I just think it's an easy excuse to give, we've had plenty of shit performances with Rooney in the line-up this year as well.
Wayne Rooney | 2012-14 Performances
- Thread starter gooDevil
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without a doubt we missed him big time. Its not just his play..its his aggression, determination to win and general cajoling of his team mates that fires everyone up. He hates losing, very much in the Fergie vain. I couldn't believe that lack of urgency in the last 15mins. Ferguson is always stating that the team "never give in"....I just thought they did today.
Maybe you misunderstood me, I didn't say we'd have necessarily won with Rooney, just that the football played would have been better
Since he was out we shouldn't have played a flat 4-4-2. He's better at linking the midfield to the strikers than Robin is.
Undoubtedly he would have helped in some way today if he'd been producing the improved football we'd been starting to see from him before his injury. Actually moving would have been of great benefit to the team. Ironically, for the player who arguably most suits the zombie look, he's often the least zombie-like in the team.
Rooney is a lot more than just goals for United. He's the heartbeat of this team and also he'd have helped out in midfield and let RvP stay higher up the pitch all match. We need him a lot more than we realize.
We would have done much better with a proper functioning midfield. Rooney would have helped of course, but that's not why we lost today.
I agree with that, but my point being that the football also would have been much better had we used Anderson and Cleverley. We had the players available to have a good performance today. Your first statement, and Randall's, made it seem like Rooney was the one player that could have helped to turn that around (I know you don't necessarily mean win) and I disagree.
This is basically exactly what I'm trying to say.
Rooney has been quite useful in covering for the flaws of our midfield and enabling us to get away with just playing a 2 man central midfield which we generally can't afford to do.
The key to linking our midfield and attack. Clearly when we play Carrick and Giggs/Scholes in midfield, neither are capable of making runs through the middle or venturing forwards past the centre circle. It was embarassing watching them try and hit 30 yard hollywood balls over the top.
Them not being able to carry the ball forwards is definately related to the fact that neither is confident enough that they can get back fast enough to defend. Rooney being both striker and midfielder literally does all the running for them.
Them not being able to carry the ball forwards is definately related to the fact that neither is confident enough that they can get back fast enough to defend. Rooney being both striker and midfielder literally does all the running for them.
See Aston Villa first half.
Best player in the world for the Premier League.
His contribution will be vital for our success or lack of and today was a perfect example of that even that we're all excited about van Persie, Wazza is still our main man.
His contribution will be vital for our success or lack of and today was a perfect example of that even that we're all excited about van Persie, Wazza is still our main man.
Sir Alex said on MUTV that he hoped to "surely" have Rooney back involved on Tuesday - please lord don't tell me Sir Alex is planning on risking players like Rooney in the remaining two Champions League group games??!! 
I think Fergie is concentrating on the CL this season, going out so early last year was a real blow to his pride. But he is wasting his time as we have little chance of beating the top teams in Europe.
Agreed - for me getting out of the group was the absolute priority, which we have now done as group winners with two games to spare. It would be pointless and insane to send players like Rooney out to Turkey when there is nothing to gain except injuries and fatigue.
Let's have Rooney fit, rested and firing for QPR next weekend.
How predictable. Thread bumped basically hinting we wouldn't have lost with Rooney in the team. Aston Villa anyone?
No one hinted that man, open your eyes and read the actual posts.
Yes the person who bumped the thread did and someone else.
See?
Looks like you are partially guilty as well as this can fall under my "Aston Villa anyone?" question.
Full disclosure: I only saw the highlights of the Aston Villa game, but with that being said, didn't we win that game? And didn't Rooney provide a pretty telling pass that led to the second goal?
It's no excuse for losing today. If we can't beat Norwich, even without Wayne Rooney, then we have some serious issues. But you're being a bit narrow-minded if you don't think Rooney would've likely had an impact on today's game (if nothing else, his playing would've likely resulted in Giggs' not starting.)
Nothing could have stopped giggs from starting today, he got a start based on his last minute goal in the same fixture last year.
You're right as I missed a few posts but you can't accuse me of the same though.I never said we were gonna win with Rooney.
Rooney could have made a difference last night, the difference between a defeat and a draw for instance, never said anything about a guaranteed 3 pointer
Go ahead. Point out the flaw. You lot are good at twisting words. All I said was hint. Plus it was in response to the person who bumped the thread. Not everyone else.
Not fully
I never accused of saying we were gonna win with wayne. However, I think you're going to have a hard time telling me that it wasn't implied.I don't disagree about Rooney but at the same time, I do want people to recognize that he's been on the pitch when we've had some poor matches this season so let's not make him out to be our savior.
Nah mate. I'm sure Rooney could have made an impact but sometimes the boy can be just as culpable and I find it odd when fans forget that simply because he's not in the side.
We won.
You honestly believe this? What a lot of rot, he got a start cause Fergie thought we could win the game with him playing centre mid yesterday nothing to do with scoring last min last year for feck sake.
Neither did I when I bumped the thread! But to say we didn't miss him is another thing entirely! He adds a massive level of fluidity to our game and has the ability to link the midfield and our attack.
He wouldn't have guaranteed a win, but we'd have played with a lot more threat in the final third.
Thread bumped to state that we missed the creativity/spark through the middle! Two over the top passes to RVP, and pinging it out to Valencia whose crossing was poor by his standards.
I'm amazed that anyone can't agree that rooneys presence wasn't missed last night!
That's not the point is it though? It's about our overall play which was shite on a stick for most of the match.
That's assuming Rooney on a bad day still makes a vital contribution. Something I find debatable. It's easy to say so because hindsight is 20/20. I think it certainly could have helped but with football, it's hard to be certain. Rooney has had some ineffectual games for us so it's hard for me to just say, "yes, Rooney would have turned it around for us" when he could have been part of a poor team performance which wouldn't have surprised me based on the way we've played yesterday.
For some reason, a few on here think the only time we can play good football is when Rooney is in the side. Albeit, he's a very important player for us but we don't rely on him that much.
He's one of the only two world class calibre players we have (RVP the other), so of course we are going to miss him and yes we do rely on him that much. His over all play vision and his drive is something we don't have in abundance.
Aye I dont disagree but you think we can't play good football without him? That's what I mean.
The way you phrased your initial post it seemed to be exactly the point. Until we were 2-0 down Rooney was the one player who seemed to give a shit and he certainly played his part in our comeback.
What about Rafael? I'm sure other players cared too. I'd have to watch the match again to know for sure. As for our comeback, he wasn't as instrumental as you seem to imply but that's okay. We did enough on the day to win the match. No one player was really instrumental from what I remember. We just played better and Villa sitting back due to their lead and Hernandez's movement allowed us to pile on the pressure.
How exactly did he play part when he was substituted before we scored a winning goal, and before that he was switched to left wing where he barely touched the ball twice(not by his fault, we continued to play on right side). He didn't play part in any of our three goals, I don't think he even touched the ball in making of any of those three goals.
Some people are so deluded over Rooney's contribution to this team it's ridiculous.
Both he and van Persie were invisible in first half in that game, in second half van Persie showed improvement, but Rooney except for two or three good crosses, wasn't influencing the game at all.
Well my initial post was tackling two different thoughts really.
1. We would have played better football if Rooney played (probably but Wayne hasn't been consistent enough this season to say so definitively)
2. The suggestion we wouldn't have lost with him in the side yesterday
(as you pointed out, we won against Villa but I'm not sure how much of that was purely down to Rooney's influence. If Rooney played yesterday, I think would rate our chances more but that's about it)
1. We would have played better football if Rooney played (probably but Wayne hasn't been consistent enough this season to say so definitively)
2. The suggestion we wouldn't have lost with him in the side yesterday
(as you pointed out, we won against Villa but I'm not sure how much of that was purely down to Rooney's influence. If Rooney played yesterday, I think would rate our chances more but that's about it)
IIRC Amar, Rooney played Rafael through to cross for the second goal right?
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