Very happy with him today. Particularly happy with his first half passing. He hasn't been sharp in that aspect for a while now. Looked focused the whole game.
Wayne Rooney | 2011/12 Performances
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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?
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I'd love to ask Rooney how much pain he plays in during every game. Sometimes it looks like his ankle is giving him grief sometimes it doens't look like it at all.
I reckon he'd have a high pain threshold. Would be interesting.
Amazing footballer. Really great season for him and after the shite that went on last year I am glad he's repaid the faith shown in him.
I reckon he'd have a high pain threshold. Would be interesting.
Amazing footballer. Really great season for him and after the shite that went on last year I am glad he's repaid the faith shown in him.
If that's true then he's level, yeah. He's also done it in three games less (with another three to go). He's also equalled his best Premier League total ever, in one game less (and has another three games to better it).
I fancy him to get at least two more goals, possibly more if his form improves even more. He might even sneak the Golden Boot away from van Persie, which would seem amazing. He's only one goal behind him in the Premier League now (and has the same club season total).
Beeen absolutely magnificent this season
Rooneys is on 34 goals this season, one behind RVP in the league.
On every website I check it says 33.
Our second goal against Galati at home (the one bosnian_red said is Rooney's) is Sârghi's own goal...
And... he has scored 180 goals for United, one more than Best and Violett, that's with 33 goals this season, so... you both don't know what are you talking about.
Concerned to hear that Coleen has got flu - please please don't get it too Wayne.
It'd be kind of ironic if he ended up taking RVP's Golden Boot.....just in the sense that Drogba did it to him in 09/10....people always forget Drogba won the Boot that season and was well, considering his importance in Chelsea final (and dominating) push to the title, the slightly better player over the season, which again, should Rooney score a winner vs City and a few more in the other two, you'd have to make the case for him to be the better player.
The glory of the Jan-Feb voting.
The glory of the Jan-Feb voting.
Was fantastic yesterday. He got his basics right and his hold up play and combination with welbeck was excellent.
Pleased he is recovering from his slump, but just as a general comment i can't help but feel like he has if anything, degenerated over the last few years. When you look at the individual elements of his game he has everything and is the complete package, but he never seems to want to put them all together. It's like he decides "this month I'm going to try to be Paul Scholes" and he does it, but he ignores the rest of his game.
With the locker of skills he has - passing, long shooting, link up play, pace, taking men on and dropping deep to help in midfield... You never seem to see a game where he demonstrates all these qualities, it's usually only one or two.
With the locker of skills he has - passing, long shooting, link up play, pace, taking men on and dropping deep to help in midfield... You never seem to see a game where he demonstrates all these qualities, it's usually only one or two.
I agree completely! He used to be able to do pretty much everything a player could do.
He had an engine unlike anything and anyone else - if he lost the ball he would chase it to hell and back again. He could even tackle! Now, he hardly seems to bother - but he may have been told to as he often dropped behind our goalie at times.
He had tremendous pace; he could burst past several players at the time. His top speed was great too. Now, he wouldn't stand a chance of running past any fullback I can think of in the PL, maybe Kelly...
Strength: He used to be able to hold off pretty much anyone with his back to the goal, now he seems to lose the ball too frequently.
His short passing is atrocious at times!
What he has improved though is his finishing, which has become quite clinical. He has also improved his header, I think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjD6Dv7gGs8
Look at Rooney's pace in this video - no chance he would do that now!
Look at Rooney's pace in this video - no chance he would do that now!
Pretty much spot on and exactly what we've been seeing these last few years. Might have something to do with him breaking bones in his foot once too often though. You have to be realistic and believe that maybe he has toned down on the "all action" front as a result of these injuries. Might also be as a result of him mellowing out alot more compared to his younger years. He has more or less taken out all the rash tackles from his repertoire and as a result has avoided unnecessary sending offs that plagued him before.
I do agree though that he has become a much better striker. Its always a good sign that he can play like shit for 90 minutes yet come out with 2 goals to his name. Its not like he doesn't do any tracking back anyways, he is quite defensively disciplined and we've seen the odd time or two where he was back in our own area chasing a 50/50 ball. Just that maybe he has been given instructions to stay higher up the pitch where he can do more damage and score goals rather than expend energy doing a job thats supposed to be for defenders and midfielders.
Exactly what I thought, he plays like shit against Aston Villa but ends up with two goals; I'd rather have that than him playing great and we playing 0-0!
He does his tracking back, sure, but not to the extent he used to. It may be due to instructions, or also because he has lost pace; I remember reading Owen talking about losing pace due to him playing too much too young. The same could arguably be thought about Rooney?
Some time back I remember Rooney chasing Kalou who ran with the ball; he needed about 30 yard to catch him, but he did in the end. Fabio was in the same situation a few minutes after and he caught up with Kalou instantly (about same distance between players - Kalou was steaming down the flank in both runs).
I think one of the reasons Rooney is a better attacker now though is that he doesn't track back as much - he finds himself in much better positions now and is always in a position to receive the ball and further distribute it, to for instance Valencia. When Valencia crosses, Rooney is almost always there - that wasn't always the case before.
To me, Rooney has therefore improved, but he needs to improve his short passing and ball retention. I also think he should focus on speed training, maybe with Valencia
Hasn't been booked in the premier league so far with 30 odd goals and a decent number of assists as a No.10 and you have posters claiming that Wayne has degenerated over the years. He is one of the more senior players right now. He bears more responsibility on the pitch. When he first came into the club there was Nistelroy, Keano , Scholes , Giggs , Nev all senior to him and he could basically just be the explosive unknown package that he was. There were still glimpses of that for the following couple of years since his arrival.
Nowadays, he is more calculative of his movement on the pitch. He never chooses to take on defenders if there is a man he can pass to. Why would he want to exhaust himself by spending his energy? If anything Wayne has matured and is far more intelligent right now. The goals are a result of that. We bought him as a striker and as off late he has been excelling in exactly that.
Nowadays, he is more calculative of his movement on the pitch. He never chooses to take on defenders if there is a man he can pass to. Why would he want to exhaust himself by spending his energy? If anything Wayne has matured and is far more intelligent right now. The goals are a result of that. We bought him as a striker and as off late he has been excelling in exactly that.
Worth noting that he's making roughly the same amount of tackles and interceptions this year as he has done in the last two years despite him being more conservative in his use of energy. As for those complaining about his short passing, surely people are used to it by now? He's always been this way. His completion rate in 09/10 was 73% (144th best in the league), in 10/11 was 77% (129th) and this season it's 81% (120th)...so basically he is improving his short passing, but he'll always be someone who gives the ball away a fair amount. It's like complaining about Giggs trying over-elaborate moves; it won't help, it's not going to change.
To be fair, the reason his passing rate might be lower than someone like Carrick or Scholes is because he is always at an advanced position looking to make the killer pass or thread the needle. On his day he is as good as any player passing the ball or spraying long balls to the wings. We all know that it doesn't come off all the time but Rooney is the one responsible for linking midfield with attack.
Nice stats!
His long range passing is at times brilliant. However, it's those two yard passes that really annoys me, and in that respect I think he has deteriorated. Other than that, I think he is a more complete player now than before. He is more intelligent, and he scores more. The thing I love about Rooney, and the same goes with Giggs, is that he always turns his snout towards goal - so you lose some balls, but you gain so much more attacking flair than by just passing it backwards. He still needs to make those two yard passes though!
He has lost some ability on the ball, and he isn't as creative as our best, Nani, Giggs and Valencia, and he isn't the one to go past a defender or two. That said, I think he showed against Everton that he still has some of that in his locker. Interesting to note that Welbeck seems to take some of those deep defensive runs that Rooney used to take - is it a rank thing?
Aye.
I still get the sense that Rooney still has it within him to just put it all together properly one season (he's moving towards that stage going by this season - it's been one of his best, surely?). He's obviously been an amazing player for us, and replacing him will be one of the hardest things any United manager will have to do, yet we know that he's got it in him to be the complete player. You saw it again against Everton...the drive, the vision, the goalscoring ability...it's fantastic when he puts it altogether.
Here's to hoping he has just as good a game today.
Absolutely. There's no better time than today for him to step up and prove beyond and shadow of a doubt that he's the talisman our team needs in times like this. I for one am expecting him to lead the charge tonight!Aye.
I still get the sense that Rooney still has it within him to just put it all together properly one season (he's moving towards that stage going by this season - it's been one of his best, surely?). He's obviously been an amazing player for us, and replacing him will be one of the hardest things any United manager will have to do, yet we know that he's got it in him to be the complete player. You saw it again against Everton...the drive, the vision, the goalscoring ability...it's fantastic when he puts it altogether.
Here's to hoping he has just as good a game today.
More of the same please.
Madness. What a pass.
What happens next?
Peoples. Is there any place where one can watch full games of Rooney's early United career?
Much appreciate for helping hands.
Much appreciate for helping hands.
Giggs misses the control, but it eventually comes to Nani (who loses it) and then Scholes, who twats it into the bottom left corner. Shame Giggs didn't control it, but it was a good goal either way.
Tonights the kind of night where a performance will push him further towards legendary status...desperate for him to improve on his already cracking record against them.
Good post.
I think his tracking back a few years ago hurt the offensive side of the game. I remember people criticised Ronaldo for not tracking back enough, but the game against Fulham a few years ago sticks in my mind - the one where he ran the ball down the left wing and scored the hugely important winning goal.
We need our attacking players to have energy in the 90th minute should we need a goal.
As for his passing...his long range passing is exceptional - getting close to Scholes levels. But agree with some others regarding his short passing - can be extremely disappointing. I would almost venture he has better pass completion stats for 30 yard plus passes, than he does for 5 yard passes.
Good post to you mate
I agree with everything you said! His long range passing is truly world class, only Scholes, arguably Carrick (this season) is better in our team and we have some great passers - Giggs also has great long passing.
His short passing is his weak spot atm. As he is the player who links our attacks, it can be frustrating, and at times devestating to the team that he tends to give away the ball seemingly so easily. The biggest problem with this is that all the players, including our fullbacks are at this time rushing forwards into attack, whereas if Rooney then loses the ball, we are caught off guard and on the counter. He was better against Everton, so let's just hope that the remaining matches show him as the world class player we know he can be!
We got bad Rooney tonight.
He was poor tonight because he wasn't in his best position. He operates best when played in a second striker role, so he can drop deep and have a big effect on the game. When he isn't played there, and when we don't create chances, he useless and doesn't get the chance to have a massive impact on the game.
Kept his cool though. Has really matured over the past couple of seasons. Don't think he suits a lone striker role though, he seems to come deep far too often.
Sell Rooney, keep Berbatov.
Isolated and up against the best centre half in the league this season. Not a lot more he could have done without any quality support.
Had no support in the first half; Giggs couldn't get up the pitch, Park was struggling. When he did get it his touch suffered as a result.
Not his best performance but lone strikers never play well it these types of high intensity tight matches. Did a little better when Welbeck came on but at that point citeh had thrown on another defensive midfielder in de jong and they continually denied him any space or time on the ball.
Didn't help that he rarely had any help or outlets to pass to other than maybe Nani. Park was terrible tonight and couldn't keep the ball to save his life. Scholes and Carrick were always far too deep in midfield which is a sign that you're not capable of making up the ground to get back and defend on the break. Giggs was invisible and off the pace for the 90 minutes too.
Didn't help that he rarely had any help or outlets to pass to other than maybe Nani. Park was terrible tonight and couldn't keep the ball to save his life. Scholes and Carrick were always far too deep in midfield which is a sign that you're not capable of making up the ground to get back and defend on the break. Giggs was invisible and off the pace for the 90 minutes too.
It wasn't his fault for having a bad game tonight, he was trying to play of pretty much nothing in the way of passes or through balls. What did he have to work with? Some direct passes where he had to hold in up against Kompany and Lescott.
That wouldn't have been an easy game for any lone striker considering Kompany's form.
That wouldn't have been an easy game for any lone striker considering Kompany's form.
Silva beat him in duel.
Awfull performance tonight, he showed again why we can't play proper 451 with him in our first XI.
Awfull performance tonight, he showed again why we can't play proper 451 with him in our first XI.
When you have Giggs and Park supporting your lone striker, that lone striker has no hope.
He did the best he could. We've seen in the past he can be lethal in that role with a bit of service. Problem is only him could service himself.
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