comment by Falcao's Fortress of Fear (U9083)
posted 20 minutes ago
Ball control-? Fair point
Touch? Difference between this and ball control?
Speed of thought? He has a brilliant football mind
Awareness? See above
Ability to make space for himself? See above
Passing? Brilliant passer of the ball, his decision making however leaves a lot to be desired
Controlling a game? See above
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I think you've been watching a d if fervent player. Sure it wasn't a little Argentinian geezer playing for a team called Barcelona you were watching?

Rooney's speed of thought is average, his passing is not brilliant either ( Hollywood cross field balls are easy to make), he's not particularly incisive passing wise, but does have his occasional moments and cannot beat a man. I hate to say it, but I do think he is in the downward slope. England looked better without him, and united woukd too.

Ball control-? - He would find it much easier in midfield because he wouldn't have three players snapping at his heels all the time

Touch? - see above

Speed of thought - You really think he doesn't think quiclky on he pitch? I certainly do

Awareness? - Explain? Are you saying he doesn;t have any awareness? Did you not see his pass from deep to Mata in America? His pass from deep to RVP v Villa? How about the halfway line goal against West Ham? He is massively aware of what is going on even though his execution isn't always brilliant.

Ability to make space for himself? - It isn't easy up front but in midfield it's hardly difficult

Passing? - please. He as good a passer as anyone, particularly from range. Using both feet too

Controlling a game? - Not sure, he's never had a consistent run in the midfield to be able to make that determination

I don't want Rooney in midfield. He's too natural a goal scorer, even when having a bad game but that list is just a list taken from thin air

I'm sure people forget what a great all round game Rooney has when he has a form dip

I think if you're gonna see a future with Rooney as captain / even feature regularly for this club he has to change his game.

- Could be position wise, turn into a great CM.
- Change his game so he would be more likely to be used CAM.

Currently I see him as 3rd choice ST, behind Falcao(1st) and RvP(2nd). Roughly...

I see him as 2nd choice CAM, behind Mata(1st) and above Januzaj (3rd)

If he could be involved as a LCM I'd be very happy. This would also allow Di Maria to be used as a LW in a 4-3-3. His communication and work rate would be more put into use as a central midfielder instead of a striker as I see it.

...................Falcao....................
Di Maria.........................Januzaj
.......Rooney(c).....Herrera..........
....................Blind......................
Shaw.....Rojo.......Jones...Rafael
..................DDG........................

If this isn't possible I see nothing but to change captain the next season. To e.g. Jones or Carrick. I'd rather see him change his game due to stability captain wise in the club than captaincy taken away from him.

I agree with Macca, mostly.

comment by Falcao's Fortress of Fear (U9083)
posted 3 minutes ago
I agree with Macca, mostly.
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Yup brother!

LVG has stated before that its important that his captain is playing week in week out
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I think he also said that he wanted the captain to be English which meant that Roo was the only realistic option.


"IMO Rooney has everything needed to play CM."
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I disagree. He has a very poor first touch, he lacks guile and pace and his positional sense is not great either. His best attributes are his finishing and his ability to play a crossfield pass to Valencia from the left side of the penalty area. Neither of which makes him an obvious choice for CM imo.

he lacks guile and pace and his positional sense is not great either
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I guess he fluked the 217 goals he's scored for us then

Hi positional sense in the box is quality. He goes where the space is.

Trouble is, more often than not, he's the only one bothering to get in there.

I do not understand why immediately you identify some aspect of Rooney's game that needs work, you get he scored goals and assists.

I am not criticising his goal return or his assists but his all round play. I know he has scored goals for Utd, important ones as well but his all round play is not at the same level of quality as his goal return. We all criticise Hernadez for his all round play too.

I am a great believer in always looking to improve in life and sportsmen should be the same and Wayne's all round game is in decline, hoping he turns it around or pointing it out does not mean I hate him or want him sacked, flayed or killed.

I may not like him as a person but he plays for Utd and I want all Utd players to do well.

Rooney is the closest thing I've seen to Roy Keane in this squad since Keano left, the possibility of Roooooo nailing down a CM role would suit me just fine, with all of the strikers we have, and when's the last time since Scholes did we have a MF that provided a fair amount of goals. The fact that he can play in several positions makes him indispensable (I don't give a flying fart what all the Anti-Roos say) and makes him even more desirable for captain. Phil Jones is not ready to wear the band, but I defo see him as our future captain with 3-5 years....can't wait for the slagging-off I'll get posting this, but IMHO, this is a phackt.

I do not understand why immediately you identify some aspect of Rooney's game that needs work, you get he scored goals and assists.
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it was in direct response to a comment saying his positional sense his poor

If that is so, howcome he gets on the end of so many balls?

His positional sense is brilliant, as is his movement in the box

There was a goal he scored in America, I forget against who, and he identified an area where there was space in the box, but waited and timed his run into it to perfection leaving his marker wondering where the fak he was.

I get he hasn;t been brilliant this season but do we really need to dismantle his whole game and make up stuff to try and show he is worse than he is?

Rooney's movement is one of his strongest attributes and part of the reason he has scored so many goals for us

Remember the season he became known as the tap-in merchant? Everyone was moaning he never scores from range?

Simple, it's because that season he played at 9, and his movement was the reason he scored so many tap ins.

Look at his goal against Swansea this season. Positionally good wouldn't you say Mudd?

I am not trying to be rude here but Rooney, the closest thing to Roy Keane??

In what way? I am intrigued

can't wait for the slagging-off I'll get posting this
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You wanna try being on here in my shoes when talking about wazza

MUDD, give Rooney a game in CM, and you'll see what I mean. He does have some steel, agreed?...or not? Certainly we can't get steel out of Ander-Herrera yet (too frail) or Fletch anymore (too emaciated). I'm open for disagreement, but that's how I see it.

He's nothing like Keane TBF, sadly there aren't many if any players in the game like Keane these days. Our squad is seriously lacking in leaders.

I personally see the signing of falcao at the figures quoted and rvp by saf as a sign that Rooney isn't trusted enough despite his record.

You cant knock past Rooney but now Rooney isn't consistently moving and finding space and its affecting the team.

He has always had dips but not like the current.

As a MF sorry but we may as well keep clevz

1982, there isn't anything like Roy Keane (or Gattuso), very true. The best we can hope for is the "next best thing". They don't make 'em like Keano anymore. But Rooney IMO, is about the next best thing.

I would say Rooney is a good player and that's about it. Yes, he scores goals and has the odd moment of brilliance but nothing to suggest that he's a top player let alone being called a world class. He's not even in the top 30 forwards/attacking players in the world. I agree with MUDD that other aspects of his game are nothing to write home about. As a United fan I expect a lot more from a senior member of the squad and I hope he turns up. Good player but bang average striker.

I can't see Rooney as a striker for many more years, I think Louie will make a strong midfielder out of him, as long as he doesn't become petulant. This won't be for 2-3 years IMO...remember how well Scholes converted, although it can be argued he was never an all-out striker, but it's a similar move.

Ouch^^^ hard assessment on wazza. Maybe a bit harsh, but I do agree he's put on a pedestal on which he does not (quite) belong. He's not fit to be considered at the very top table, not to far away though.

Right let me start with jones beig captain- he shouldn't even be playing, let alone captain. Terrible player and not captain material.

As for Rooney, bit more complex. Rooney on the surface was the only one in many people's view to take the captaincy, and whilst their views are valid I think there are just as many pros to cons for Rooney.

Pros being he is most experienced player in the squad and the longest serving first team member (I know fletch has been technically a year longer at the clubs first team but let's face it rooneys when fit has played 98% of games avialible, fletch has spent a lot of time hovering around the squad, the situations are not the same. He also has been one of our most important players in the last decade. Probably te most important in t eh current squad given all the departures. And he obviously commands a great deal of respect from other players. Also given the players we have, barring rvp who was captain at arsenal we didn't have any other legit captain choices.

Cons

It now does mean that he is undroppable, realistically how often does a captain get dropped for a sustainable period. I've said since falcao signed that for the sake of balance I want us to revert to 433 or some variation and see mata played off falcao, at least for a little whole, this means benching Rooney and rvp and unfortunately we can't do that.

No striker in my book should be a captain, very hard lead from the front.

Rooney is in general not captain material either, even if he wasn't a striker.

Was it wrong to give the captains armband to him? Yes and no. We really don't have anyone else. But it does mean he now has to be accomdated regardless of form. It's a case of wait and see.

Hopefully a real leader for this team will either emerge from the players we've bought or will bring one in soon because in my opinion we've sorely lacked someone like that, especially in the centre since we lost keane although both rio and vidic and paddy were all fairly good in that sense, none of them put boots to asssed quite like Roy.

Well see with Rooney I suppose, te best we can hope for is that he recaptures his old form.

Stretty

If you hadn't out the jones thing at the beginning, I would not have believed that was you because the rest was very good

comment by Dichinero - The era of the Van Gaalaticos! (U10875)
posted 4 hours, 8 minutes ago
I would say Rooney is a good player and that's about it. Yes, he scores goals and has the odd moment of brilliance but nothing to suggest that he's a top player let alone being called a world class. He's not even in the top 30 forwards/attacking players in the world. I agree with MUDD that other aspects of his game are nothing to write home about. As a United fan I expect a lot more from a senior member of the squad and I hope he turns up. Good player but bang average striker.
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He plays like he knows he will get smashed to pieces if he makes one mistake. It's like he's playing footie in a firing range

A scouse mate of mine reckons he needs taking out of the firing line for a bit

This is not a fitness issue, he's looking lean, nor is it he's on the downgrade issue either. He's 28 not 35.

The problems are in his head. He isn't playing free or without fear. He's playing like a scared cat

The media won't stop until they have hounded him out of the international set up. Nobody would complain if he did. Well, I'm sure some would use it as another excuse to Trash him, but Rooney won't. You can tell how proud he is playing for his country, it oozes out of him

Trouble is, the country won't allow him to relax and enjoy his new captaincy and his role playing for England. The more chit they heap on him, the better. Let's run a poll asking the country if he should be dropped 5 minutes after his first game as international captain. I mean, seriously? Think about just what a ludicrous suggestion that really is for a minute

They won't stop until they get him. Then they will move onto their next target if the national team does carry on as it is. Wilshere looks favourite and after that, probably sterling.

If I saw wazza tonight, I'd say to him fak em. Concentrate on United. Let them find another hate figure to target to make up for the fact it isn't them that went from the streets of Croccy to becoming one of the most recognisable sportsman on the planet

Maybe then, he might just stop playing with the world on his shoulders

Won't happen though because he isn't a quiter, and he keeps getting picked

People don't seem to appreciate that there was a lot more to Roy Keane than just a snarl. He was simply a world class midfielder. Being a bit of a psycho gave him an edge but it is not what made him the player he was. Roo has none of Keane's attributes as a central midfielder whatsoever. His best position is as a striker and it has been for at least five years.

comment by redmisty (U7556)
posted 34 seconds ago
People don't seem to appreciate that there was a lot more to Roy Keane than just a snarl. He was simply a world class midfielder. Being a bit of a psycho gave him an edge but it is not what made him the player he was.
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yes it was actually

United were getting pizzed off about the amount of yellow cards he was getting and it was, I think, Brian Kidd that told him that the club was fed up with the bans he was receiving

So Keano cleaned up his act somewhat

Not long after, Kidd told him to go back to playing how he used to, the club would rather put up with the bans

Keane was WC, and part of that was because of the aggressive way he played.