely fantastic players but as a consistent cohesive trio ? not much.

For example,I always thought Rooney and Giggs were our best players interms of being consistently on the same wavelength.
Though they obviously played differing roles I thought they produced the best combinations I've seen at United post Cole and Yorke.

Edit.
Also,how underwhelming was this : Rooney-Ronaldo-Tevez-Berba ?
Even when Ronaldo and Tevez left the combination between Berba and Rooney was ,at times,non-existent.
 
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FrankDrebin said:
As individuals they were absolutely fantastic players but as a consistent cohesive trio ? not much.

For example,I always thought Rooney and Giggs were our best players interms of being consistently on the same wavelength.
Though they obviously played differing roles I thought they produced the best combinations I've seen at United post Cole and Yorke.
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I disagree these three were inter changing positions for fun to a point the commentators didn't know what position they were playing.

We were free flowing attacking team with those three and Giggs joining up whenever he played.

If SAF bought the next up and coming players than Berbartov I think we would have been known as the best attacking team in the world.
 
I was there during his seasons. I loved him and he was one of our best pressers which is why the fans loved him I think.

"Fergie sign him up, Fergie, Fergie sign him up"

You just knew that there was a lot of crap going on in the background and for him to not have been able to sign a contract with us is somewhat ridiculous considering the success he had with us.

Another note, just found his payslip online and yeh he defo went for the money.
 
I always thought Rooney and Tevez were rather backseat passengers throughout the season. There's a good argument that this is Fergie's strongest ever squad and Rooney and Tevez were a central part of the squad but I wouldn't rate them higher than that. I don't think this front line is anywhere near Fergie's best front line. But the team is this era was simply world class throughout.
 
MikeKing said:
Has to be one of the best attacking lineup's. Ronaldo, Rooney both legends and despite how unlikable he became in the end, Tevez was class. Better than any trio Ronaldo ever had at Real, imo.
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How could you possibly claim that when Ronaldo-Benzema-Bale won 4 CL's?
 
VorZakone said:
How could you possibly claim that when Ronaldo-Benzema-Bale won 4 CL's?
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Ronaldo is Ronaldo, I prefer Tevez to Benzema and Rooney was better than Bale. Ronaldo's last couple of seasons at United were tremendous and his best imo. He was a lot more efficient after that but he could do absolutely everything back then. I just prefer that trio, from the 07/08 season. The quality and speed of their counter attacking was insane.
 
I've subconsciously erased all memories of Tevez playing for Utd. Not even intentionally, for me, Tevez was just some City player.

Aside from that, thinking about his career, I just see him as a complete mercenary, I've no idea about what titles he won, what comes to mind more is the impression that he was someone who just always chased the dollars.

Shame really, I mean, I'm sure hes set his family up, financially, for generations, but I dont think he'll be remembered as more than a footnote as a footballer. When he had the talent to be remembered as a top footballer who set his family up for generations.
 
The trio didn’t have the cohesive link up play but they struck fear into the opponents defense. I feel that could happen again with Rashford Martial Sancho
 
I mean, people either say it was a massively overrated trio for combining or that Tevez' time was massively underrated here but watching the video it struck me actually how often one of them is setting up the other (and there's at least one example against Newcastle of one to the other to the other for the goal so let's see), let's go through the video and count them up. Not gonna delve into searching for full highlights to see if they're interlinking all game/before the video clip starts so:

Rooney to Ronaldo against Wigan home
Tevez to Rooney against Villa away
(Tevez to) Rooney to Tevez against Middlesbrough home (the goal everyone associates with the partnership)
Rooney to Tevez against Middlesbrough home
(Tevez to) Rooney to Tevez against Dynamo Kiev home
Tevez to Ronaldo against Blackburn home
Ronaldo to Tevez against Sporting home (somewhat fortuitously)
Rooney to Tevez against Liverpool away (somewhat fortuitously)
(Tevez to) Ronaldo to Tevez against Birmingham home (one of my favourite assists ever)
(Rooney to) Tevez to Ronaldo against Newcastle home
Ronaldo to Rooney against Newcastle away
Rooney to Ronaldo against Derby away
Ronaldo to Tevez against Villa home
Ronaldo to Rooney against Villa home
(Tevez to) Ronaldo to Rooney against Villa home (okay so against Villa at home they were pretty good)

So more than I thought but less than you'd probably expect. 15 goals in total.

Ronaldo goals: 4 (out of 42)
Rooney goals: 4 (out of 18)
Tevez goals: 7 (out of 19)

Ronaldo assists: 6
Rooney assists: 6
Tevez assists: 3

Ronaldo to Rooney: 3
Ronaldo to Tevez: 3
Rooney to Ronaldo: 2
Rooney to Tevez: 4
Tevez to Ronaldo: 2
Tevez to Rooney: 1

All three combining: 2

I think it does a big disservice to Giggsy who seems to be constantly assisting in that video, minor mentions to Nani and Hargreaves too.

Tevez needed the other two more than they needed him.

I still think Berba was a really bad buy and upset the applecart but I suspect losing Saha, injury prone as he was was as big a thing in 2008/09. We looked more cohesive as a team in 2007/08 but then in 2008/09 we went on that massive streak of not conceding which helped because we weren't firing up front.

I think Rooney and Ronaldo together were better than Rooney-Ronaldo-Tevez. I can remember more moments of the pair of them linking up, albeit obvious they were together for longer but even then, it wasn't like they were constantly passing to each other.
 
The all-conquering attacking football was entirely a myth. Our football was pretty tumescent at times. What made them great was their ability to interchange positions and pop up with goals from different areas. However, there were times where we were probably too fluid, plenty of people here were crying out for a pure striker back then. I remember the Benzema hype was as big as the Sneijder one.
 
The thing I always remember about Tevez is how he seemed to really look up to Rooney. There were quite a few times where he had an easier pass to put Ronaldo away, but instead for some reason he'd make the pass to Rooney who wasn't in as good a position.

During his time with us he was basically a lesser version of Rooney and it felt like he knew that and was doing his best to play with the better version.
 
RedSky said:
I fecking loved Tevez at United, thought he was excellent and got the best out of Ronnie/Rooney. He also set a terrific example to the rest of the team by chasing everything.
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It is really difficult when you talk about Tevez and setting an example.

At times his work rate was fantastic, it really was, it did mask the fact that technically he wasn’t great.

in the same way as when we bought Alan Smith, he looked like a Utd player in the making, and his transfer made perfect sense.

He scored some very important goals for us.

Ultimately he was a first team squad player, not always in the preferred 11, and City promised him that he would be more than that. I think Utd make a mistake in not tying him up on a perm deal and buying Berbatov. Ronaldo, Berbatov, Tevez and Rooney really didn’t work properly. We needed a centre forward, it just wasn’t Berbatov. It wasn’t a case of Berbatov or Tevez, it should have been Tevez plus an other

I can’t actually blame him leaving, it’s understandable, especially as he was only on loan, god knows why we left it so long before trying to do a deal. Either tie him up earlier or don’t bother to try and sign him perm.

Clearly the way he left, his tantrums and what he did after were all wrong. He’s not an intelligent lad is he.

Could have had a really good career at Utd. Not a star, but had ‘cult hero’ written all over him. Both sides got it wrong.
 
They were unplayable when it clicked for them. Ronaldo was obviously the best of the bunch but Rooney’s completeness as a footballer was the straw that stirred it. This was over a decade ago but they’d be absolutely perfect for today’s 442 formation too. Maybe even more so.
 
Never understood why we talk about them as a attacking trident, we normally played 442 back then.
 
Whenever someone mentions those days I always remember the comeback against Spurs when Wazza, Ronaldo, Tevez and Berbatov were all on the pitch at the same time. Scary-looking and unstoppable...
SAF should've shown a bit more bravery in Rome, I still believe we could've beaten Barca, unlike in London when we stood no chance
 
RedSky said:
I fecking loved Tevez at United, thought he was excellent and got the best out of Ronnie/Rooney. He also set a terrific example to the rest of the team by chasing everything.
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Agreed.

I loved Berbatov, too, but I wish we had stuck with Tevez even if, in hindsight, he was a looney. Like you said, not only did he get the best out of Ronaldo and Rooney (Rooney claimed he was his favourite strike partner ever, if I recall, and Tevez holds Rooney in high regard, too) the Tevez of City/Juve alongside prime Rooney would've been amazing.

These three on form:


Shame we never got to see these three play in their prime together.
 
An excellent front three, but I think despite winning the champions league in 2008, they all went on to play their best football later in their careers and away from each other.
 
Never really felt Tevez was all that great for United and played better at City and Juventus. It was a strange relationship where he it never felt like he was our player. After he left he continued to disrespect the club and Sir Alex

tevezrip.jpg
 
The trio were impressive goals productive wise.

Individually each offers different things to team and threats in attacks. SAF managed to put a system that works in getting the best (sort of) out of the 3 together (Rooney is often sacrificed though). Ronaldo is way streets ahead than the other two in attacks.

CR - Complete World Class Attacking Winner
Roon - Complete all around top Elite Footballer
Tevez - high energy always threatening dangerous Striker like a "mad dog" playing for his team (his level and playstyle weren't like his City form back then)

Combination of plays doesn't always clicked though as it seems to be the most popular aspect of the 3 partnership - impressive when it clicks but few in comparison to number of games. It seems to be more of a myth. Rooney and Ronaldo, plus Rooney and Tevez clicks more.

Support to the trio tend to be overlooked because of mainly Ronaldo and their high goals. They were given a great assembly of supports at that time in good form eg. the likes of Giggs, Carrick, etc. And a stable strong defensive unit at the back so SAF can let them focus more in attacks. System is crucial then as does the supporting cast of players making it worked.

Limitations - clearly the trio and the team are lacking one type of player which is a natural CF that fits their playstyle eg. someone like Saha. Berbatov doesn't work but does gave different things to the team. Other limitation is when Ronaldo is out, the attack isn't too impressive as in limited but credits for pulling in those wins and goals.
 
Tevez was messed about with, we didn't get a transfer to utd, we should never have touched him, or we should have bought him outright. Mascherano would have been a good buy too. Alot of feckwittery at the end of Fergies reign.
 
nokillingmoths said:
Good write up on tevez. Still wish we had signed him. Loved him for us. I think Rooney gets nowhere near enough credit for the 07 08 season either. He was absolutely amazing and not that far off being as important as Ronaldo.
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Really? My memory is a bit hazy, but I certainly don't recall Rooney being anywhere near Ronaldo that season (granted I seem to recall him being played on the wing to help get the best out of Ronaldo.)
 
MikeKing said:
Has to be one of the best attacking lineup's. Ronaldo, Rooney both legends and despite how unlikable he became in the end, Tevez was class. Better than any trio Ronaldo ever had at Real, imo.
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Benzema, Bale, Ronaldo trio in 2013/14 were better than Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo in 2007/08 although part of that is that Ronaldo became better too. I'd argue none of Tevez, Rooney or Ronaldo even had their best individual season in 2007/08, all of them went on to have better seasons from an individual level.

That BBC trio doesn't get the respect they deserve because Barca had Messi, Neymar and Suarez at the same time but they're one of the best front threes ever.
 
Yagami said:
Agreed.

I loved Berbatov, too, but I wish we had stuck with Tevez even if, in hindsight, he was a looney. Like you said, not only did he get the best out of Ronaldo and Rooney (Rooney claimed he was his favourite strike partner ever, if I recall, and Tevez holds Rooney in high regard, too) the Tevez of City/Juve alongside prime Rooney would've been amazing.

These three on form:


Shame we never got to see these three play in their prime together.
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That is just the stuff of dreams. Ronaldo, Ronaldo and Tevez with a midfield of Scholes, Giggs and Carrick. Not to mention the defence. That team would rip apart Liverpool's current team.
 
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