Poll: Is Wayne Rooney past it and should he be sold?

Is Rooney past it?

  • Total voters
    1,482
I always thinks he does poorly post-season in terms of performances. Genuinely believe he's overcooked this season.

I have no qualms over Rooney. He'll be important for us next year as ever.
 
I think 'past it' is too harsh, he's clearly not the same player he was 10 years ago but he's not a terrible player either.
I think if he played an entire season as our main striker, and we got more midfielders so he doesn't have to drop into that position due to injuries, he'd get more than 20 goals.
 
Orton said:
Who wouldn't be excited about a shiny young striker (or Costa) who can contribute more than Wayne Rooney these days? Oh, you of course. I guess Rooney's season has you creaming your pants along with the 2 before.
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Maybe you like to jerk off to the fantasy that a new signing would score 50 goals, even in a malfunctioning and flawed United team. I'm a bit more respectful of players who have actually done the business for my team over a long period. Every player needs to be replaced eventually, but I'm never going to hate an existing United player just because they don't match the output of a fantasy signing. Having Wayne Rooney isn't stopping us signing a new striker, and I'm happy to have him until we sign a striker that actually proves they are better than him for us.
 
The agenda posting on either side of the Rooney debate is toxic.

I don't know how anyone can say he has nothing left to offer, but the by the same token I don't see how anyone looked at today's game against a poor Slovenia side and try to be all high and mighty about it. Rooney has a part to play and still looks far better than RvP, but I don't see how anyone can think he can be our main man in a league title challenge. He needs to know he can't just start every game because he has the armband, that will keep us treading water.
 
dannyrhinos89 said:
It's not an embarrassment and I stand by it.

He scored a measly 14 goals in all comps this season. How many of those were pens or free kicks too?

Do you consider that acceptable for our supposed main striker?

I really hope he proves me wrong though but I'm struggling to see it.

@Rado_N
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Happy to help you there @dannyrhinos89, it seems like you don't actually watch Manchester United play football so I'll key you in on why you'll probably be wrong.

1) He played almost half the season as a midfielder.

2) He will be involved in two more competitions presumably, the Champions League and the Capital One Cup.

3) He will be in a settled side, which has been given a full year to adapt to LvG's ways.

4) He will play the main striker role consistently.

5) Not many of his goals came from penalties or free kicks.
 
United22 said:
He isn't anything special right now , and its pretty funny how everyone is defending him even when he has absolute stinkers. He is decent but isn't near the required level of first choice striker that we need at our club. Also him being record goalscorer for United doesn't mean I'm calling him average throughout his whole career... The Rooney of 09-12 is the level of striker that we should have now...

Top scorer for England...pshht. Banging them in against cannon fodder and choking it on the big stage says it all. Even when he surpasses Charlton's record, no-one will give a toss because everyone knows how little it means in reality.
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next up... San Mighty Marino
 
Art Vandelay said:
Just more excuses for him. Scoring 20 goals isn't the issue, his general play hasn't been good enough. RVP could score 20 goals too if given perfect circumstances and is the Dutch all time top scorer. Doesn't mean he's still good enough either for a club with our ambitions either.
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Disagree sorry, I still think Rooney has more to offer than RVP. He looked completely uninterested last season for the most part, his work rate was terrible. Add in his age and injuries and RVP needs to go to a less physical league like Italy where he'll be afforded more time on the ball.

Some of the posts on here are a disgrace to be perfectly honest, whatever spin people put on it he'll go down as one of if the best forward in the history of the English game.
 
watching that game today, I bet everyone was gagging to get on here and slate him.
then he scores the winner

I have the feeling that'll pretty much be a theme next season!

can he manage not to score 2 against San Marino to keep the chance of breaking the record at Wembley is the question!
 
As a striker, I feel hes got to the point where he basically needs to score 1 every 2 games to justify his position in his team (if he keeps up with his poor touch, hold up and other things that slow down play).
 
LilRicky said:
Disagree sorry, I still think Rooney has more to offer than RVP. He looked completely uninterested last season for the most part, his work rate was terrible. Add in his age and injuries and RVP needs to go to a less physical league like Italy where he'll be afforded more time on the ball.

Some of the posts on here are a disgrace to be perfectly honest, whatever spin people put on it he'll go down as one of if the best forward in the history of the English game.
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That's damning with faint praise. Neither of them offer enough. One has no work rate and looks like his legs have gone. The other can't hold the ball up and slows down our attacks when he gets involved. Neither stretch the defence or worry defenders with runs in behind. They will both score goals if given enough chances, but neither are good enough if we aim to win the league or do well in the CL.
 
With a collection of players that is gradually settling more and more into LVG's plans, I can see him having a great season next year. He always does well whenever he isn't moved around a lot, and I think we will see the old Rooney in 15/16. I imagine he will score a bucketload, spearheading a 433 for a full season - hopefully he can stay fit, as the manager clearly rates him, and sees him as an important player.
 
:lol: The wankfest here is unbelievable.

1) People will choose to ignore that he has never performed in a real international tournament

2) Using one good performance against cannon fodder amid a string of mediocre ones to justify his worth; says it all
 
He's past it, in the sense that he's past his best, but I'm confident he can still get 20+ in a season. Couple that with the fact that there aren't any possible improvements on him out there, the only real conclusion is that he should stay. Keep him as a lone striker - don't dick about putting him here, there and everywhere, and we'll be fine.
 
Without getting into the 'past it' debate (which is tiresome and pretty stupid imo), I'm a bit surprised at the 'in internationals, only scores against cannon fodder' argument: most attackers in international football play against the same level of opposition most of the time, summer tournaments only represent a minority of games ultimately. On top of that, I'd say that the average level of international teams has risen over the decades, playing a 'minnow' nowadays is definitely nothing like playing such a team 3 or 4 decades ago with the professionalisation of football. Scoring goals in qualifers against 'a poor Slovenia' is very important, don't understand the logic in knocking it.

Especially weird given that over his career Rooney has scored goals in very big games against top opposition, both in the CL and in the League, so I don't quite understand the argument being made. That he hasn't had a top tournament is true, but even those who dislike him know there were in most cases circumstances that explained this. And loads of top players from other countries have had underwhelming tournaments, world cups or continental, international football isn't the ultimate measuring stick - except of course, when it's useful to knock a player!
 
Agh. There is a middle ground, RedCafe.


I'd ideally like to bring in another striker and have the two compete. Rooney blows so hot and cold it'd be great to have another option.
 
Shouldn't have taken an international game to make people realize Rooney isn't past it. Past his best, sure, but not past it altogether. He's only 29 ffs.

Fact is if we sold him now we'd probably need to sign two excellent players to replace him, which says a lot about how important he currently is to our side. If we ever strengthen to the point where he doesn't deserve to be in the first 11 then sure, selling him might be a good idea. Probably best to actually do that strengthening first though.
 
Look at the teams he plays against at international level, ffs how many players from Slovenia would even get close to the England side.

He's not what he was. Someone feel free to quote me if I'm wrong, but he won't score 30+ in all comps this year, which is the standard we need from our main #9.
 
dannyrhinos89 said:
It's not an embarrassment and I stand by it.

He scored a measly 14 goals in all comps this season. How many of those were pens or free kicks too?

Do you consider that acceptable for our supposed main striker?

I really hope he proves me wrong though but I'm struggling to see it.

@Rado_N
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Why on earth shouldn't free kicks count?! :lol: crazy how all rationality seems to go out the window when it comes to Rooney with some people

charleysurf said:
Yeah yeah yeah. If Diego Costa had had exactly the same game as that, ending it with the winning goal, you'd probably be creaming your pants. Muppets like you are just bored with Rooney and don't like him getting in the way of having some shiny young striker to get excited about.
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It's exactly this. Muppetry. I don't wanna say "go support Madrid" cos I'm not saying people who don't like Rooney aren't loyal fans, but its the same kind of attitude that circus of a club seem to have. Some people on this forum, as evidenced by the transfer forum literally seem to want 8 or 9 new starters every season.
 
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Bwuk said:
Look at the teams he plays against at international level, ffs how many players from Slovenia would even get close to the England side.

He's not what he was. Someone feel free to quote me if I'm wrong, but he won't score 30+ in all comps this year, which is the standard we need from our main #9.
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Handanovič and Kampl. You can add Oblak as well by now I guess.

and in regards to Rooney, I think he's got a chance of scoring 30+ next season. The team should improve, LvG has a season under his belt and should know by now (guessing he does) what he needs and with the finances at disposal should be able to adress it. Fair enough the new players should still be given time etc. etc., but even so, I can't see anything but an improvement coming next season.
With more understanding of the system or "philosophy" and one another, there should be more fluidity and creativity in the final third, and quite simply more quality on the pitch.
Granted I expect him to stay away from that DM spot.
 
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Bwuk said:
Oblak and Handanovic are both keepers, so it's either or.

kampl wouldn't be a guarantee.
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I know, funny how the one position in which we've got more than one great player is a keeper. Still, both would (if English) probably make the squad.
And no, not a guarantee, but he's more than good enough to be out there over the likes of Townsend.
Oh and we've got a very promising RB (Stojanovič) as well. Though I wouldn't go as far as to say he'd make the team.
 
OGkush said:
I know, funny how the one position in which we've got more than one great player is a keeper. Still, both would (if English) probably make the squad.
And no, not a guarantee, but he's more than good enough to be out there over the likes of Townsend.
Oh and we've got a very promising RB as well. Though I wouldn't go as far as to say he'd make the team.
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Not disagreeing mate. My point is England have a far superior side to anyone in their group, and should be winning there games quite comfortably.
 
He's obviously nowhere as good as he was in 09/10 and the calendar year of 2011 and he's not anywhere near as good as the forwards playing for the best teams in Europe. However, he's still probably the best striker at the club and most of our squad doesn't match up to the best sides in Europe, you'd clear out most of our squad for not being good enough before Rooney.
 
Bwuk said:
Not disagreeing mate. My point is England have a far superior side to anyone in their group, and should be winning there games quite comfortably.
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That's true. And yet regardless of that fact it seems kinda strange to see England winning all of their games, since 1) It's a qualifier, look at other so called giants like Spain, Netherlands and France recently to see how they're doing. And 2) I'm used to England dissapointing me.

Just please don't feck up against Switzerland.
 
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