Rooney wasnt even a shadow of himself that season, and the Rvp-Roo duo didnt really work that well. Valencia-Nani were past their best periods for us, Clev was decent kinda. But even if you call them decent, the players surrounded by Rooney now are too decent at the very very least.Those players were decent back then and not the punchlines they became later. And you forgot to mention Rooney who often was the one setting up RVP that season.
Those days are becoming few and far between, unfortunately. My patience for him has been used up.On his day he can do what few people can. Although his genius is evidently more and more fleeting, I still live in hope tbaqt LVG can guide him to those heights regularly. Time is running out though.
Unlike most people on this forum i do rate Benteke and i think he is way more than just a strong tall targetman but he isnt worth the amount of money Aston Villa want for him.Benteke in my opinion is good enough to start and also not that good enough that he should be put in the starting lineup every game. He might be the player that would be a good rotation option for Rooney in the main striker role. Sort of like Bony or Dzeko at City.
We did not lose a match where Rooney and Van Persie both started until our loss to City in April. The duo worked a lot better than people remember. And once he came back from his leg gash that season Rooney started playing well in a support role.Rooney wasnt even a shadow of himself that season, and the Rvp-Roo duo didnt really work that well. Valencia-Nani were past their best periods for us, Clev was decent kinda. But even if you call them decent, the players surrounded by Rooney now are too decent at the very very least.
Not enough fur.Make him into a rug.
This is true, I mean look at how many goals Charlie Austin got in a crappy QPR team last season. The whole 20 goal thing isn't really the issue IMO, it's that he is treat like an elite difference making forward, and he simply isn't one, at least not these days.I dont want him or something but every PL striker will score 20 goals when he's in a well gelled team who creates lots of chances. Even Danny Welbz. Why pay him 300k while many other could do the job he could? If you pay a player that money, you expect him to make the difference, he should force things, he should be our catalyst. Rooney isnt really more.
Are you high? It wasn't Rooney's best season but he was our 2nd best attacking player that season and stepped up numerous times when RVP went missing. It's fashionable to presume Rooney and RVP have always been shit nowadays but that season they linked together very well and combined together for quite a few goals. Also, Rooney scored more goals surrounded by the "decent" players you mentioned in the season before than RVP did that season.Rooney wasnt even a shadow of himself that season, and the Rvp-Roo duo didnt really work that well. Valencia-Nani were past their best periods for us, Clev was decent kinda. But even if you call them decent, the players surrounded by Rooney now are too decent at the very very least.
Being the 2nd best before the likes of Nani, Valencia, Young, Welbz, Chicha is barely worthy of mention, that's the very least youncan expect of him. I dont think they linked that well to be fair. Maybe a few goals linked, but the Roo-Welbz partnership for example was far a better duo.Oh Joy. Yet another Rooney thread. Seems to be a new one every week on how our top scorer is the one holding us back and should be sold.
Are you high? It wasn't Rooney's best season but he was our 2nd best attacking player that season and stepped up numerous times when RVP went missing. It's fashionable to presume Rooney and RVP have always been shit nowadays but that season they linked together very well and combined together for quite a few goals. Also, Rooney scored more goals surrounded by the "decent" players you mentioned in the season before than RVP did that season.
Wow, that escalated quickly. You happy about your discussion style? Let's see – critizing Rooney, surely the only reasons can be:Bullshit. Certain fans have had an agenda against him since he pulled his contract shit. The same type of fan's who claim Pogba was just a money grabbing cnut and his leaving had nothing to do with playing time. Gotta love those internet ********, even when most of them have never been to a game.
I agree with all of this, especially the bolded part. lets not forget LVG said early in the season he wasn't good enough to be his strikerHe's not good enough up top, he's detrimental in midfield, he's useless in the wing, he gives the manager more headache rather than solution. I think he's the only "star striker" of a team where even the manager are confused as to where to play him.
Aguero/tevez/higuain/benzema/RvP and any other top striker don't have this issue, they play as a striker, benched, or sold. Rooney's become a massive headache now, he can't be dropped or he sulked, once dropped he somehow managed to silence his doubter by playing like Maradonna (for a match or two) and goes back to being shit again, he hits the form (if any) by only a few months before getting injured and the "back from injury" excuses covers him for the rest of the season.
I've had given up hopes on him, would rather see him sold, get done and over with and buy a proper 25 years old striker who for better or worse got played as a striker. And yes, his contract fiasco made be very much biased against him.
There's not that many options that would suit that role, but that's a good call, to be fair.Benteke in my opinion is good enough to start and also not that good enough that he should be put in the starting lineup every game. He might be the player that would be a good rotation option for Rooney in the main striker role. Sort of like Bony or Dzeko at City.
This is conundrum we face with having Rooney in that:There's not that many options that would suit that role, but that's a good call, to be fair.
Maybe Berahino? His overall attributes really impress me.
Either that, or I'd probably be happy to stick with Van Persie.
This.Play him as our no1 striker, end of story.
Some great points here. And as highlighted above, the consistency is just not there with Rooney. No matter how you feel about him - there's no way you can deny that he's lost that consistency. At this elite level (in any sport) - this is a vital ingredient.Wow, that escalated quickly. You happy about your discussion style? Let's see – critizing Rooney, surely the only reasons can be:
- Not forgiven him for his contract moves
- Keyboard warrior (paraphrasing of course, since I don't know which word you censored)
- Last but not least, must be an armchair fan who never been to a game
You know, it's hard to have a fruitful discussion when an opponent enters 'monkey tilt mode' like you did straight away. And it usually happens more often when Rooney is the subject. I'll tell you what though, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and actually bother to respond to your accusations in a civil manner. Here's hoping we can get the Rooney discussion back on track.
'Not forgiven him for his contract moves'. Is there really anything to 'forgive'? It's not like he did something to me personally, although he did go from having a god-like status ("Who needs Cristiano, we got Rooney anyway") to just an important member of the squad. I'm not naive, I don't put all my faith in players being loyal to their employers no matter what. Although Rooney did surprise me, but in the end you can also find some positives for the club from the contract situation. Mainly the bit about which market opportunities that contract gave United.
'Gotta love those internet ********, even when most of them have never been to a game'. I'm not mad at you for trying to perform the whole character assassination thing on me. Not at all. Honest. Hell, I'm even impressed you managed to extract that from a single post. In a discussion where I've so far yet to hand out any information about my view on Pogba, Internet, overview of my matchday experiences (or lack of) or even Coleen Rooney's clothing range.
No, my concerns regarding Rooney is entirely based on what's happening on the pitch, not in the boardroom. Also not just what he's delivered on the pitch the last few years, but also concerns about what the future holds for United with Rooney as the potential main man. The contract, the captaincy and LvG's comments on that implies that Rooney is regarded as the main man. Our source of inspiration when the tough gets going. See, I really struggle to see that Rooney deserve that status based on what he's shown the last few years compared to when he actually deserved that rep. Granted, he can be excused at times when put in midfield but he really doesn't impress for a long period of games when playing upfront either like the other players he's compared to (Agüero, Suárez, Costa etc. – players in the bracket below Messi and C.Ronaldo). Sure, he will get us goals from time to time, and he's still capable of the odd world-class moment/match, but he's seriously lacking in consistency. And he's far from capable of leading our line for an entire season. RvP's debut season really highlighted the gulf in class between them (although both look finished now). Rooney is rapidly starting to become the jack of all trades but master of none.
Also Rooney is fast approaching the 30's which mean he's been playing day in day out at the top level for almost 15 years which surely has put a strain on his body. All signs point to him declining even further. Like I previously said; I'm not entirely for a sale of Rooney, but it's tempting to wish for it. He's still a very marketable player, and he will probably come back to haunt us if he were to be sold (I don't see him leaving for a foreign team unless it's a weird choice like Dubai or MLS, so surely he would then move to a domestic rival), but the arguments for selling Rooney grows stronger each year.
Danny Welbeck couldnt score 20 in a season if you gave him the 1st 10 free.I dont want him or something but every PL striker will score 20 goals when he's in a well gelled team who creates lots of chances. Even Danny Welbz. Why pay him 300k while many other could do the job he could? If you pay a player that money, you expect him to make the difference, he should force things, he should be our catalyst. Rooney isnt really more.
Yep.The right thing to do is to treat him fairly, if he plays well he keeps his place, it's that simple.
SAF recognised it and wanted him out, Gollum gave him the most stupid contract of all time, he is on similar money to ronaldo and messi, look what they produce, we are now dealing with that, he is a spent force and it is underplayed and not highlighted because he is the England national team's only hope, he never fulfilled his potential, he plays the way he wants, when he wants, giving him the captaincy I believe was an attempt to buck him up, made no odds, he is minted no matter what he does and cruises along with sporadic impact.Some great points here. And as highlighted above, the consistency is just not there with Rooney. No matter how you feel about him - there's no way you can deny that he's lost that consistency. At this elite level (in any sport) - this is a vital ingredient.
This is a pretty harsh assessment but I agree he is not the player I had hoped he would become. To be honest, he was always an early developer and frankly he reached his physical peak by about the age of 25. There has been plenty of debate over which "version" of Rooney we prefer - the explosive youngster or the more refined player he is now - for me it is no contest and it feels almost like he has deliberately limited his game and cut things out of it, to become more of a standard #9.SAF recognised it and wanted him out, Gollum gave him the most stupid contract of all time, he is on similar money to ronaldo and messi, look what they produce, we are now dealing with that, he is a spent force and it is underplayed and not highlighted because he is the England national team's only hope, he never fulfilled his potential, he plays the way he wants, when he wants, giving him the captaincy I believe was an attempt to buck him up, made no odds, he is minted no matter what he does and cruises along with sporadic impact.
There's no issue with criticising the current Rooney as a player but let's not re-write the past and pretend he wasn't brilliant for us. For a starters, Rooney's 09/10 season pisses over anything Hazard has ever done so far in his career. Let's not forget that Hazard never dragged Chelsea to success pre-Mourinho either.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.
Yeah because Fergie desperately wanted to replace a player who scored 34 goals from the number 10 position rather than the guys who actually played striker and scored 12 goals each respectively, Welbeck and Hernandez. Strange how Rooney kept his place as a number 10 whereas Welbeck and Hernandez played less games at number 9, right?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
Yeah let's hold it against Rooney that he got injured in 09/10 season and no one could step up in his place and we lost the league by a point. Or let's hold it against Rooney that we lost the 11/12 title on goal difference, despite him actually scoring 34 goals.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
Have you ever thought as to why he's played as a forward for us for a very long time and outlasted all the competition? I'm sure someone like Carlos Tevez would've had a good goal record for us by now if he had stayed, but he left because he couldn't get into the team. Maybe Rooney's done a decent job of keeping himself in the team for over a decade.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.
Yeah because top players are only strikers, right? Wonder how Rooney and Ronaldo managed to play together. If this Depay lad is really good then Rooney won't be holding him back, in fact a talented pacey winger is who Rooney usually brings the best out of.We are shafted because he is not good enough to lead us to victory of any kind and no really top player is going to come to us knowing he will be second fiddle to Rooney.
He's far better than Giroud. He'd start behind Aguero and Costa for City and Chelsea respectively. Jose rates Rooney very highly.Rooney isn't a top level striker anymore. He wouldn't be a starter for any other side in the top 4.
Is there really much of a confusion as to where to play him or is his versatility been used by manager's temporarily to cover flaws in the squad? If we sign Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger, I don't think there will be much 'confusion' this season.He's not good enough up top, he's detrimental in midfield, he's useless in the wing, he gives the manager more headache rather than solution. I think he's the only "star striker" of a team where even the manager are confused as to where to play him.
Aguero/tevez/higuain/benzema/RvP and any other top striker don't have this issue, they play as a striker, benched, or sold.
Football brain, passing (far better than most forwards) and finishing.Nowadays if you ask me what his real strengths and attributes are, I am not even sure (compared with players that he should be compared with - Hazard, Costa, Aguero, Suarez etc).
