Wayne Rooney, The Midfield General? Mourinho Says No.

[Spock]

The reality is that Rooney earns 300k/week. He's by far the most widely known United player and possibly one of the top ten "names" in world world football. In a sense he's bigger than the club, at least right now. Mourinho would have to have balls of titanium to treat Rooney exactly as he would ever other player on the squad, earning his minutes based on form.

Anyone who's honest has to admit that Rooney just doesn't the physical ability of a top midfielder for a club which aspires to lift a BPL trophy. If you managed Arsenal, Chelsea, City or even Liverpool you wouldn't think to yourself "If only we could have Rooney to strengthen our midfield."

My hunch is that Mourinho will run Rooney into the ground as a midfielder in the first 6-8 weeks of the season, when the fixture list favors us. He'll force Rooney to confront the reality that he just doesn't have the physical tools to cope with midfield duties, at least as a full time reglar starter, and will more and more have Rooney come off the bench. I can see Rooney being a high-impact substitute, but there's no chance Rooney will be able to handle 35+ matches as a midfielder next season. No chance at all.

 

[shabadu84]

Scholes could and did pull off pretty much all the passes he wanted. Rooney has a much more limited range and skillset as a midfielder. He does usually get a lot of touches in this role so he can't really hide but he's not nearly as ambitious now. When he's able to pull off what he does try, like today, he looks pretty good and certainly is one of England's better players so far. But it's still not at a top level. If he were able to be more daring, to be more creative and be successful at it, then he'd be a potentially great midfielder.

 

[Freak]

I have a feeling he will do well. The potential is there. He just needs Valencia on the right.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

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[CamuNoir]

Recently, there are many van gaal(s) around the forum.
Everyone is scared of criticising rooney and somehow just praise him.

 

[Green_Red]

meh, lets see what happens with Mourinho in charge. Can't imagine he will be allowed to drop to the levels of form under Jose that he has over the last few years and survive the chop. Midfielder / Striker / #10... Whatever really, just as long as he starts putting in a decent shift every week and I'll be happy. Was a big fan of Rooney until this season, either he has lost it, or he doesn't want to be at United anymore.

 

[BigTimeCharlie]

Second most chances....


But he is on 300k a week....

I think it is hard for some people to praise someone after they have criticised them so much. First half of the season he was utterly garbage, second half he was better and played through a knee injury. He's been out into midfield and played well but people can't accept him playing well due to their hatred of him.

Scholes used to do diags all the time, Rooney does it and he's a one trick pony. Rooney is no Scholes but from what I've seen of him in midfield - this season - he has been our best midfielder, no one has impressed more.

If he starts to fail and give the ball away and make the wrong decision then I for one will criticise him, once that becomes a constant but some of you have a Rooney agenda and will dislike him anyway.

 

[ti vu]

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If only Kane was not on corner and free kick duty in the first game...

 

[Vaibhav Raj]

A lot of midfielders are praised for being invisible throughout the game and just making the team tick with short passes to more creative players. Rooney gets criticized for being unadventurous and very safe. A lot of midfielders are praised for hitting long, diagonal passes and helping team shift gears quickly but when Rooney hits it, all of a sudden they become useless and just for show off. Mind you these are the same set of fans who wax lyrical about Ander Herrera, the bloke from Spain who cannot hit a pass longer than 2 yards without giving it straight to opposition. How adventurous is he when played even in no. 10 position? But he is still better because he is Spanish. Plus he gives passionate interviews and jumps around when we score goals.

Rooney hasn't been good throughout the season and when he was shifted to midfield even I believed he will soon be found out after maybe one or two good performances. But so far he has kept going and people should learn to be unbiased and give credit when its due. The way some people say he was okay but he wasn't magnificent, you wonder if they still think of him as a striker in midfield. I do still fear that someday he will cost us a match against maybe a team pressing us all over the pitch but its sad that it may take Rooney years of consistent performance for the haters to admire him for a single performance.

 

[Nevilles.Wear.Prada]

G

OK guys, lets have this out!

Quiet a few posters seem to feel that Rooney can't become a midfielder, hasn't got the abilities of a midfielder and is terrible at passing the ball. Recently, I rebutted a poster in another thread who said that he can't pass, he can't dribble and has no vision to be a midfielder. For me, he has now for three games dominated the middle area of the pitch (FA Cup Final and two England games at the Euros), spraying accurate passes around the field and occasionally taking a pot shot at scoring. With each game his confidence and influence is growing and today (versus Wales), he added a new dimension to his armoury by making excellent crosses from corner-kicks and free-kicks.

His command of the middle of the park was so impressive that established English midfielders were all second-rate to him. He was MOTM vs Russia and arguably vs Wales too.

What does the forum think?

Go home collette, you are drunk.

 

[RedDevil@84]

A lot of midfielders are praised for being invisible throughout the game and just making the team tick with short passes to more creative players. Rooney gets criticized for being unadventurous and very safe. A lot of midfielders are praised for hitting long, diagonal passes and helping team shift gears quickly but when Rooney hits it, all of a sudden they become useless and just for show off. Mind you these are the same set of fans who wax lyrical about Ander Herrera, the bloke from Spain who cannot hit a pass longer than 2 yards without giving it straight to opposition. How adventurous is he when played even in no. 10 position? But he is still better because he is Spanish. Plus he gives passionate interviews and jumps around when we score goals.

Rooney hasn't been good throughout the season and when he was shifted to midfield even I believed he will soon be found out after maybe one or two good performances. But so far he has kept going and people should learn to be unbiased and give credit when its due. The way some people say he was okay but he wasn't magnificent, you wonder if they still think of him as a striker in midfield. I do still fear that someday he will cost us a match against maybe a team pressing us all over the pitch. I also know for a fact that it may take Rooney years of consistent performance for the haters to admire him for a single performance.

Ander Herrera is/was slated enough on caf for not being good enough.
Besides Herrera had 1 good season and 1 bad. You can decide which one you want to take to fit your narrative.

Coming back to Rooney, he has not been a revelation or something in midfield. Yes, he has done a decent job. It is not like England got 4 pts in Euros largely due to him. He played a part and that is about it.
I dont hate him. But there is no doubt he is coming on the back of almost 2 garbage seasons. I hope he has a good one in the new role in 2016/17

 

[Treble]

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This is one of those meaningless stats that Rooney fans love to come up with.

Rooney hasn't created a single clear chance so far. All those "created" chances are half chances at best, if not quarter chances.

Finding some tall player in the penalty box from a corner who then does nothing of notice because the ball is too difficult to deal with has little to do with creating proper chances.

Take Hamsik. He created a proper chance for Slovakia's first goal against Russia and then scored a beauty which decided the game. This is a top performance, not doing the basics in a slow and uninventive build-up play that makes the forwards struggle big time (Vardy and Kane barely touched the ball).

 

[wiz4231]

He's should have done this 2/3 years ago when SAF wanted him to, he would have kept his credibility.

 

[ShakeUnBake]

I don't see Rooney working out as a midfielder. He's done well against Russia and Wales, but those aren't comparable to the better midfields in the EPL. Even if he would do adequately, he's being paid a fortune. Ship him off to China.

 

[Escobar]

We havent seen a proper midfield performance in a long time. No wonder people start to believe that Rooney is a great midfielder

 

[milemuncher777]

He has a sat nav passing range

This new role for him looks to have given him a new lease of life and could extend his career at the highest level for a few more years Atleast.

Not every footballer can reinvent themselves in different roles especially this late in the game.. So credit to Rooney for that. True World Class footballer.

He has always put the team first above his own aspirations.. Ronaldo for example would never accept not being the "the main man" anymore on a team. Rooney is a good captain.

Mourinho must be drooling at this.. He has a massive hard-on for Rooney he tried to sign him after all.

Love it.

 

[ZupZup]

Good to see him play well again. Since his move to midfield at the end of February, he has only had two poor games in that position - (Norwich away and West Ham away). He still got an assist in each of those as well. In about half of the games he has played there, he has been either United or England's man of the match. Every time he puts in a decent performance the excuses are rolled out. "Opposition didn't press enough"... "look at the team we were playing against" etc.

I wonder how long before all the excuses get a bit tired? At the moment, I'm more concerned about what midfield players we can buy to play with Rooney rather than replace him. Kante would be nice...

 

[ZAGREB RED]

I do think Roy Hodgson is maybe picking Rooney in midfield just to fit him into the team rather than because he wants him in there, but it is working out well. Had Rooney not dropped back into the United midefield towards the end of the season would Hodgson have played him there ? I am not sure. Rooney should have done this a couple of years ago, if he had he would probably be a very accomplished midfield player by now. I think it is good though that he finally seems to have accepted his future is in midfield, if he had listened to SAF a few years back it would have been better for all concerned. Some of his performances playing as the No9 for United over the last few seasons have been dire.

 

[Moonred]

He has been doing fine recently. Not expecting him to be world class there but he is better than our other options. Let's just say, if Herrera was doing as much, people would be wanking themselves to glory. Could be short lived though.

 

[trevor newnham]

It doesn't matter what statistics are rolled out, the Rooney haters will not change their minds. He has been one of the most important United players for some time. Yes, he is declining, and no wonder . I wouldnt mind betting his energy levels and distance covered have been right up there, so no wonder he is slowing down. But I reckon he has at least two more years in him. He will go down as a Legend without a doubt and doesnt deserve the vitriol he gets from a lot of people on this forum. Lets face it, its mainly down to the fact that he is Scouse. How many United legends are there that were actually born in Manchester? They damn him because he asked for a transfer. How many of you would have done the same if you thought your workplace was stagnating. Or do you have no ambition? Time to get off his back, support him as the Captain of our club.

 

[Sentient Meat]

I was beginning to loathe Rooney as a striker, and thought of him continuing on that way with LVG or Giggs as our manager, was making it nearly unbearable to watch the games. But now that he's been given this new role, I feel myself liking him again... I'm not sure if the experiment will work but I like the idea of having a once brilliant scorer buried deep in our midfield that always gives us an extra element of offensive threat. It's the same way I feel about a Blind or Fosu-Mensah playing CB... having a defender who is capable of moving forward and helping the attack at any given moment. That's my only complaint about Smalling... he's very effective at his primary job... but whenever he comes up for set pieces I feel almost hopeless that he will score. If I were the manager I'd have a coach to help him improve that aspect of the game.

But anyway... I'm getting off the subject... my main point simply is that as long as he can hold his own in the midfield... he makes it very difficult for the defense to cover all of Ibra... Martial... Rashford... plus Rooney especially with a competent back like Shaw whipping in accurate crosses all the time.

 

[Born2Lose]

It doesn't matter what statistics are rolled out, the Rooney haters will not change their minds. He has been one of the most important United players for some time. Yes, he is declining, and no wonder . I wouldnt mind betting his energy levels and distance covered have been right up there, so no wonder he is slowing down. But I reckon he has at least two more years in him. He will go down as a Legend without a doubt and doesnt deserve the vitriol he gets from a lot of people on this forum. Lets face it, its mainly down to the fact that he is Scouse. How many United legends are there that were actually born in Manchester? They damn him because he asked for a transfer. How many of you would have done the same if you thought your workplace was stagnating. Or do you have no ambition? Time to get off his back, support him as the Captain of our club.

He's probably become our most important player in a time when we have floundered on the pitch, and when the team's performances are as inconsistent as Rooney's own. Did people hate Steve Coppell because he was scouse? Doubt it. The reason I personally have little time for Rooney is that I feel he could have been a much better footballer than he was, that he's never been a hard enough worker off the pitch and is the epitome of why the English are unable to produce top quality players that match Ronaldo, Messi or Xavi.

He's a footballer who dictates rather than is dictated too, and can return from an injury overweight knowing that regardless he'll find his place back in both the United and England team. In a way he's the genesis of players like Sterling, Sturridge and Berainho, players who are complacent in the fact that they don't need to push themselves, and are comfortable in the knowledge that they'll earn ludicrous amounts of money regardless. I'm glad I'm not English, because it would really annoy me to see someone who works so hard as Vardy sat on then bench while players like Rooney and Sterling walk into the team.

What I see on the pitch now, is a guy who was born with an outrageous talent who has squandered it and didn't nurture it. He's a 30 year old who looks like a 35 year old on the pitch, and it's all the fault of the managers who have allowed him to coast, an agent who cares only about money, the media and his fans who've defended him regardless of the level of performance. What Rooney has always needed is somebody to challenge him, to push him and question him, and Ferguson was just as guilty as anyone of not doing this.

The people on here at the start of the season who were knocking him and saying that he's not good enough to be a centre forward have been proved right. I have no doubt that if Rashford hadn't have made himself undroppable, that Rooney would probably still be trying to play upfront for us, and there would still be people on here defending him rather than talking about how well he can play as a midfielder.

 

[POF]

I'm not sure why but with Rooney it is always one extreme or the other. Opinions vary from "midfield general who ran the game and dictated play" to "he played vs crap opposition and he's not good enough".

I completely disagree with both points of view. Rooney has great work rate, is a good tackler and can be a real goal threat from midfield. He is good at playing long accurate passes but the number of people who seem to think that constitutes "dictating the game" like Scholes, Modric or Kroos is mind boggling. Being a top class midfield player is about playing the right pass at the right time, not the same pass every time.

I think it is virtually certain that Rooney will play in midfield next season, probably on the left of a 3. If he plays to his strengths in that role he will do well. If he tries to play like a Scholes/Xavi/Pirlo hybrid he won't.

 

[don't sign old players]

Stalwarts are crucial to any great team. Rooney is vital to our young team going forward. He's a calming influence when things are tough. The young players listen to him. He shows the way when the chips are down, as evidenced just after Palace scored in the final. We actually need more leaders.
I'm just glad the haters aren't in charge. We'd be in dire straits if they were.

 

[Miscemayl]

No, and he wasn't great against Russia or Wales. Decent but a long way from great.

Did he create anything against Wales?

He was given plenty of time and space and I think he had one defence splitting ball over the top?

Most of the time it was either a short sideway/backward pass, or a long ball out to the wings.

He also tends to trap the ball, look up, then pass. Great midfielders know where to pass to before even getting the ball.

So no, I don't think he'll be a midfield general. He could be a decent midfielder but I would expect better for an England starter, let alone a starter for Manchester United.

 

[Percy17]

Rooney is not a better midfielder than Bastien, Morgan ad Herrera.... Morgan was playing very well in the cdm role in the first half of the season, where Rooney only played once against Chelsea, looking out of place. Both Herrera and Bastien are better passing the ball in tight spaces, they are better at finding gaps to pass to in between the lines, they can play any sort of ball Rooney is capable of and Herrera in form is very good when it comes to playing quick football.
Also, you mention those midfielders played poorly but Rooney played just as bad.

Your arguement does not match the reality of what happened last season. For a long period in time we weren't creating let alone scoring much goals. If we Bastien and Herrera are "better passing the ball in tight spaces, they are better at finding gaps to pass to in between the lines, they can play any sort of ball Rooney is capable of" then why didn't we create much during the October - December spell of draws. You can argue that Rooney was striker at that point but don't pretend that he had a plethora of good chances of which to score. The reality is when Rooney dropped into midfield we started creating chances that sometimes we couldn't. Heck even Ashley Young scored when Rooney dropped down.

edit: you talked about Morgan being a better CDM...which is true. Rooney doesn't play CDM and no-one he is asking that he should

 

[Vashu]

Joke of a thread title. He does a job in midfield and that's it. He's not good offensively nor defensively. We won't win anything(except FA cup with an easy path) with him playing there regularly.

 

[JB08]

England can't buy players, we can.

 

[#07]

I don't understand why people want to see Rooney in midfield. He can hit great long passes, yes. Then again, so can Bonucci. Juve wouldn't sell Pogba, Marchisio and Khedira and play him in centre midfield.

I also do not understand why Rooney should stop playing in the final third. Teddy Sheringham won the double player of the year award, and was our top scorer in a title winning season, at 35 playing as a #10. Bergkamp was also playing for Arsenal as a #10 at that age. Why shouldn't Rooney? It just seems like, because Scholesy moved back into midfield, people have just assumed everyone can do that.

 

[don't sign old players]

I don't understand why people want to see Rooney in midfield. He can hit great long passes, yes. Then again, so can Bonucci. Juve wouldn't sell Pogba, Marchisio and Khedira and play him in centre midfield.

I also do not understand why Rooney should stop playing in the final third. Teddy Sheringham won the double player of the year award, and was our top scorer in a title winning season, at 35 playing as a #10. Bergkamp was also playing for Arsenal as a #10 at that age. Why shouldn't Rooney? It just seems like, because Scholesy moved back into midfield, people have just assumed everyone can do that.

Yep.

 

[Super_Mario]

Since Rooney has comeback from injury he has become one of United and England's first choice midfielders. Regardless of the dislike towards him by a large portion of the United fan base who can't look past this he plays in that position on merit. Rooney is currently superior to any other option in midfield for both club and country.

Please can people look past their blind hatred and stop with hypotheticals such as "When we play a good team he'll get found out" etc

To those people re-watch the Leicester City game, he dominated for long parts against Kante and Drinkwater the champions of England.

 

[VanCurny20]

Don't buy it.Should have binned him off when Fergie had a chance

 

[Adam-Utd]

He's good with no pressure when teams sit back as he can take his time and pick the passes.

He will fail badly when he comes against an energetic midfield who press high, giving him no time.

 

[GiddyUp]

When did doing the same thing again and again and again become creative? You spread the ball for a reason, it's to change the angle of attack, not to look pretty. When you know that every single time Rooney gets the ball he's going to try and pick out our right back, before looking to get the attacking midfielder or even the striker on goal, what does it achieve?

Bingo, ignoring quick and decisive passing for an easy forty yarder, floated in to acres of space for Valencia who has to shuffle around for a second or two to receive it, then he proceeds in planting that ball with every fiber of his muscular right leg in to the five inch wide shin of the defender. 85% of the time, every time. Tom Cleverley is a better midfielder then Wayne Rooney. Rooney has for a long time been my favorite player but his overall performance in the last three years doesn't warrant such privilege. My opinion is its time for him to be replaced in the starting eleven with better players. Mourinho should be winding him down not building a team around him. I still don't want him sold unless it's for a shitload from China as he still has so much to offer. My hope is that under Mourinho he will be reborn in a way using the two things we signed him for, tenacity and skill in front of goal.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

He's good with no pressure when teams sit back as he can take his time and pick the passes.

Tbh, this is one of the ridiculous things I keep reading in here. It's not like the both the opponents have a strategy to not chase the ball and just sit around waiting for England to play the game. It's not Like high-press or sit back are the only two strategies in football to be either/or.

Watching the last match, I was really surprised by his off the ball movement. You can see him constantly moving away and into open spaces almost instinctively. He puts himself in a good position to receive the ball throughout the match and that shows intelligence and understanding of the game.

I see him having a 2nd peak to his career in the midfield.

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

Anyone who's honest has to admit that Rooney just doesn't the physical ability of a top midfielder for a club which aspires to lift a BPL trophy.

Did you just call anyone who disagree with you as 'dishonest'?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He could be a useful central midfielder next season, but if he is our best CM next season, then we've got a pretty disappointing midfield next year.

I can see him having a good season but his days pf being a top player are gone IMO. He needs to be one of a quality set of midfielders, rather than the automatic starter/talisman of our CM.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Tbh, this is one of the ridiculous things I keep reading in here. It's not like the both the opponents have a strategy to not chase the ball and just sit around waiting for England to play the game. It's not Like high-press or sit back are the only two strategies in football to be either/or.

Watching the last match, I was really surprised by his off the ball movement. You can see him constantly moving away and into open spaces almost instinctively. He puts himself in a good position to receive the ball throughout the match and that shows intelligence and understanding of the game.

I see him having a 2nd peak to his career in the midfield.

We shall see. So far in the few games he's played in midfield for United and England every team has sat back and tried to soak up the pressure. We know he's a good footballer, but when we play a team who presses high and with energy he will be found out in that position. Sure he positions himself in clever areas, but his lack of awareness, extra time he needs on the ball and slow acceleration will catch him out eventually.

But sure just brush it off as ridiculous he's clearly the next Xavi/pirlo/Scholes.

 

[m1y2]

OK guys, lets have this out!

Quiet a few posters seem to feel that Rooney can't become a midfielder, hasn't got the abilities of a midfielder and is terrible at passing the ball. Recently, I rebutted a poster in another thread who said that he can't pass, he can't dribble and has no vision to be a midfielder. For me, he has now for three games dominated the middle area of the pitch (FA Cup Final and two England games at the Euros), spraying accurate passes around the field and occasionally taking a pot shot at scoring. With each game his confidence and influence is growing and today (versus Wales), he added a new dimension to his armoury by making excellent crosses from corner-kicks and free-kicks.

His command of the middle of the park was so impressive that established English midfielders were all second-rate to him. He was MOTM vs Russia and arguably vs Wales too.

What does the forum think?

this is just BS, he didn't dominate those games but he wasn't as shit as he was rest of his season, ppl should stop jumping on things, I understand the euphory from the national team win but it was fecking zombie football, until the subs, the only reason why he looked decent was because he dropped super deep and everyone had to pass to the captain to take a touch and get involved, was super boring, passing sideways like cleverley, what was actually different from Cleverley? nothing, only that Rooney has to drop deeper to get more time on the ball due to complete lack of agility and horrible touch, the englands prformance with him was like our entire season, it opened and got better at the end due to influx of "fresh" blood and even more desperate defending by Wales, Rooney had all the time in the world, nobody really pressed him, Wales had all players behind the ball, he will struggle in the premier league, I am sure about it.

to finish this comment on a positive note, his delivery on set pieces is consistently very good at the Euros and I loved his little cut in before the box, otherwise I have not been impressed at all..

 

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

We shall see. So far in the few games he's played in midfield for United and England every team has sat back and tried to soak up the pressure. We know he's a good footballer, but when we play a team who presses high and with energy he will be found out in that position. Sure he positions himself in clever areas, but his lack of awareness, extra time he needs on the ball and slow acceleration will catch him out eventually.

But sure just brush it off as ridiculous he's clearly the next Xavi/pirlo/Scholes.

We are not going to be playing high press and high energy teams week in and out in a season. Slow acceleration, I'd agree but lack of awareness is not something anyone would accuse of Rooney. I'd even disagree with extra time on the ball. United rarely plays one touch passing game and he's not exactly 'slow'...but then neither Carrick, Scholes nor Pirlo are what I'd describe as fast.