What to do with Wayne Rooney?

[Walrus]

I realise this isnt the first thread on Rooney, but in the anti-megathread spirit I wanted to fire up a discussion and see what the cafs thoughts on our Captain/nearly-all-time-top-scorer are.

Plenty has been said on our problems/deficiencies last season, but for me a big point - and one that I have argued in other threads - was our lack of a true "star player" in the final third. We had good performances from Young, and both Mata and Rooney had their moments, as did Di Maria, but nobody that consistently stood out.

Look at successful teams recently and there is always a star performer - Messi, Ronaldo, Hazard, Aguero, Suarez (for Liverpool). Players that have single handedly elevated their teams and won points. Rooney is arguably supposed to be our talisman and our star, not to mention our captain, but he simply doesnt compare to the aforementioned players, and frankly has never reached the sort of level that we have seen from those players.

For me, Rooney is the elephant in the room when we are discussing our attack - for as long as he is here, he is likely to play (even out of position), all the more so if he remains captain. This is a problem I feel.

The options we appear to have are;

1) Keep Rooney - meaning he will be first choice or thereabouts.
2) Buy a striker to compete with him for first choice - nice in principle but could mean Rooney then being shifted into midfield or out wide in order to accommodate him.
3) Sell him - Pretty unlikely to happen, for better or worse.

 

[Roman Bellic]

2.

 

[Damien]

Pretty sure there was a discussion on this recently with quite a few wanting him sold or someone else leading the line.

 

[sullydnl]

No chance he'll be sold and I think he's pretty much guaranteed to be a starter for the foreseeable future.

So the question is less what we do with Rooney and more what we do with the rest of our attack. Do we bring in a top quality striker and push Rooney further back, thus reducing the game time of some of our AMs? Do we bring in bench fodder to back up Rooney but leave him as our clear first choice striker? Or do we go the middle road and bring in a striker who will compete with our AMs for gametime while Rooney moves between #9 and #10 as needed?

Personally, I'd probably go the latter route.

 

[hbgreg]

1

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Play him as a CF.

 

[charlenefan]

Next season he'll be our first choice out and out striker, when we win nothing LVG will see what Fergie saw and opt to replace him with a world class striker (in Fergie's case this was RVP). As LVG will be in his final year this will also make sense that like Fergie he'll have a short term view just to get him over the line so he can leave us a winner

 

[Successful]

Rooney is an extremely gifted player and it's only because we have him some fans don't understand that. He can play both deep and in a very high position. I'd prefer to see him as a poacher together up front with Mata. They are on equal terms in football intelligence and I would love to see their cooperation develop further.

 

[IrishLegend]

He's a striker and a damn good one.

People bemoaning his numbers forget he spent half the season in MF. Put him upfront, let him do the business.

When he gets to 33/34 then move him back.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

He can only play one position and that is CF. Given how unlikely it is for us to sign one this summer, I'd keep him and start him in his natural position.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

1.

Play him where he's meant to be played and see the reason why he's verging on breaking Sir Bobby's record.
He brings more to the team than just goals too. His determination and passion, however cringes it feels writing words like that as I sound like Alan Hansen, is fantastic for us.

 

[Man of Leisure]

Look at successful teams recently and there is always a star performer - Messi, Ronaldo, Hazard, Aguero, Suarez (for Liverpool). Players that have single handedly elevated their teams and won points. Rooney is arguably supposed to be our talisman and our star, not to mention our captain, but he simply doesnt compare to the aforementioned players, and frankly has never reached the sort of level that we have seen from those players.

I know you'd like nothing better than to see your boy Fellaini starting over Rooney, but the bolded part is some serious bullshite.

 

[Offside]

Play him upfront every week. Get a 2nd striker in like Benteke.

 

[Devil may care]

Our Achilles heel, we are rejuvenating every aspect of our team bar the striker, as out of the two roles Rooney can play well I think he is more suited to being a striker than an AM. I'd love to see us take the hardline and make him compete with another top striker for a starting #9 spot but we wont, so I guess we'll need to bring in a back-up journeyman striker who'll be content with the bench and a big wage hike.

 

[Rado_N]

Play him as a bloody striker and never ever ever in midfield.

Bring Hernandez back to provide cover/options and bring Wilson in steadily.

 

[charlenefan]

I know you'd like nothing better than to see your boy Fellaini starting over Rooney, but the bolded part is some serious bullshite.

It's not really though is it, he's had a couple of 30 goal seasons which resulted in us winning nowt other than that he's always been on the periphery of our title successes 07-09 was Ronaldo, 2011 was really Berbatov and Nani & 2013 was obviously RVP

 

[JPRouve]

Rooney is an extremely gifted player and it's only because we have him some fans don't understand that. He can play both deep and in a very high position. I'd prefer to see him as a poacher together up front with Mata. They are on equal terms in football intelligence and I would love to see their cooperation develop further.

I agree with that. And if Rooney isn't good enough for United I don't want to see anyone defend Fellaini.

 

[Sam]

There's more chance of Rooney having a stature built outside Old Trafford, then there is him leaving. That ship has sailed.

 

[Man of Leisure]

It's not really though is it, he's had a couple of 30 goal seasons which resulted in us winning nowt other than that he's always been on the periphery of our title successes 07-09 was Ronaldo, 2011 was really Berbatov and Nani & 2013 was obviously RVP

Not buying that.

 

[settembrini]

1. Play him upfront.
2. If he doesn't play well then drop him.

 

[charlenefan]

Not buying that.

Well it was more Berbatov than Rooney who spent half the season in America injured and wanting to leave

 

[Sammyjunn]

1.

Play him where he's meant to be played and see the reason why he's verging on breaking Sir Bobby's record.
He brings more to the team than just goals too. His determination and passion, however cringes it feels writing words like that as I sound like Alan Hansen, is fantastic for us.

He'll get that record because he's played for us as a forward for a very very long time, every striker of United quality would break that record if he played here as long as Rooney will. I reckon a real real class striker would have surely broken that record when aged 30.

Rooney has a lot of qualities, but his lack of drive, dynamism and pace continue to mask them in his hames. Sorry for saying but he hasnt been at the very top since 2011/12, and for that Im not sure why he should be a guaranteed starter nor getting paid 300k per week. He's become untouchable at this club, while he isnt even world class anymore..

But there arent many better strikers available it seems, and I really dont want him on the ball in midfield. So lets keep him and see if he magically gets his form back.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

It's not really though is it, he's had a couple of 30 goal seasons which resulted in us winning nowt other than that he's always been on the periphery of our title successes 07-09 was Ronaldo, 2011 was really Berbatov and Nani & 2013 was obviously RVP

Why should it be held against him that in his 30 goal seasons they lost the title by one point and goal difference?

 

[ghagua]

No issues with Rooney being in the squad, no reason to sell him either, but i do have an issue with LvG making him untouchable. Rooney's goal scoring record looks like he has been prolific, but he is not. He goes through long patches in the season where he just runs around without being a threat on goal. If we were to get a top class striker in, then Rooney will have to be dropped further back on the pitch, either as a #10 or in midfield.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Well it was more Berbatov than Rooney who spent half the season in America injured and wanting to leave

Berbatov could not get into the team late in the season. He did not even make the bench for the final.

 

[MelvinYeo]

At the end of last season when Rooney his run of games as a striker and didn't perform still I think LVG said he wasn't undroppable even though he was the captain. Hopefully he will be as ruthless as Fergie when the time comes because I don't see us winning the title with Rooney as our main striker. Transfer listing Rooney was Fergie's final gift to us and giving the 300k a week contract to Rooney will be Moyes' most lasting calamity.

 

[red_devil83]

Play him up top

 

[buckooo1978]

i think his standards have slipped and this is probably in part due to lack of competition....

he's effectively been the first name on the team sheet under both Moyes and even publicly with Van Gaal - that could be a factor

I'd say 2 because we need more quality up front but also we need a hungry, motivated and more focused Rooney

 

[Mindhunter]

Another Rooney thread. What we should do is give him a consistent run as the middle striker in a 4-3-3 and see how he performs for an entire season.

Rotating a player between midfield and striker positions will definitely result in him losing the edge that strikers thrive on. The quick reflexes in front of goal your body just knows what to do in that split second will erode with time if he is used as a midfielder. He has proved time and again that he has the requisite finishing skills and the overall game to be a top striker. He was never as clinical as say a RVP in his prime but his all round game has always been up there with the best.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

He's a striker and a damn good one.

People bemoaning his numbers forget he spent half the season in MF. Put him upfront, let him do the business.

When he gets to 33/34 then move him back.

And people who praise him forgets the huge amount of sub-par performances he had upfront also. Even after getting good run of games as a main striker.

Rooney's starting to become a liability and he doesn't deserve his salary/status based on his perfomances on the pitch. I do wish he will become our all-time top scorer but not at the expense of our trophy challenges. I really hope he will benefit from having better players (hopefully) around him next season, because the Rooney we've seen for the past 3-4 seasons is simply not good enough to be our main source of inspiration.

The only reason that I don't want the club to sell him is that it will come back to bite us in the backside in one way or another. But it's tempting to vote for the 3rd alternative.

 

[Mrs Smoker]

Why should it be held against him that in his 30 goal seasons the lost the title by one point and goal difference?

So true.

 

[Varun]

Buy a Lacazette who would be back up and versatile enough to get games while always breathing down Rooney's neck if his form turns to shit.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

We don't even know what tactics LvG is going to use next season, so we can't be certain that Rooney is going to utilized solely in the forward position. If the manager is considering a switch to his preferred 4-2-3-1, Rooney can also play in the hole. This is a role that really suits him imo because he's great at creating pockets of space in between the lines and also at making some very dangerous late runs in the box.

If LvG decides to stick with the 4-3-3 we saw during the last third of the previous season, he can only play as a forward. After a whole season and three transfer windows, any possible utilization of Rooney in the midfield that isn't a result of a major injury crisis can only mean that we've fecked up at resolving our midfield issues for yet another season.

Without a World Cup or Euro in the summer but with the chance to rest and start working from day one of the pre-season, i believe he can easily get double figures in goals and assists in the PL. If i remember well, that was the case in 2009-2010 and 2011-2012 when Sir Alex played him up front. I know there are lots of fans who don't like him but the truth is that he ticks most of the boxes for the role of the lone forward in van Gaal's setup. Lots of off the ball movement and high working rate, he can score goals inside the box and outside of it and most importantly he has the ability to create chances his teammates. The latter seems quite important for van Gaal whose teams usually depend on the players behind the forward to score goals. Physical beasts or pacey poachers were never van Gaal's cup of tea anyway.

The question is what do we do in the second scenario (4-3-3), if RvP leaves the club. My guess is that we try to sign a player who will be able to play in the wings or behind the forward too and who won't start complaining if he doesn't get enough playing time in the forward position. I think that's why we were linked with players like Cavani.

And one last thing. Rooney isn't the pacey and dynamic forward he used to be but he's not the elephant in the room. He's one of the most experienced and talented players we still have in the squad. Nevertheless, there are/were plenty of elephants in the room, like the forward who is yet to score 10 goals in a single season in the PL but whose departure crashed the forum's server or the incredible winger for whom no club from the top five European leagues showed any real interest (no disrespect to Fenerbahce). In fact, the elephants were so many that their weight caused our penthouse's floor collapse to the mid-table mediocrity of English football soon after Ferguson's retirement.

 

[Ramshock]

Talk about waving a red rag at a bull..wtg OP

 

[Jagga7]

GOT spoiler alert in white. Let's stab him to death and say for the "rags"

 

[justboy68]

Might as well keep him around as the main striker until a real world class option presents itself in the market. We can decide what to do with Rooney from there depending on how he performs. If we got rid now what would it achieve? What star strikers are out there and available to take up the mantle?

 

[Castia]

Play him upfront m8

 

[Sandikan]

no brainer, play him up front, every game he's available, and no more of this trying to make him the playmaker, or him liking to get on the ball a lot bullsh!t.

Use him where he's most effective, around the box, and watch him smack a 25goal season

 

[predator]

Give him a pay rise

 

[sullydnl]

Buy a Lacazette who would be back up and versatile enough to get games while always breathing down Rooney's neck if his form turns to shit.

This would make sense to me.

Basically I'd have Rooney taking one of the four attacking spots with Lacazette, Mata, ADM and Depay competing for the other three.