Zlatan has technique and physique that Rooney can only dream for. To put it mildly, Zlatan is better footballer than Rooney.
How would you feel if Rooney smashed it at Everton?
- Thread starter RedTillI'mDead
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Zlatan has technique and physique that Rooney can only dream for. To put it mildly, Zlatan is better footballer than Rooney.
Zlatan is still one of the strongest players in the game.
I see short and skinny players bully Rooney.
I see short and skinny players bully Rooney.
I strongly disagree. Rooney’s lifestyle is not remotely suited for a top level athlete, and at that level the margins are extremely small.
You can’t compare Zlatan with Rooney that’s just an insult to the lion
He isn't an average person, he is an elite fulltime athlete with the best trainers, facilities, dieticians available. He done extra training for the 2014 world cup and looked the leanest he has ever been.
Even people like Giggs had to take up Yoga and strict diet to carry on playing in their 30s. Zlatan is 5 years older and recovering from an ACL injury, still in better condition as they are dedicated to their craft
People will pull out genetic freaks of nature like Zlatan, Giggs and Ronaldo to bash Rooney. Truth is most footballers with the sort of mileage he has had will lose quite a bit
The 3 you named are 3 of the best examples of taking of your body, Rooney neglected to do the same.
They are the best of the best but there's a reason not every football plays like Zlatan and Giggs in their late 30's. They are exceptions. Most players with the same amount of miles as Rooney will suffer. Maybe Rooney didn't help himself with his lifestyle but you can't stay he himself destroyed it all.
Hardly any player suffer that much or get completely done for at 31-32 age. At 34-35 it's acceptable, but Rooney has been done for since 3 years, that means when he was at his 30 or something. That's too early.
Rooney has been in noticable decline since his late 20s.
He's been playing at the highest level since he was 16. Look at Fabregas btw, another one who started young and has declined quite a bit now.
Agree but if he has taken care of himself and his body he could have at least survived till his 33 imo.
Ryan Giggs was playing at as high a level and looked fresher in his late 30’s than Rooney does now.
Giggs zlatan Ronaldo are exceptions.
The point is that despite being at a genetic advantage, they still worked harder and were more disciplined than Rooney.
Gary Neville was 36 when he retired - he was fitter at 32 than Rooney is now!
Milner is a good comparison. Same age, started playing first team football at the same age, played about the same amount of games and seem a pretty close match genetically. Milner is a model professional and has been playing a level above Rooney the last few years.
True they did work harder and maybe if Rooney worked harder he could have lasted another year or two or if he had reinvented himself successfully but just because he didn't do something special like that doesn't mean he pissed his career away. He had a very long career playing at a high level. The decline would have to take a lot of hard work to delay for him
just had a look and felt this sums it up
and of course, the obligatory 'he needs runners'
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Rooney has been smoking and drinking since he was a teenager right? It doesn't matter how fit you are, that stuff catches up with you.
A lot of players go cold turkey on alcohol now; it's how the new generation of players are training. It allows them to be at peak performance 365 days a year.
A lot of players go cold turkey on alcohol now; it's how the new generation of players are training. It allows them to be at peak performance 365 days a year.
Of course, he hasn't and I don't think you'll find anyone saying that. He's the record goalscorer for England and Man Utd. But if he took care of himself, he might still be playing for Man Utd and not struggling to hold a starting berth at Everton.
This. There’s no room for alcohol (or cigarettes! Jesus) in a pro athlete’s life.
See I don’t know if he’s been playing for United even if he did take care of himself. Maybe as a rotation option but I do agree he’d be a really good player for Everton if he was more into preserving his body. That’s what I’m trying to say. It’s part his fault but part the mileage
I'd be surprised if within a few years athletes at the top level who consume alcohol won't be outliers. In fact, I would actually be surprised if football (or other team sports) isn't one of the few places where athletes at the top level still get away with it.
Having taken up running at just a hobby jogger level the last year or so, it is so brutally apparent how detrimental alcohol is to physical performance. And at the top level, the margins are so fine it's ridiculous that someone would willingly put themselves at a disadvantage like that. Smoking, I don't even have words.
As for Rooney, he's done, unfortunately. He should just call it a day, and live and enjoy the life he wants without feeling bad for doing it. He's earned both the right and the means to do so at this point.
I do wonder why they do it, at least those at the very top, like Rooney was. It's very easy to avoid, and even if you have a long career it's going be over by the time you're 35-40. Plenty of time for booze and cigarettes once you've retired from playing, and plenty of other ways to enjoy yourself without smoking and drinking.
Boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
I think if anything it probably just shows how many of them don't really care too much about football. They've a natural gift that's getting them a hefty weekly paypacket, and they don't really give two shits whether they're as good as they could be or if their career lasts as long as it should, because at the end of the day, once you're earning an average person's annual wage in a week, you're set for life within a few months, nevermind a career spanning a decade or more.
I think you might be forgetting this thing called human physiology guys. Smoking is especially difficult to get out of your life; many men and women will die due to smoking yet never quit because their physiology has been completely changed by it. Smoking at a young age is especially damaging to your endocrine system; because it causes a permanent change due to you being in a development phase.
Alcohol is easier to give up because it's addictive properties are not as strong.
I don't blame Rooney for it, he came from a working class background and was probably exposed to drugs at a young age.
Alcohol is easier to give up because it's addictive properties are not as strong.
I don't blame Rooney for it, he came from a working class background and was probably exposed to drugs at a young age.
Rooney also came back ridiculously early from every major injury he suffered. England would throw him out there half fit and not even fully healed. Even fergie played Rooney in the second leg against Bayern which was stupid.
This forum bashes our legends to an embarrassing degree.
This forum bashes our legends to an embarrassing degree.
Even after he is not our problems anymore he still make us debating is that problems of his was lifestyle or genetic. 
The thing is for me, even after he broke that record i don't even care about it. My affinity towards him almost zero. Even Gaz whom i despise as pundit still register as club legend for me. Thats how those last years of his took away my joy watching him.
The fact he is done as player. Longer he play just make him like a looser, a reminder of a player who never took care of his body and lifestyle into his latter stage of his great career.
The thing is for me, even after he broke that record i don't even care about it. My affinity towards him almost zero. Even Gaz whom i despise as pundit still register as club legend for me. Thats how those last years of his took away my joy watching him.
The fact he is done as player. Longer he play just make him like a looser, a reminder of a player who never took care of his body and lifestyle into his latter stage of his great career.
I suspect Neville would disagree. He was an absolute shambles towards the end was our Gaz.
Wasn't it moyes who played Rooney injured?
It was Fergie who rushed out Roo to comeback in QF leg UCL against Bayern away still injured because we dont have another striker to rely on. That was proved costly
Gary was still a regular for us at 32.
He was.
But he hardly ever played. And if he’d been subbed, he’d have breathed a sigh of relief. Not had a massive tantrum.
Only after the bad ankle injury when Gary Speed fell on him. Which affected his last couple of seasons. Was stilll a top player at the age Rooney is now.
Yes but Rooney was a gradual decline and you can see him just losing it. But Torres was a sharp decline in like a 14-18 month window he went from a great to being absolutely shit.
Yes I agree at least he is one year older than Rooney who somehow is the same age as Ronaldo
..Name many other top tier footballers with the style Rooney had, that became a first team regular in a top tier sport at age 16.
Rooney had a 4-6 year head start on almost everyone of his contemporaries. As such, you shouldn't be shocked when his body is breaking down 4-6 years sooner than someone who took off at 21, not 16.
At 36 he was, but not at 32! Let alone 28-29.