Wayne Rooney | 2012-14 Performances

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And after a good performance on the weekend, Rooney reminds us why he will never hit that upper bracket of class players.

Yeah, Rooney has never showed up against a top side like City.
 
He was the best player of our team again today. He is just being let down by no tactics and no game plan what so ever just like all our players. They probably only practice how to run in training. Imagine him in any of the top 4 clubs and he would be one of the most dangerous players.

He did nothing of note the entire match. Being the best of that lot isn't especially difficult. The only time he showed any drive was when he was getting the ball back after giving it away with his awful first touch.
 
I think that's a bit harsh, he had an excellent game and if you want to be super critical then that's one moment you could criticise.

For example if you want to nit pick here's a moment each in the game on Sunday where you could say Kagawa and Mata could have played a ball through the middle instead of playing the ball wide.



00:28, Kagawa had a chance to play a first time through ball and even had a chance after hit touch but chose to play the ball out wider to Mata.

1.28, Mata chose to play the ball out wide to Ashley Young when Rooney was making a run through the middle and could have been clean through.

That's being super critical though like I think most people have been with Rooney for a while now.

I don't think it's harsh at all. I'm not using that to criticise his performance, which I didn't find to be special anyway. I'm isolating a couple of incidents to show that he isn't creative enough to play as a #10 for us at this stage, unless the manager instructs him to drop deep and orchestrate play. What I mean by that is the interpretation of the position. Kagawa and Mata don't look for the ball out to the wings consistently, they know when to make a pass and move intelligently around the field. In the West Ham game, Mata would move to the right, and Kagawa would move as a #10. Lots of nice movement, passing, and interchange. Rooney is best suited to our direct play, but he's shown that he can as a #10 under Fergie, so I don't understand why he's being used in a manner that is problematic to the team, as we have witnessed in most games this season.

Those two examples you picked out are poor IMO. The first one was definitely the right decision by Kagawa. Mata had the most space to work with. After he (Mata) received the ball, he probably should have looked for Rooney. The second one is what most #10s do after receiving the ball from a striker in that position, but you could argue that he should look to release Rooney. My point, however, isn't that they don't make mistakes, but they are more patient and take up better positions.

Van Persie is out injured and it's best to utilise Rooney as a centre-forward with a proper #10 behind. When you have a player of Rooney's quality, I think it's fair to demand a good level of consistency. I've been disappointed with Rooney's form in the second half of this season, but with him playing in his best position, I expect him to end the season well. It's sad that we didn't get to see the same line-up against West Ham today.
 
Anyone noticed how much Rooney is talking like Moyes now in the interviews?

One interview yesterday he said about "putting it right", and another he said "We will try to", scary how they are now talking the same
 
Moyes was up his arse for whole year, so it could be him talking out of him.
 
Lovely composure for both goals today. He should be able to finish the season with 20+ Premier League goals IMO.
 
Definitely our player of the season. Today he has cleared balls out of the box, chased down lost balls and most importantly put the ball in the back of the net. Chuffed to bits he stayed and signed a new deal.
 
6 goals and 2 assists in 7 games playing right up top

11 goals and 10 assists in 25 appearances in behind the striker

(according to WhoScored)
 
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Been saying it for years, he's a world class striker, and fergie played him out of position in a deeper position as he was still really good there and fergie liked using 2 up top. He's been the main striker for 2 years, and scored 34 goals both years and now is season is playing consistently well and scoring goals when he's up top.
 
He looks so much better when we're not using him as a No.10, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when RVP is back.
 
We cannot accommodate both him and RVP and play our best football. RVP is older and injury prone. RVP will throw a hissy fit if Rooney takes his #9 role. Therefore, we maybe should/could see RVP out over summer. We should still be able to get a good 20+ million fee for him.

If Danny can continue the form he's shown this season he should be a good backup, assuming the rest of the team remembers how to score again.
 
He looks so much better when we're not using him as a No.10, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when RVP is back.

To be perfectly honest I prefer Rooney up front.

What will happen is Rooney dropping back to the 10 and RVP as number 9. Mata will be pushed out the flank again and we won't see a sign from kagawa in the team again. It is a major problem in the team for me.

I don't want us to lose any of the 2 players, but do we really always have to play them both ? I mean iam ok with it in some games but to see it every signle game is tiresome and lowers the quality of our football. We should be playing one of them and the other on the bench as a super sub.
 
We cannot accommodate both him and RVP and play our best football. RVP is older and injury prone. RVP will throw a hissy fit if Rooney takes his #9 role. Therefore, we maybe should/could see RVP out over summer. We should still be able to get a good 20+ million fee for him.

Wouldn't be too upset to see it happen really.
 
He looks so much better when we're not using him as a No.10, but it'll be interesting to see what happens when RVP is back.
I think he puts too much pressure on himself and wants to do too many things when he's a #10. Wants to get the same amount of goals, wants to create everything and then wants to run all over the pitch and put in the defensive work, and all that probably leads him to being inconsistent with his touch and overall play. Up front he just focuses on being the leading striker and he does that brilliantly.
 
To be perfectly honest I prefer Rooney up front.

What will happen is Rooney dropping back to the 10 and RVP as number 9. Mata will be pushed out the flank again and we won't see a sign from kagawa in the team again. It is a major problem in the team for me.

I don't want us to lose any of the 2 players, but do we really always have to play them both ? I mean iam ok with it in some games but to see it every signle game is tiresome and lowers the quality of our football. We should be playing one of them and the other on the bench as a super sub.

Clearly they shouldn't play together,but neither will be happy playing second fiddle to the other. It'll be a big, big call for Moyes to drop one of them.

I think he puts too much pressure on himself and wants to do too many things when he's a #10. Wants to get the same amount of goals, wants to create everything and then wants to run all over the pitch and put in the defensive work, and all that probably leads him to being inconsistent with his touch and overall play. Up front he just focuses on being the leading striker and he does that brilliantly.

He hasn't got the technique for a #10 either.
 
Clearly they shouldn't play together,but neither will be happy playing second fiddle to the other. It'll be a big, big call for Moyes to drop one of them.

Well it will either be both of them or Rooney alone on top thats for sure.
 
Due to Rooney's versatility, he's always been sacrificed out of the position he's actually wanted to play in which is as a striker, meaning, apart from 09/10 season, he's never really been able to showcase his real abilities as a lone striker.

Strangely, that's led people to believe Rooney is not as good in the striker role when compared to the likes of Van Persie, Suarez, Ibrahimovic, Falcao, etc. However, Rooney is just as, if not more all rounded than most of the aforementioned players and has shown in the past, and more recently, that he can be just as good as the top strikers in world football.

If I had my choice I'd play Rooney as a striker all the time with a creative no.10 like Mata/Kagawa behind him. Obviously that will mean dropping Van Persie, but I personally feel there's a better flow to the game when we play with a natural no.10. To add to that, I also think Rooney's offers more as a striker than Van Persie does.
 
Directly involved in 50% of our goals in the premier league this season (15 goals and 10 assists). Higher percentage than any player at any other club.

Fourth highest scorer in premier league history.
 
As a lone striker he is underrated and as a number 10 overrated.

Rooney is a beater header of the ball, far more brave, slightly quicker, stronger, a better passer and a better finisher than RVP.

RVP has the better touch and is much better at creating his own chance but Rooney is superior in every other category.

Rvp thrives when the ball is played to his feet in and around the box. For our wing play system, Rooney is the better option.
 
As a lone striker he is underrated and as a number 10 overrated.

Rooney is a beater header of the ball, far more brave, slightly quicker, stronger, a better passer and a better finisher than RVP.

RVP has the better touch and is much better at creating his own chance but Rooney is superior in every other category.

Rvp thrives when the ball is played to his feet in and around the box. For our wing play system, Rooney is the better option.


All debatable.
 
The only debatable one there is the finishing and passing.

RVP misses more easy chances than Rooney. RVP gives the ball away less but can't find the killer ball better than Rooney.

I think Rooney is a better finisher, while RVP is a more spectacular one. Rooney puts the easy ones (which are the most important ones, a lot of the time) away with greater regularity than RVP.
 
I think Rooney is a better finisher, while RVP is a more spectacular one. Rooney puts the easy ones (which are the most important ones, a lot of the time) away with greater regularity than RVP.

I would have to disagree with that. I think RVP is the better finisher, Rooney is good at finishing but RVP is on another level IMO.
 
The decision to drop Rooney back behind the striker after the 2009/10 season, rather than keeping him up top and improving the midfield behind him is something I never quite understood. Before that season I had always viewed him as a number 10 but he showed signs that year of being the complete centre-forward and we were crying out for someone like Mata or Kagawa to play in behind him.

Silva was available around that time and would have been perfect. There were others floating around like Gourcuff who was making waves at Bordeaux and of course Ozil. Sneijder had moved the summer before and was another who could have filled the role.
 
The decision to drop Rooney back behind the striker after the 2009/10 season, rather than keeping him up top and improving the midfield behind him is something I never quite understood. Before that season I had always viewed him as a number 10 but he showed signs that year of being the complete centre-forward and we were crying out for someone like Mata or Kagawa to play in behind him.

Silva was available around that time and would have been perfect. There were others floating around like Gourcuff who was making waves at Bordeaux and of course Ozil. Sneijder had moved the summer before and was another who could have filled the role.

I think it was down to the availability of those players or lack of. Those players you've listed for one reason or another we could not get. Whereas the emergence of Welbeck and a bargain buy in Hernandez meant naturally we had to play Rooney off the front a lot more.

Also I'm not sure Fergie really ever fancied the no.10 type players - I mean we've never had an abundance of them in our squad during his reign (save for a few exceptions). I think given the choice he preferred attacking players who were more goal getters/strikers in nature such as Berbatov, RvP.
 
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Worst dive ever?
 
Why not keep Rooney as the 9 and player RvP as the 10?

van Persie is better technically than Rooney. To me it makes sense.
Mobility.

Juan Mata as a #10 isn't in your face and all over you like say Oscar, but he does get up and down the pitch. RVP wouldn't be able to do that and when on form his hold-up and box play is too good.
 
:lol:

That dive. I noticed it at the time but completely forgot about it.

He dived against Liverpool as well, although in a slightly more understandable situation/context.
 
Remember that poll regarding who's the better striker: Rooney and RVP, in which RVP won by like 90%.

I went for Rooney. Interesting whether Rooney's recent taster will jog a few people's memory of how good he can really be and change their minds? :wenger:
 
Maintained this from the outset of that debate. Rooney is the better finisher and Van Persie is the better footballer, albeit a lot of people, and other than hard work and a fancy ping out wide I don't know why, seem to share the opposite opinion.

Wayne is an elite out and out forward, right up there with the best of them. Play him there and he'll score for fun. Play him at #10 and our football will not progress, nor will Mata.

Selling Van Persie seems to be the only viable solution at the moment, and I rate him higher than Rooney. However, circumstances have taken hold. Plus, Rooney is excellent in that #9 role, so we won't be severely affected.
 
Another assist in the CL. Another assist from a set piece. Massive improvement from last season.
 
I thought he was poor today. Expected a bit more from him. He did, however, provide a beautiful corner to Vidic's head. He's been consistently good/very good at set pieces this year. He has a good amount of goals+assists from set pieces this season.
 
I thought he was poor too. I do think even when he's not performing well though, that in a game as big as that he'll help give the others confidence anyway, just by being in the team.
 
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