Rooney vs Nani

Who will be the better player in two years?

  • Total voters
    218
  • Poll closed .
Nani for me. I think alot of posters on here tend to overrate Rooney because he's one of the better players England have so they have some type of hope that he can be their new messiah when he's actually not at that sort of level yet.

Rooney's obviously a fantastic player on his day, but he's so inconsistent that we do not see 'his day' often enough. His performances are either very good, or very bad with very little in between. I actually think that while he has become more mature, his performances have become less 'explosive' which I think was one of his greatest strengths when he first burst onto the scene.
 
Simon Adebesi said:
Those are someone else's words, not mine. (Someone who was actually praising him. I did think those numbers were a little harsh but they supported the argument I was making.)
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You posted them and said "agree with all of this"... that makes them your words and tbh they were verging on retarded.

Ask Ashley Cole if he thought Nani was an "8" earlier this season. Ask Djourou if he thought Nani was a "6" at the weekend.

Who is the best winger in the country then Simon?
 
Freak said:
Nani for me. I think alot of posters on here tend to overrate Rooney because he's one of the better players England have so they have some type of hope that he can be their new messiah when he's actually not at that sort of level yet.
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Many of the 17 who have voted Rooney are not English and some who are have no interest in the English national team

AttackingFlair, Bear Attack, Brwned, charlenefan, Elliott, green demon, johnmufc, kishankhagram, KM, lynchie, MikeUpNorth, narnar, noodlehair, Randall Flagg, RedRonaldo, Scrumpet, Widnes
 
Randall Flagg said:
Many of the 17 who have voted Rooney are not English and some who are have no interest in the English national team

AttackingFlair, Bear Attack, Brwned, charlenefan, Elliott, green demon, johnmufc, kishankhagram, KM, lynchie, MikeUpNorth, narnar, noodlehair, Randall Flagg, RedRonaldo, Scrumpet, Widnes
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Maybe that's not the reason then. But people are overrating him.
 
Take Rooney out of the side, and we will be hopeless. Two seasons ago, we capitulated during the run-in because of an injury to Rooney.

Nani was not even a part of our best side in the run-in last season. He was on the bench. Instead, a player as ordinary as Park was preferred to him. Nani is not yet indispensable.

I feel Nani is overrated because of his wonderful ball control. This is nice on the eye, but Rooney is a far more influential figure, and is always key in the most important matches.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
Who is the best winger in the country then Simon?
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Nani, probably. As I said here.

Simon Adebesi said:
Listen, I can see I am in a minority here but I stand by my opinion. Is Nani the best winger in the country? Arguably. Is he a good player? Yes, he is a very good player. But he is extremely frustrating, he dribbles when he should pass, he shoots when other people are in a far better position than he is... he makes the wrong decision - for me - too often.

Looking at other players who have had a claim to be the best winger in the country at one time or other, I think Nani falls short. Kanchelskis. Beckham. Overmars. Pires. Giggs. Ronaldo.
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Rooney was out of the side for a decent amount of games last season, what happened? We didn't meltdown and fade away. It was his lack of form and injury which meant Berbatov was able to shine through that period. Obviously he is very important to the side, but look at how dramatic you are.

Nani was not a part of our best side in the run-in last season? How long do you consider a season to be, or do you just count from January onwards?
 
Just to digress a little, the subject of mentality is often raised with both players... but Nani, the Portuguese flair merchant, is arguably stronger mentally than Rooney, the rough and ready Scouser. Rooney has always been seen as the leader of the team with the United spirit, whereas players like Nani are often seen as weaker mentally (basically because it fits a certain stereotype). But I've been really impressed with Nani's mental strength, it's like you can visibly see how Fergie has influenced him. If anything, Rooney seems more likely to be affected by mental factors.
 
johnmufc said:
Take Rooney out of the side, and we will be hopeless. Two seasons ago, we capitulated during the run-in because of an injury to Rooney.
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You could have said that 3 or 4 seasons ago, but since just before and even after his contract situation, he hasn't been that good. Based on that, we could do without him definitely.
 
johnmufc said:
Nani was not even a part of our best side in the run-in last season. He was on the bench. Instead, a player as ordinary as Park was preferred to him. Nani is not yet indispensable.
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That's the mentalist thing I've read on here for ages, I don't even know where to start. Nani rubbish aside, 'as ordinary as Park'....fecking hell.
 
Poor Park :(

I love our little Korean, big game player.

John obviously doesn't rate Welbeck, Hernandez, Young, Berbatov either though tbf considering he thinks we'll "capitulate" if Rooney gets injured.
 
It is really quite close. Both are vital to the side. No real point in even discussing it to be fair

I made the point though in the other thread, that although I believe Nani is responsible for more chances created and scored I do think rooney being on the pitch is more influential
 
So much wrong about this post.

johnmufc said:
Take Rooney out of the side, and we will be hopeless. Two seasons ago, we capitulated during the run-in because of an injury to Rooney.
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We have other quality strikers now you see, we didnt back then. None other than berba actually. Now we have 3 more.

I dont see what happened 2yrs ago having any say on the current scenario anyways.

Nani was not even a part of our best side in the run-in last season. He was on the bench. Instead, a player as ordinary as Park was preferred to him. Nani is not yet indispensable.
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Wow.

And how long is a run in mate?

I feel Nani is overrated because of his wonderful ball control. This is nice on the eye, but Rooney is a far more influential figure, and is always key in the most important matches.
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The debate have included Berba then. He's the best at it in the squad, by quite a margin. Really believe Nani's ball control is what provokes this discussion?
 
Randall Flagg said:
It is really quite close. Both are vital to the side. No real point in even discussing it to be fair

I made the point though in the other thread, that although I believe Nani is responsible for more chances created and scored I do think rooney being on the pitch is more influential
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The poll is about who you believe will be the better player in 2yrs. And you've voted for Rooney.
 
Rooney I feel has hit a stonewall in the last few years, he doesn't seem to have progressed all that much. His private life and off-pitch troubles probably haven't helped out in this respect, and the amount of pressure he's under being the marquee English player may have contributed also.

Nani on the other hand has come on leaps and bounds with a certain professionalism reminiscant of Ronaldo. He's the one on the up at the moment, that's for sure.
 
I'm torn, if I'm brutally honest, I can't decide, not at the moment, no. It's too much speculation.

Roughly two years ago, I thought Nani was on his way out. Plenty of potential, bags of it, but his decision-making was raw. He's exploded literally and I wouldn't be surprised if he ups his level of play in the next years.
 
A different reaction to this thread and in the votes than I expected. The consensus seems to be that at the moment they are pretty much equal to each other, with perhaps Rooney edging it, but the future looks towards Nani as he shows further signs of development.
 
A lot of it will depend on two important factors. Where will Rooney be used in two years, and how much further will Nani develop his game?

A lot of how Rooney plays can be put down to where in the pitch we play him, which does vary from time to time. In my opinion, he's best in that creative, second striker role, however not everyone would agree, and depending on how our team looks in two years, he's the sort of player who may need to play out of position for a while. If we're lacking a goalscorer, then we may be playing him as an out and out striker. If we're short of numbers in the middle, he may be slotting in for us in the centre of midfield.

With Nani, it's hard to tell how good he will be in two years. He's come on leaps and bounds since 2010, and I think there's still improvement to be had. When you look at how much better Ronaldo got, you wonder how much better Nani can get. I don't expect that he'll be as good as Ronaldo or anything like that, but I do think he can improve to the level where he'll be seen as one of the best players in the league.

That's assuming that both will remain at the club, though.
 
Fair points, but would you not argue he is already seen as one of the best players in the league? I think the more relevant argument will be if he can develop to be considered the best player.
 
Hectic said:
Fair points, but would you not argue he is already seen as one of the best players in the league? I think the more relevant argument will be if he can develop to be considered the best player.
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When on form, yes, but his problem may be that there's still a lot of inconsistency in his game.
 
I've gone with Nani edging it right now, but I think he'll be the superior player by quite a bit in 2 years.

In my opinion Rooney's best seasons were 05-07. I don't know whether my mind reflects reality, but I remember him taking opposition players on far more often, battering them out the way with a combination of strength & pace (the amount of times I used to say "I can't believe how quick he is for his build") and also being far more proficient with his ranged shooting. I don't know the stats but would love to know his out of area shots/goals 04-07 vs 08-present. He has to some degree compensated by hugely improving his ranged passing.

Nani on the other hand I feel is on much more of an upward curve. If it wasn't for Messi/Ronaldo I'd say Nani would be making the WPotY podium.
 
Gone for Nani.Just feel Rooney will not get that much better than he already is.
 
Tough call but comparing teamates is kinda pointless.

Both players have the potential to be the third best player in the world and I really believe that.

With Rooney, everything he does is overhyped. Like whenever he doesn't score he is said to have a shit game. Yes he does have consistency issues but these are also overhyped.

Saying that Rooney's low-level is shit is laughable. Yes he can feck up some easy passes and first touches but he also can thread through-balls and cross field balls, win tackles, track back, help defend even at his worst.

Rooney's overall game in 09/10 wasn't his best but he scored 35 feckin goals the year after losing Ronaldo and Tevez and he did it in pretty much every big game.

Last season Rooney didn't score as much but was feckin brilliant as support striker.

To excel at 2 vastly different positions is phenomenal. Oh, he can also put in a shift on the left and as an attacking midfield.

People just hate Rooney these days because of his off the field shit.

He is not consistent like Ronaldo and Messi. No players are. Not even close. Drogba is also very inconsistent and misses many chances but you don't hear too much about it.

Everything with Rooney is overhyped - his shit play, his excellent play and his scoring rate.

If we were to play Barca tomorrow and if I had to start either Rooney or Nani I would start Rooney. Just. But we have other wing options. We don't have a playmaker that can be a force all over the pitch however.
 
I've gone for Nani. I think he's a player that just keeps getting better and better and i don't see the same improvement in Rooneys game. Rooney seems to have lost an awful lot of the dynamism that made him such a wonderful exciting talent in his younger years and his passing and touch can range from the sublime to the downright awful. When the game is tight and we're in need of a moment of creativity or magic for the last 18-24 months i've felt that Nani is more likely to conjure it than Rooney is.
 
I reckon the only reason Nani's winning the poll is because the improvement in his game has been more recent (and dramatic, as Hectic says) so people are of the belief that he'll continue to improve at this rate but I can't see that ending well, that level of expectation is only going to lead to more criticism down the years if (and I believe when) he doesn't reach the level below Ronaldo and co., and people will end up not appreciating just how good a player he really is just because he's not the player they hoped he would be. A bit like Rooney now I guess. The other thing is that this improvement happened over a year ago, I'm not sure it's ongoing now...he went up from a useful squad player and a talented young player to one of our most important players and one of the best players in the league throughout the year of 2010, I don't think he's improved since then he's just maintained that level for the most part. Another factor is it's more fashionable to criticise Rooney than Nani now, I believe.

As for Nani being more productive, everyone recognises 2010 as a turning point for Nani so here's the stats for the two since the start of 2010:

Rooney
88 games
52 goals (0.6 gpg)
21 assists (0.24 apg)

Nani
98 games
22 goals (0.22 gpg)
41 assists (0.4 apg)
 
If we could wipe out last October from our memories and do this poll again I'm sure the results would change substantially.
 
RedDevilCanuck said:
Tough call but comparing teamates is kinda pointless.

Both players have the potential to be the third best player in the world and I really believe that.

With Rooney, everything he does is overhyped. Like whenever he doesn't score he is said to have a shit game. Yes he does have consistency issues but these are also overhyped.

Saying that Rooney's low-level is shit is laughable. Yes he can feck up some easy passes and first touches but he also can thread through-balls and cross field balls, win tackles, track back, help defend even at his worst.

Rooney's overall game in 09/10 wasn't his best but he scored 35 feckin goals the year after losing Ronaldo and Tevez and he did it in pretty much every big game.

Last season Rooney didn't score as much but was feckin brilliant as support striker.

To excel at 2 vastly different positions is phenomenal. Oh, he can also put in a shift on the left and as an attacking midfield.

People just hate Rooney these days because of his off the field shit.

He is not consistent like Ronaldo and Messi. No players are. Not even close. Drogba is also very inconsistent and misses many chances but you don't hear too much about it.


Everything with Rooney is overhyped - his shit play, his excellent play and his scoring rate.

If we were to play Barca tomorrow and if I had to start either Rooney or Nani I would start Rooney. Just. But we have other wing options. We don't have a playmaker that can be a force all over the pitch however.
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Brilliant post. Agree with almost everything you said.
 
Parks a pretty average player. Not sure why thats caused such a hullabaloo.
 
Guybrush Threepwood said:
How does it look if you take away Rooney's pens?

Rather close I'd say.
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By my reckoning he's scored 7 (and missed 3?), which means he's still scored at a rate of better than 1 in 2 and he scores or assists at a rate of 0.75 per game compared to Nani's 0.62 which is still a pretty significant difference. That means people think he contributes more to our team's overall play which definitely surprises me.
 
Brwned said:
I reckon the only reason Nani's winning the poll is because the improvement in his game has been more recent (and dramatic, as Hectic says) so people are of the belief that he'll continue to improve at this rate but I can't see that ending well, that level of expectation is only going to lead to more criticism down the years if (and I believe when) he doesn't reach the level below Ronaldo and co., and people will end up not appreciating just how good a player he really is just because he's not the player they hoped he would be. A bit like Rooney now I guess. The other thing is that this improvement happened over a year ago, I'm not sure it's ongoing now...he went up from a useful squad player and a talented young player to one of our most important players and one of the best players in the league throughout the year of 2010, I don't think he's improved since then he's just maintained that level for the most part. Another factor is it's more fashionable to criticise Rooney than Nani now, I believe.
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Excellent points. It is interesting because Nani could effectively be doing exactly what we saw with Rooney, but at a later stage of his career instead. It would be a different result had we had the same discussion but with Rooney from 2006 instead, the votes would clearly be in favour of Wayne because his development at that time looked to be huge.

I don't think this will be the case with Nani, or at least he won't keep improving at the same rate for years on end, but he'll reach a level which is high enough to be accepted as his limit, and consistency won't be a concern.
 
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