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2014-15 Performances


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5.9 Season Average Rating
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37
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14
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AttackingFlair

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Could've had a 30 goal season this year if we lined up the same from the beginning of the season
 

ottosec

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I think he will be moved behind the striker when RVP will be fit. He's managed to score quite a few goals since he's the main striker, but his all round performances have not been that good.

I think he needs to be involved more, take yesterday for example, he had a shit game, but when Falcao came on and he was moved behind the striker he looked like a different player.
 

Skywarden

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Yesterday he scored when he was moved to midfield. I don't get it, was Fergie stupid not to move him up front all those years? Why is it when a player scores a lot of goals from positions an attacking midfielder should get in, he should be 'promoted' to central striker?
He didn't score because he was moved to midfield, though, as his position was that of a forward when he slammed the half-volley into the back of the net. What Sir Alex did with Rooney has nothing to do with what I said; it's a rather moot point in all honesty.

The premise here is that we have a 20-goals-a-season striker in Rooney. Considering the fact that Falcao looks way of the mark and RVP is injured, then instead of insisting with playing said 20-goals-a-season striker as a midfielder, van Gaal realised that he should keep him up front as a forward and at the very least, a supporting striker.
 

Dr. Funkenstein

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He didn't score because he was moved to midfield, though, as his position was that of a forward when he slammed the half-volley into the back of the net.
No, he came running behind Falcao, Falcao was up front, but DiMaria played the ball backwards to the midfielder who was in the right spot for a midfielder, instead of closer to gaol to find the striker. The striker should and did go for the ball to slide it in or something if it would come nearer to the goal.
What Sir Alex did with Rooney has nothing to do with what I said; it's a rather moot point in all honesty.
I sense that people want Rooney up front because that's his natural position. If it is, was Ferguson wrong not to recognise that? "Van Gaal came to his senses" sounds to me like he didn't know what he was doing when he didn't play him up front, and it should have had nothing to do with RVP beeing injured.

The premise here is that we have a 20-goals-a-season striker in Rooney. Considering the fact that Falcao looks way of the mark and RVP is injured, then instead of insisting with playing said 20-goals-a-season striker as a midfielder, van Gaal realised that he should keep him up front as a forward and at the very least, a supporting striker.
A supporting striker in 4-4-2 and an attacking midfielder in 4-3-3 is usually the same player and generally the same/most alike role. If you have an only 20 goals striker, you'll need a lot of goals from midfield, and that's gonna be hard if your most prolific midfielder plays up front. I'd rather have a 15 goal midfielder and a 15 goal striker than a 20 goal striker and a 5 goal midfielder, for example. But I think Rooney should be a 20 goal midfielder, because that's what he does best, running into to box, not beeing there already. It's by no means a demotion, the 10 position is the position where a player can be most important and score a lot of goals. Especially with Van Gaal it's not unusual for the attacking midfielder to score more goals than the centre forward.

Maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree here, and did I mistake your for someone who thinks Rooney should stay up front, no matter the availability of (other) strikers. But still, I think he has scored typical for an attacking midfielder, both on position and skills required.
 

JUPITER

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Could've had a 30 goal season this year if we lined up the same from the beginning of the season
This, a thousand times this.

Rooney is without doubt one of the best strikers on Earth, for whatever reason fans on here don't seem to grasp this until he gets played upfront for a prolonged run of games and then everyone's like, 'oh feck, yeah, he's brilliant isn't he?'.
 

Offside

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Rooney has always scored goals when played upfront but I don't think he performs aswell.

For example, he scored 34 goals in 2011/12 but I would argue he performed better in 2007/08 where he got half that total.

Overall though it's worth having him upfront just because he does score lots of goals. Especially when we have players like Mata to go in behind.
 

carlosp

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Rooney's goal against Spurs was awesome, even better I would suggest than the Villa game, where he received the ball with four Spurs players around him and he nutmegged the one defender and scored. That's the type of player that Rooney is but he also does so much more in that he will chase back right through to the back to defend a ball.

I have criticised him at times in the past but I felt he deserved it, this season and specifically these past few games when he has played and been marked heavily, he still is able to score.
 

kidbob

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Looked online recently and according to statbunker Rooney is close to being the second best assister and goalscorer of all time in the Premier League (Fabregas is pretty close to him though in terms of assists and will probably overtake him at some stage). This is a crazy achievement and for me cements his place as an all time great.

Where would people place him in regards to Shearer? For me Rooney should be regarded as clearly the better of the two. I remember Shearer quite well and he was a great player but regardless of if Rooney catches him as top scorer I just don't think Shearer was as rounded a footballer as Rooney is which is backed up by the assists stats. Obviously people will state Shearer played at an inferior club but Rooney has played a lot of different positions and I believe he would have already overtaken Shearer's goals scored if he had played up front for the last few years.
 

mazhar13

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This is a post I found in the van Persie performances thread about Rooney in the Fellaini role. I'll also add in my response to this post here.

I tend to agree with Dr. Funkenstein. Rooney is at his best when he's slightly withdrawn. It gets the best out of him and the team while still allowing him to use his creativity and goal scoring instincts. I don't see how Rooney dropping deeper into the Fellaini role and RVP up top is a bad thing.
Plus, Rooney's also suited to coming in from the left given how often he played as a left-sided forward in Queiroz' 4-3-3 and Sir Alex's 4-4-2.

The more I see Fellaini perform in his freer role, the more I believe Rooney can be well-set for it. He, like Fellaini, normally draws in two opposing players on the ball. Like Fellaini, he combines well with players, particularly the winger. Also, he's quite energetic and aggressive off the ball, and his defensive positioning, whilst still loose, is improved under van Gaal. My only concern is that his touches are inconsistent (often heavy, then often sweet, etc.), plus his vision and pass choices aren't the best. Also, he's played this role before in the exact same 4-3-3 formation against Man. City and Crystal Palace and wasn't effective enough on both occasions.

However, given how we've settled, I think he can do well in that role. His positioning and movement in a more withdrawn role is immaculate, and it makes the most of his strengths and style of play whilst minimising his weaknesses. Still, we should only do that if we get a striker who's dynamic and can occupy defenders every time in just same way Rooney does for us at the moment.
 

Riz

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This is a post I found in the van Persie performances thread about Rooney in the Fellaini role. I'll also add in my response to this post here.



Plus, Rooney's also suited to coming in from the left given how often he played as a left-sided forward in Queiroz' 4-3-3 and Sir Alex's 4-4-2.

The more I see Fellaini perform in his freer role, the more I believe Rooney can be well-set for it. He, like Fellaini, normally draws in two opposing players on the ball. Like Fellaini, he combines well with players, particularly the winger. Also, he's quite energetic and aggressive off the ball, and his defensive positioning, whilst still loose, is improved under van Gaal. My only concern is that his touches are inconsistent (often heavy, then often sweet, etc.), plus his vision and pass choices aren't the best. Also, he's played this role before in the exact same 4-3-3 formation against Man. City and Crystal Palace and wasn't effective enough on both occasions.

However, given how we've settled, I think he can do well in that role. His positioning and movement in a more withdrawn role is immaculate, and it makes the most of his strengths and style of play whilst minimising his weaknesses. Still, we should only do that if we get a striker who's dynamic and can occupy defenders every time in just same way Rooney does for us at the moment.
Not sure who would be a good available candidate. Lacazette?
 

bosnian_red

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A bit irrelevant but apparently he only has one goal away from home in the league this season, the Arsenal one... Weird. 11 in 13 at home though which is class.

Anyway, hopefully he has a good game tomorrow, has a pretty decent record vs City.
 

carlosp

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Rooney Question and Answers:

Best footballing moment: Winning the Champions League in Moscow
Best PL moment as team: Winning the game against Arsenal (8-2)
His Best Premier League Goal: Goal against City(bicycle kick)
Captains looked up to: Roy Keane, Neville, Vidic, Beckham, Gerard(gave various reasons for all).
 

sizzling sausages

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What exactly does he offer that RVP does not? He doesn't score many goals as a striker and he isn't fast. He did have a fantastic flick though, I'll give him that.
He's a lot faster than Van Persie, he pressures the opposition a lot more, better in the build up.
 

Duafc

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What exactly does he offer that RVP does not? He doesn't score many goals as a striker and he isn't fast. He did have a fantastic flick though, I'll give him that.
Watch the game you daftie.
 

Señor

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Whilst I don't agree with Rossa, this is hardly a game that disproves his point.
 

Cheesy

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What exactly does he offer that RVP does not? He doesn't score many goals as a striker and he isn't fast. He did have a fantastic flick though, I'll give him that.
His overall play and contribution has been much better than RVP's this season lately.
 

Nighteyes

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Utterly daft post that stinks of someone having a serious agenda Rooney. Ridiculous.
 

Rossa

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His overall play and contribution has been much better than RVP's this season lately.
This season RVP has been hit and miss, no doubt, but to say that Rooney is a huge upgrade is just rubbish. He had one good game but then settled down to mediocrity. Fact is that he is no longer a world class player.
 

Cheesy

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Utterly daft post that stinks of someone having a serious agenda Rooney. Ridiculous.
Or he has a different opinion to us. While I don't agree with him and think Rooney offers much more than RVP up front at the moment, people could at least attempt to refute his point and understand that not everyone shares their views.
 

Rossa

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He's a lot faster than Van Persie, he pressures the opposition a lot more, better in the build up.
He isn't a lot faster - that's based on things in the past. In the same game both players had exactly the same run against the same player; RVP closed him down a lot faster than Rooney did - I agree that Rooney is faster, but not by much. It's not Navas vs Blind.
 

Cheesy

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This season RVP has been hit and miss, no doubt, but to say that Rooney is a huge upgrade is just rubbish. He had one good game but then settled down to mediocrity. Fact is that he is no longer a world class player.
He's had a fair few good games lately though. Not been great today, and he's not perhaps been at his very best, but his overall game and contribution has been very beneficial up front for us over the past couple of months.
 

NessunDorma

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This season RVP has been hit and miss, no doubt, but to say that Rooney is a huge upgrade is just rubbish. He had one good game but then settled down to mediocrity. Fact is that he is no longer a world class player.
We know what usually happens now . . .
 

Rossa

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Utterly daft post that stinks of someone having a serious agenda Rooney. Ridiculous.
Not having an agenda, but I don't think that Rooney is good enough anymore, and I don't see him as a massive upgrade on RVP. Neither scores enough goals, and Rooney's ball retention and short passing are worse than RVP's.
 

Rossa

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He's had a fair few good games lately though. Not been great today, and he's not perhaps been at his very best, but his overall game and contribution has been very beneficial up front for us over the past couple of months.
He did have a couple of good games, but so did RVP. He has always been a little hit and miss.
 

Nighteyes

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Or he has a different opinion to us. While I don't agree with him and think Rooney offers much more than RVP up front at the moment, people could at least attempt to refute his point and understand that not everyone shares their views.
I don't need to. He has history of anti Rooney nonsense from previous threads. Really sad that people spend their time waiting for Rooney to slip in the smallest of ways so they have a pop at him... Oh well
 

Cheesy

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He did have a couple of good games, but so did RVP. He has always been a little hit and miss.
Rooney's generally been excelling in leading the line for us for the past couple of months now. RVP had some okay games here and there, but I don't think he's really had a sustained spell of very good form over the season.
 

Cheesy

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I don't need to. He has history of anti Rooney nonsense from previous threads. Really sad that people spend their time waiting for Rooney to slip in the smallest of ways so they have a pop at him... Oh well
Ah right, didn't know he had history. Even then though, better to address the post itself.
 

Rossa

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I don't need to. He has history of anti Rooney nonsense from previous threads. Really sad that people spend their time waiting for Rooney to slip in the smallest of ways so they have a pop at him... Oh well
What the heck are you on about? And what about addressing me instead? Cheesy is having a good discussion. I asked a serious question. I didn't say that Rooney was utterly garbage and should never play a game in his life for us never again, did I?
 

Boycott

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That was an opportunity when Fellaini headed the ball to him. Don't know why he didn't turn and shoot rather than hook it.
 
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