Wayne Rooney | 2012-14 Performances

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Rooney's ability to partner other world-leading players - and to not only maintain his own excellence in doing so, but often to perform even better - is one of the qualities that makes him stand out even amongst other world class players. It's also surprisingly little-mentioned.

In every top team there is a regular issue with combining several of those 'best in the world'-bracket players without compromising any of them. Benzema has never quite been as consistently brilliant at Madrid as he might have had he not always played in Ronaldo's shadow. Ibrahimovic is just one of a number of players who Barca have never really got the best out of because of the importance of making Messi the focus of all their football. Throughout history, putting two of the best players in the world in one team has been hugely problematic. Making it work often leads that team to huge success, but struggling with it can also hamstring them for years.

Rooney, on the other hand, actively benefits from partnership with an equally brilliant player. It increasingly looks like it doesn't matter what sort of player they are, either - the requirement for understanding, sacrifice and codependance just seems to suit him.

He forged a stunning and prolific partnership with Van Nistelrooy. He was the foil to Ronaldo when he was the best player in the world. Now he and Van Persie look a good bet to retake the PL trophy for us. It's such a rare ability amongst top players to be able to gel with other top players regardless of their style and position, and it's hard to overstate how important that ability has been to the last eight years of United's success.

Excellent post.
 
Rooney's ability to partner other world-leading players - and to not only maintain his own excellence in doing so, but often to perform even better - is one of the qualities that makes him stand out even amongst other world class players. It's also surprisingly little-mentioned.

In every top team there is a regular issue with combining several of those 'best in the world'-bracket players without compromising any of them. Benzema has never quite been as consistently brilliant at Madrid as he might have had he not always played in Ronaldo's shadow. Ibrahimovic is just one of a number of players who Barca have never really got the best out of because of the importance of making Messi the focus of all their football. Throughout history, putting two of the best players in the world in one team has been hugely problematic. Making it work often leads that team to huge success, but struggling with it can also hamstring them for years.

Rooney, on the other hand, actively benefits from partnership with an equally brilliant player. It increasingly looks like it doesn't matter what sort of player they are, either - the requirement for understanding, sacrifice and codependance just seems to suit him.

He forged a stunning and prolific partnership with Van Nistelrooy. He was the foil to Ronaldo when he was the best player in the world. Now he and Van Persie look a good bet to retake the PL trophy for us. It's such a rare ability amongst top players to be able to gel with other top players regardless of their style and position, and it's hard to overstate how important that ability has been to the last eight years of United's success.

Really? I don't think he's any better at it than most.

Him and Ruud were ok but not stunning, Ruud had his worst season with Rooney so I don't really get that claim. Was he Ronaldo's partner? I don't think he was anymore symbiotic than say, Tevez. With RVP I don't think they've played together enough for us to be making any judgement but in their first season together I don't think we can claim Rooney's been any better than last year.

This isn't a criticism of him,I just don't think he needs praising more than any other top player for this particular attribute. Obviously comparing his mentality to Ibrahimovic, possibly the most narcissistic player in world football will always give a favourable outcome.

There are though plenty of top players(past and present) who compliment and improve when placed alongside other equally high profile players, the examples I don't think need listing given so many readily spring to mind.
 
So Rooney's a good no. 2 then, brilliant.

No.
To pick just one example, last season is proof in itself that he can also do the role of the main striker to perfection. He scored only 3 fewer goals for us than RvP did for Arsenal in the PL last season.
Imo he deserves credit for being able to step up when we need him to be the focal point, and to just as easily step back a bit when we bring in someone else as the focal point.
 
No.
To pick just one example, last season is proof in itself that he can also do the role of the main striker to perfection. He scored only 3 fewer goals for us than RvP did for Arsenal in the PL last season.
Imo he deserves credit for being able to step up when we need him to be the focal point, and to just as easily step back a bit when we bring in someone else as the focal point.

He can do a job as a main striker, but he'd struggle if he had to carve out and bury the chances RvP gets as opposed to tap ins and penalties.
 
TBH I rate Rooney to be at his poorest, both in his output and football, during the period of 07-09 when Ronaldo was with us. In fact it was around those two seasons where there were questions on whether was he truly world class. The popular theory, naturally, is that he's being sacrificed for Ronaldo. He also didn't enjoy a good partnership with Berbatov, and had a better working relationship with Saha than Ruud. So I find it hard to say that forging great partnerships with other world class players is his 'unique' ability. He did have a good understanding with Tevez though, and that is one thing you could say with great certainty. Conversely, a close look at his seasons after Ronaldo left will reveal that he actually improved a lot.

Personally, I think its unfair to use Benzema and Ibrahimovic as examples to support your point. Benzema is having a torrid season but he was one of the world's top striker last season. People like Higuain and Ozil have also maintained their high quality of play and forged good teamwork with Ronaldo.

For Barcelona while I agree that Ibrahimovic's the bad apple, before that they had Eto'o who was as brilliant and as unselfish a player you can get. He had a great partnership with two players who will easily break into the top 10 all time list, all the while still maintaining his high quality of play. In this season, the Fabregas-Messi partnership have been very promising.
 
He can do a job as a main striker, but he'd struggle if he had to carve out and bury the chances RvP gets as opposed to tap ins and penalties.

So not scoring the most spectacular goals makes him only a good number 2? Great logic.
 
Rooney's ability to partner other world-leading players - and to not only maintain his own excellence in doing so, but often to perform even better - is one of the qualities that makes him stand out even amongst other world class players. It's also surprisingly little-mentioned.

In every top team there is a regular issue with combining several of those 'best in the world'-bracket players without compromising any of them. Benzema has never quite been as consistently brilliant at Madrid as he might have had he not always played in Ronaldo's shadow. Ibrahimovic is just one of a number of players who Barca have never really got the best out of because of the importance of making Messi the focus of all their football. Throughout history, putting two of the best players in the world in one team has been hugely problematic. Making it work often leads that team to huge success, but struggling with it can also hamstring them for years.

Rooney, on the other hand, actively benefits from partnership with an equally brilliant player. It increasingly looks like it doesn't matter what sort of player they are, either - the requirement for understanding, sacrifice and codependance just seems to suit him.

He forged a stunning and prolific partnership with Van Nistelrooy. He was the foil to Ronaldo when he was the best player in the world. Now he and Van Persie look a good bet to retake the PL trophy for us. It's such a rare ability amongst top players to be able to gel with other top players regardless of their style and position, and it's hard to overstate how important that ability has been to the last eight years of United's success.

I'm not sure it's all that rare. Vidic, Rio and Evra were all top players in our side 5 years ago alongside Rooney. Scholes, Giggs, Beckham, Keane etc all managed to play together. Bayern have a few such top players right now. Barca have Xavi and Iniesta supporting Messi. Real hada great support cast last year, this year they've been shit. Chelsea had many top players under Mourinho.

In the end, a lot of top players have had to support other top players. Being the best in a big side says more about you IMO.
 
He can play as lone striker, in the hole, will cover both wings if necessary, will play cm if told so and all that on the highest football level possible yet people question his ability?

Sell the fecker while he's still in his prime, who would need player like that anyway?
 
Oh, are we slagging off Rooney again because he's missed a couple of games? Never mind that prior to that he was actually in better form than Van Persie..
 
He can play as lone striker, in the hole, will cover both wings if necessary, will play cm if told so and all that on the highest football level possible yet people question his ability?

Sell the fecker while he's still in his prime, who would need player like that anyway?

Exactly!

Well the argument here seems to be that he only scores tap ins and penalties so is only a good number 2 :wenger: :rolleyes:
 
Seriously, why is it all Rooney has to do is not play and suddenly he's back to being shite to certain people? He's had a really badly interrupted season, has only started a little over half the match in the league, and yet...

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Seriously, why is it all Rooney has to do is not play and suddenly he's back to being shite to certain people? He's had a really badly interrupted season, has only started a little over half the match in the league, and yet...

Yup, he seems to have been 'ill' a lot. I never understand why fit young men don't stay healthy. There always seem to be viruses going round & stuff, these guys should be at the peak of physical fitness & really shouldn't be coming down with bugs all the time.
 
Oh, are we slagging off Rooney again because he's missed a couple of games? Never mind that prior to that he was actually in better form than Van Persie..

OH NOES!!!!! PEOPLE ARE HAVING A REASONABLE DISCUSSION ABOUT ROONEY....................CHABON TO THE RESCUE!!!!

Whos slaging him off? Refusing to fall to your knees and felate him whilst admitting he DOES have flaws the same as every other living person is not slagging him off.
 
Just look at this thread over the last few weeks, it's an absolute joke. We've had a lot of under-appreciated players over the decades I've followed this club, but I don't think there's ever been anyone who's been treated as unfairly as Rooney.
 
Just look at this thread over the last few weeks, it's an absolute joke. We've had a lot of under-appreciated players over the decades I've followed this club, but I don't think there's ever been anyone who's been treated as unfairly as Rooney.

How has he been treated unfairly? By being paid more than anyone else? By being played for extended periods of time whilst out of form over players that are in form? By being given chance after chance despite constantly causing damage to the reputation of the club? feck me I wish life was as unfair to me as it is to Wayne Rooney :lol::lol::lol::lol:
 
Read the last 40 pages of this thread, and then remember that in that time he's started 11 matches and scored 10 goals, without ever once playing as a centre forward.

The disparity between his performances and how he's regarded by a sizeable chunk of our fans is absurd.
 
Chabon is right. Rooney is under appreciated by a lot of our fans. Rooney was described as having had a poor game at the Bernabéu, yet in Spain, they saw how he fulfilled the role he was asked to. Imo he's criminally underrated.

When it came to that "freckled devil", as Marca had called him – in an article, incidentally, which far from inflammatory as it has been portrayed was a eulogy and a largely fond one – there were more mixed emotions: admiration tinged with sadness. Wayne Rooney, the man sacrificed. "With five minutes to go, Ferguson took him off, shattered," notes El País. "Not one shot on goal, but the stats show that he had run 10,395 metres, so Ferguson patted him on those broad, deckhand's shoulders. The superstar, a worker." http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/feb/14/real-madrid-manchester-united-champions-league

Marca, the Real Madrid newspaper, had identified Rooney as United's matador of danger... The Liverpudlian was Marca's El Coco – "bogey man" – that screamed in the headline on their front page in Tuesday's edition. Other dubious monikers its writer assigned to Rooney were "freckled demon" and "hooligan", though the description of him as "a barrel packed with gunpowder" rang true.

Rooney's display was another drawn from his all-action mode as he was stuck out on the right by Ferguson, from where he was asked to aid the still erratic Rafael da Silva shackle Ronaldo and also help launch United's attacks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/feb/14/wayne-rooney-cristiano-ronaldo-champions-league

Not many 'superstar' (Marca's words not mine) players, work as hard for the team as Rooney does. I don't think we appreciate that enough as well as his versatility.
The graphic a few posts above also shows despite a season where he has been out for weeks with the leg gash, out over the Xmas run in with the knee injury and other games here and there, the impact he has had in the games he's played means he has won us 13 points - only fewer than RvP and Bale in the PL.
Still our most important player imo.
 
I haven't bothered to read the thread from the beginning. I am of the view that Rooney goes through peaks and valleys in his form. This has happened to the worlds best at some of other point in time.

I think we need to look at the level of criticism levelled at Rooney, it is unwarranted, he does his fair share of the donkey work and is often played out of position but is always interested in the team result.
 
In his last 11 starts Rooney's scored 10, whereas in his last 11 starts RVP has scored 7. Yet where there's absolutely no criticism ever of RVP, some are claiming Rooney's having his worst season ever. How are we supposed to account for that disparity...

He's our best player, and one of the best to ever play for the club.
 
Read the last 40 pages of this thread, and then remember that in that time he's started 11 matches and scored 10 goals, without ever once playing as a centre forward.

The disparity between his performances and how he's regarded by a sizeable chunk of our fans is absurd.

But no one is denying what a good player he is or that he is an integral part of our squad. No one is denying that he makes a massive contribution, myself included, but he isnt perfect, no one is and he is such a high profile player he is going to attract debate. If you mean by those of us that think he is a massive bellend, well that would be because he IS a complete and total massive Bellend.
 
Any way, Im going to lunch now as Im not going to ruin my good mood going over the same old ground.

Good day gentletards.
 
Chabon is right. Rooney is under appreciated by a lot of our fans. Rooney was described as having had a poor game at the Bernabéu, yet in Spain, they saw how he fulfilled the role he was asked to. Imo he's criminally underrated.

Rooney's much more highly rated abroad than in England because the press over here constantly run him down and because he's merely quite good in a poor England side, rather than Maradonna in 86.

If you mean by those of us that think he is a massive bellend, well that would be because he IS a complete and total massive Bellend.

I think this is precisely the problem. I also think he's a bellend, how could anyone not, but it really does seem to colour people's opinions of him where it hasn't for others. We've had bigger dickheads in the past who never got anything like the abuse Rooney does for it. Keano and Best come hurtling to mind, for example.
 
Rooney's much more highly rated abroad than in England because the press over here constantly run him down and because he's merely quite good in a poor England side, rather than Maradonna in 86.

What...?
 

There was an expectation back in 2004 that Rooney would lead England to a new glorious era. Sadly, however, England are crap, and only one (relatively) crap team has won a World Cup due to one player, and that player was the best there's ever been.
 
There was an expectation back in 2004 that Rooney would lead England to a new glorious era. Sadly, however, England are crap, and only one (relatively) crap team has won a World Cup due to one player, and that player was the best there's ever been.

That England side was far from crap, Rooney was spearheading a very good team (on paper at least) so I don't know what you're talking about really.
 
The 2004 team was okay, but ever since then England have been abominable, and not necessarily because of the playing staff.
 
You've worded it strangely but I agree with the England bit. His reputation has definitely suffered because of his failure to perform in many of the big tournaments for England and England's failure to achieve much in that period.

But look what happens when Hodgson takes the 'brave decision' to play Cleverley and Wilshere instead of Barry and Parker. Rooney looks very good again, just like he does for United. Shocking.
 
United miss a beat when Rooney is not about, I can think of several games he hasn't played in where we have had no tempo about us and have dropped silly points.

He is the kind of player casuals won't like because he isn't as explosive and exciting as an RvP, Ronaldo or Bale, but he is just as important as each one to their respective teams.

The modern Rooney reminds me of someone who would have done well in Italian football when it was at it's height. Not the most explosive, as I say, but very, very brilliant.

As the years go on, I start to wonder if we will begin playing him as the head of a midfield 3.
 
United miss a beat when Rooney is not about, I can think of several games he hasn't played in where we have had no tempo about us and have dropped silly points.

He is the kind of player casuals won't like because he isn't as explosive and exciting as an RvP, Ronaldo or Bale, but he is just as important as each one to their respective teams.

The modern Rooney reminds me of someone who would have done well in Italian football when it was at it's height. Not the most explosive, as I say, but very, very brilliant.

As the years go on, I start to wonder if we will begin playing him as the head of a midfield 3.

First half of Tottenham at home and also Norwich away being prime examples.

I think we will see Rooney more in CM I'm just not sure it'll be yet. We pretty much get the best of both worlds with the way we play him now because he drops off into midfield anyway when we need more support there.
 
United miss a beat when Rooney is not about, I can think of several games he hasn't played in where we have had no tempo about us and have dropped silly points.

He is the kind of player casuals won't like because he isn't as explosive and exciting as an RvP, Ronaldo or Bale, but he is just as important as each one to their respective teams.

The modern Rooney reminds me of someone who would have done well in Italian football when it was at it's height. Not the most explosive, as I say, but very, very brilliant.

As the years go on, I start to wonder if we will begin playing him as the head of a midfield 3.

That is actually a very good point, can you imagine him in the early 90s Milan side.......Even I have to :drool:
 
Highly doubt he'll leave in the summer. If he was gonna go it would've happened by now. Plus he's contract until 2015 so PSG can't force our hand- he's our player regardless of how much money they throw at us. I can't see Fergie wanting to sell either, he's settled and hopefully his partnership with RVP can continue to flourish.
 
I don't think there's anything like an offer we couldn't refuse. If the player is happy and SAF thinks he's indispensable/irreplaceable, there's nothing to discuss. I'm sure we would have turned down 150m if Ronaldo was happy to stay.
 
I don't think there's anything like an offer we couldn't refuse. If the player is happy and SAF thinks he's indispensable/irreplaceable, there's nothing to discuss. I'm sure we would have turned down 150m if Ronaldo was happy to stay.

I'm sure we'd sell anyone for 150m, including Rooney.
 
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