[Ananke]

I actually believe he's crippling the team as it stands. Let's look at the facts:

- He's United Captain
- He's our Main Striker
- He's the highest earner

With this said, younger players and new players are looking to him for inspiration, leadership and game changing moments. So when Rooney is playing and Rooney doesn't perform, and Rooney doesn't get dropped...how would you feel? When you're playing badly, you get dropped for the next player in line. When you play badly, you get called out on it. But Rooney doesn't.

No player is bigger than the team. As a lone striker, Rooney is way past it, simple as.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

LvG "we only buy players who are better than what we have". Think I can name a few.

 

[JackXX]

I actually believe he's crippling the team as it stands. Let's look at the facts:

- He's United Captain
- He's our Main Striker
- He's the highest earner

With this said, younger players and new players are looking to him for inspiration, leadership and game changing moments. So when Rooney is playing and Rooney doesn't perform, and Rooney doesn't get dropped...how would you feel? When you're playing badly, you get dropped for the next player in line. When you play badly, you get called out on it. But Rooney doesn't.

No player is bigger than the team. As a lone striker, Rooney is way past it, simple as.

Agreed.

 

[crimsonife]

Another shocking performance really. His position was so deep and was atrocious throughout. His touch and goalscoring have been off for a while now but it's crazy since he only has Hernandez as competition, yet we can't drop him since he's captain. I'm willing to try Hernandez now.

 

[United again!]

Lol okay, this was a bit funny.

Spoiler

 

[DWelbz19]

Looking more and more like a Gerrard liability type of situation.
Wonder if push comes to shove, will Louis have the stones to boot him? I know he did it with van Bommel, but van Bommel wasn't also the league's national team captain with a huge personal brand behind him.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

It's his worst performance for us to date imo.

 

[Mciahel Goodman]

Looking more and more like a Gerrard liability type of situation.
Wonder if push comes to shove, will Louis have the stones to boot him? I know he did it with van Bommel, but van Bommel wasn't also the league's national team captain with a huge personal brand behind him.

Rooney is valuable to the club as well, with Charlton's record in his sight and Linekar's international record almost equalled. I hope he can sort himself out and start scoring because I think we're a prolific goal scorer away from challenging on all fronts -- we should really get Pedro in asap to at least spread the burden. I have a feeling this is a make or break season for Rooney.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Goals will come. Even when his all around game is sporadic he still tends to chip in with some goals.

 

[santeria13]

He hasn't been on form in years.

I'd argue he was in very good form for a run of 6-7 games last season and this is coming from someone who wanted rid of him since the early stages of 2013/14. These flashes of form are coming far too short lived and rare however and his quality when out of form has dropped to a new level of awful. To be the worst player on the pitch against a relatively poor villa side is embarassing. Isn't the only time in recent memory he has been the worst player on the pitch, either.

 

[santeria13]

Goals will come. Even when his all around game is sporadic he still tends to chip in with some goals.

I'm actually happy he's not scoring right now because it's his lack of goals recently that are now exposing how bad of a player he is in pretty much every other department except for dinking the ball to the right side of the pitch and his work rate. His ability to pop up with goals did miracles in covering/blinding people to such weaknesses that have been evident for a while. It's just a matter of time before he's dropped IMO and that would make me a very happy man. Our attacking play would greatly benefit.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Could anyone see Van Gaal dropping him if he performs like this for the next 2/3 games?

More likely to be shipped to another position me-thinks.

 

[Oo0AahCantona]

Im one of his biggest supporters, but he's not doing himself any favours.

 

[Pexbo]

Struggling to figure out what he's trying to achieve. Spent half his time behind the AM's and wingers trying to get involved but offering zero input. When he was leading the line he didn't have anything in him to beat very average defenders in either strength, brains or pace.

It's probably too early to call it with it being very early in the season but looking back over his last year I think he's finished as a top player. Van Gaal played him in midfield last year because he was given untouchable status via a contract by Moyes and he's got to figure out what to do with him as he's not good enough to lead the line anymore for Manchester United.

 

[Geordopolous]

He's playing horribly but he does deserve our patience and our respect. A lot of people showing no respect for a guy who is one of our best of all time. Give him plenty more games to get back to form and if he doesn't by let's say mid November then maybe drop him. But yeah show a bit of love for him

 

[Big Ben Foster]

I can't remember the last time he played as poorly as he did tonight. He needs to step it up because without a goalscoring striker we'll really struggle.

 

[LeftyBlaster]

Was an invisible lump of turd. Did nothing to impact the game. Totally missed a couple of dangerous forward passes, messed up his own passing, caught offside. Meh.

So what's the excuse for him this time?

 

[NoPace]

Im one of his biggest supporters, but he's not doing himself any favours.

I thought he'd be like Charlie Austin was last year, not contributing much but banging in goals, but we don't seem to be getting close enough to the other team's net to justify playing a poacher whose mobility looks terrible and whose first touch isn't much better. Rough start to the season.

 

[United again!]

He's playing horribly but he does deserve our patience and our respect. A lot of people showing no respect for a guy who is one of our best of all time. Give him plenty more games to get back to form and if he doesn't by let's say mid November then maybe drop him. But yeah show a bit of love for him

You're wasting your breath, there be no shelter here.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Think its a confidence thing with Rooney. If he tends to start the game well, i.e. nice touch, good pass, etc, he'll build from there, but if he starts bad, i.e. bad touch, bad pass, etc, everything just goes downhill.

 

[Annahnomoss]

He's playing horribly but he does deserve our patience and our respect. A lot of people showing no respect for a guy who is one of our best of all time. Give him plenty more games to get back to form and if he doesn't by let's say mid November then maybe drop him. But yeah show a bit of love for him

People do the same about every player, not just him. Hate seeing it too and after two games there isn't much to talk about, especially as it is Rooney who always struggles with form over the course of a season. We have to accept he's the captain and LVG's first choice and he will let Rooney play himself in to form.

When he's out of form he is absolutely terrible though, luckily he never is out of form for too long.

 

[.Rossi]

People go on about stats and records but, he should have smashed that record by now...

Some people are saying that, "Oh it's only after 2 games"....Well....

We sent him off to a fat camp in 2010 and he only gave us 8 weeks of good form that season.
11/12 season he had a great season.
12/13 He was absolute cack
13/14 He had a few bright spells but, he was mostly average.
14/15 As a captain and leader, he was average.

And so far, granted it's only two games, he has been embarrassing...The Kyle Walker own goal was ridiculous. That tonight was even worse.

I remember back in 2013, Messi went a number of games without scoring or assisting...A few pundits in the papers were all over him, yet this Rooney performance will be brushed under the carpet as always

 

[Attila]

He's playing horribly but he does deserve our patience and our respect. A lot of people showing no respect for a guy who is one of our best of all time. Give him plenty more games to get back to form and if he doesn't by let's say mid November then maybe drop him. But yeah show a bit of love for him

He'll get some respect when he starts putting in some respectable performances instead of the crap he came up with today

 

[khoazany]

I would like to try:
Januzaj
Memphis - Herrera/Pereira - Mata

Against Club Brugge.

Hernandez wouldn't make things better as everyone knows he's shocking on holding up the ball..

 

[Baxter]

Could anyone see Van Gaal dropping him if he performs like this for the next 2/3 games?

More likely to be shipped to another position me-thinks.

Nope. He made a point of saying Memphis and Januzaj lost the ball too often and need to do a bit better, but has said nothing on Rooney. If one of the journos had the balls to ask him at the presser before Brugge then we might here something from him but it's quite telling in my opinion.

 

[Dr Baltar]

I would like to try:
Januzaj
Memphis - Herrera/Pereira - Mata

Against Club Brugge.

Hernandez wouldn't make things better as everyone knows he's shocking on holding up the ball..

Still torn over whether Rooney is ineffective or the team as a whole is toothless but I think Hernandez would love playing with Mata. His movement with Mata threading the passes would be a lot more dangerous than what we've seen so far.

 

[Ibi Dreams]

Still torn over whether Rooney is ineffective or the team as a whole is toothless but I think Hernandez would love playing with Mata. His movement with Mata threading the passes would be a lot more dangerous than what we've seen so far.

Probably a bit of both, but you also have to consider that the team may be toothless because the striker isn't doing what they need him to do. I feel like Hernandez does deserve a chance, and he will certainly give us something different to what Rooney gives. Mata played some beautiful passes against Villa, and I too would like to see Hernandez making runs for him

 

[Dante]

He's had poor days at the office in the past, but Fergie used to let him run wild and get it out of his system.

Under van Gaal, Rooney has a much more restricted purview, so there's little scope for him mask a poor performance with a bit of dogged closing down or by covering at right back.

He'll get better, but I also think we're gonna see more terrible games like this as the season progresses. Feast or famine.

 

[ZDwyr]

He was absolutely terrible. Really he should be dropped but he probably won't be because he is captain and because Hernandez would only be a decent upgrade. Couldn't do anything right and actually hindered us going forward. Doesn't look like he has the ability to play as a loan striker. Would probably be better playing off Hernandez or even Fellaini.

 

[Krits]

Its plain laziness. What made Rooney was his desire and that angry man type personality. He just seemed lazy yesterday. I know he might have run around a lot, but it wasn't with any purpose. I rarely ever slag our players on here but last night was a tipping point for me. I hope that he gets benched soon.

 

[Ronnie O'Sullivan]

How is his average rating on this forum still 5.4 ?

 

[Freak]

Woeful.

 

[ZDwyr]

I gave him a 4 but I feel that was too generous.

 

[roykeane19]

Why did LVG criticise Januzaj, but did he even mention anything at all about Rooney?

 

[Phil]

He's been a problem for so long and it's only getting worse. Fergie was right, as always. Apparently no one at Manchester United has had any balls since then.

 

[santeria13]

Why did LVG criticise Januzaj, but did he even mention anything at all about Rooney?

As much as I love LVG's honesty when it comes to performances, this really did infuriate me. Everyone is hung out to dry/sold/dropped as a consequence of their performances/actions except for our captain. He did mention Rooney and Depay also lost the ball a a lot but the comment he made about Januzaj and there being a lot more to football than goals was a bit OTT considering he got us the winning goal in this case and the fact that a much more experienced and highly rated Rooney has been consistently guilty of the same thing for the past 3 years or so. By that I mean, being productive but generally playing like shit. Now that he's not scoring either, you would expect harsher judgment considering he is so keen to dish it out on and punish anybody else.

I am usually the first to stick up for and defend LVG but his preferential treatment of Rooney is really beginning to tire me, and most other supporters by the look of it. There's no way a man with such attention to detail and ability to harshly judge players cannot see his shortcomings. I'm beginning to feel there is more to it than meets the eye and have laughed at posters for suggesting such a thing in the past. Hopefully he is dropped soon if this continues and my suspicions turn out to be as ridiculous as they sound.

 

[Dante]

We created 2 chances in the box, so the problem wasn't Rooney's movement in the penalty area. It was his link-up play. I'm not sure Hernandez would be much better when you consider how deep teams sit against us. It's even worse now than it was under Fergie or Moyes.

 

[Eckers99]

Man, that is horrible. I would gladly sign a petition to have him dropped and the captaincy given to another player.

Should we hire another plane as well?!

 

[Cooksen]

He had a shocker today, touch was off, was dropping too deep at times and lacked fluidity.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

Why is his bottom level so awful? For an elite player its too shocking. He suddenly becomes a complete amateur.