On the biggest of stages, against world class opposition you'd expect the top players to stand up and be counted. Rio did, Carrick did, Van Persie did (though he did miss opportunities), Welbeck did, De Gea did. What did Rooney (our best player according to some on here) do? He decided to be rubbish. I couldn't believe a player of his 'caliber' can feck a simple pass down the line to Valencia up so badly.
Wayne Rooney | 2012-14 Performances
- Thread starter gooDevil
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I wouldn't have said he played rubbish. He had an average game where he spent a lot of the time doing the thankless tasks that helped us limit the threat from Madrid. As a result he didn't get to many attacking chances himself. We used RVP and Kagawa as the far higher up players and had Rooney playing deeper than we would normally like.
Nothing wrong with that performance tonight. It's annoying to see him in that role as it's a bit of a waste, but how many other players do we have who would have been prepared to do that and offer a threat going forwards at the same time?
Don't get ewhy Valencia would have been a better choice. He's been playing poorly and has never played in that sort of role well before.
Rooney set up the goal and drove forwards whenever he had space to run into, and rescued Rafael from possibly having the biggest nightmare of his career.
I mean seriously, I get on his back a fiar bit, but what were people expecting him to do, be the best defender and best attacker on the pitch at the same time?
Don't get ewhy Valencia would have been a better choice. He's been playing poorly and has never played in that sort of role well before.
Rooney set up the goal and drove forwards whenever he had space to run into, and rescued Rafael from possibly having the biggest nightmare of his career.
I mean seriously, I get on his back a fiar bit, but what were people expecting him to do, be the best defender and best attacker on the pitch at the same time?
I don't really like Rooney and am usually quick to criticize him but I didn't think he was particularly bad today. He didn't have the greatest of games obviously but it was a pretty average performance, not bad.
I haven't liked him since Rooneygate, I support him as a United player but that's about it.
The only reason I mention it is because occasionally when I've criticized him in the past it's been attributed to me not liking him.
This. I'm simply amazed at how he can feck up simple passes. That pass down the line to Valencia was so funny it was not funny. And people said he did a defensive job? Coentrao was running past him for fun. At one point, Welbeck had to switch over to the right as he was doing a much better job on his fullback than Rooney was.
Oh I see, I thought you meant didn't like him as a player.
People were walking past him all day, it almost looked like he couldn't be arsed, but it can't be that as he's Rooney. That's why I wondered if he was fit.
He had a bad game today but when playing out of position that can happen from time to time, he is a victim of his own hard work at times he is one of the best forwards in world football and that doesn't matter if he is playing as a number 9 or 10 and no other striker of his ability would be asked to play in various positions. Rooney is asked to swap between playing as striker, left winger right winger or even centre mid on a regular basis and from time to time he is going to fall short of his usual high standards.
I thought he was letting the fullback run past so he was free to play out on the break. I don't think he did it too often when it meant leaving us exposed on that side, if at all...that was mainly happening on the opposite flank where Evra was tucking in and sometimes no one was covering. The only times Real got in down the right was the several occasions when Rafael decided to deliberately let people turn him for some unknown reason.
If he'd been told to track someone back that's what he would have done. Else he'd have been hooked off a lot sooner and not replaced with a central midfielder.
If he'd been told to track someone back that's what he would have done. Else he'd have been hooked off a lot sooner and not replaced with a central midfielder.
True enough
Disappointing performance from Rooney, I expected much more from him. Perhaps it was the fact that he was primarily used on the flanks that negated his effectiveness. Nonetheless, his overall game should not have reached such a plainly weak level for such a significant match, especially considering the immense talent he copiously possesses. Hopefully, he’ll be able to regain top form for the second leg; a great performance from Rooney at Old Trafford could be the all-important decider of the tie.
He can't play well all the time. The promising thing is, we now have a team that's good enough to cover for him when he's not on his game. We used to be so poor when he has an off day. Not now.
Think it's a bit unfair to label his performance bad when he was put in to run and help the defence and midfield primarily. Kagawa and van Persie were the two players who stayed forward.
I appreciate the hard, selfless work he does for us, but it grates me when I see stuff like this in the Guardian
Good post
Had a shocking game overall. Poor touches and kept hoofing the ball up when he should've maintained possession. He better get his shit together soon.
or else?....or he'll perform poorly again and we could get knocked out. It's not rocket science.
Wow, this is ridiculous.
We didn't lose. Rooney was just ok, had an assist, did his share of work.
Rooney has proven himself in countless huge European games. Hopefully Rooney will play as second striker behind RVP in the next leg and we thrash them.
We didn't lose. Rooney was just ok, had an assist, did his share of work.
Rooney has proven himself in countless huge European games. Hopefully Rooney will play as second striker behind RVP in the next leg and we thrash them.
We were playing Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, what the feck do people expect? Rooney put in a great shift, sure he misplaced a few passes but so what? It's feckING Madrid. They're a good side. Even Carrick who was our best passer had just over 70% pass completion.
I think Kagawa deserves much more criticism than Rooney. He took Rooney's preferred position, didn't have to do much tracking back and still had a worse end product.
I think Kagawa deserves much more criticism than Rooney. He took Rooney's preferred position, didn't have to do much tracking back and still had a worse end product.
Now that we have a genuine top player in attack again (rvp) like we did when we had ronaldo, rooney is best served being out wide as the donkey.
No shame in it btw, sammy eto'o (a better forward/striker than rooney) did it for inter when they won the treble.
ffs!
Its amazing to see that someone with Rooney's ability as a striker is willing to sacrifice himself so much for the team.
Bang on Noodle.
I don't there's a more selfless player than Wayne Rooney in the world today. Despite all the criticism, he set up one goal and also near set up another when RVP hit the post. Did a good job.
I just watched the recorded game, I think he had good first half, and so so on 2nd half. I expected more from one of our best player. But him being a Rooney would always be a threat that opponent has to worry about.
Rooney's best moments were the time in the first half when he cut in and shot and in the second half when he drove forward and played in RVP which was similar to his pass to Giggs in the CL final which Giggs returned and Rooney slotted in. RVP tried to shoot from a tight angle with his weaker foot, if people watch this part again then if he had played Rooney back in (like Giggs did in CL final), it probably would've resulted in a goal for us.
Rooney didn't really have much chance to attack otherwise.
Rooney didn't really have much chance to attack otherwise.
He was obviously tired from his Everton work out. That is why SAF switched him with Welbeck and let him just concentrate on defending...
Give him a little break. He'll come back a refreshed and different animal when he lines up at QPR
Rooney is rated by most as one of the best attacking players in the world, I wonder how many others on that list would be willing to do the job he did tonight. The one thing I will agree with was he looked a bit like he was carrying a knock in the second half.
The question is would RVP take his shitty arse hairs off to him.
The question is would RVP take his shitty arse hairs off to him.
We've plenty more players who can play shit when out of position, I don't think any of them would quite get the praise Rooney regularly does 
Ferige needed runners on the flanks and players with an eye for the goal - Rooney was the go-to man in this scenario. Had Young been fit to play, I think we would have seen him in place of Kagawa in his favoured position. That right flank position is truly a shite position to play in, its not even his third best position (the left flank), and he had to help out in midfield and right back. If its any other star player, he would probably have kicked up a big fuss for being sacrificed in a big game where he's expected to shine, but we are all lucky we have Rooney who is as selfless as you get.
Not a brilliant performance, but a selfless one. Did a job for the team in difficult circumstances, made some mistakes, made some good plays. 7/10
Zonal Marking on his defending:
I agree he had a pretty poor performance, especially considering how good he'd been since a few games, but I don't think he was comfortable in his role last night. Doesn't really matter, still got that pass right for RVP's shot deflected onto the crossbar (not an intricate pass by any means, but it was at the end of a good counter move and it had just the right weight on it), just needs to kick on. He can do better in the return leg, I'm sure he's aware of it.
I agree he had a pretty poor performance, especially considering how good he'd been since a few games, but I don't think he was comfortable in his role last night. Doesn't really matter, still got that pass right for RVP's shot deflected onto the crossbar (not an intricate pass by any means, but it was at the end of a good counter move and it had just the right weight on it), just needs to kick on. He can do better in the return leg, I'm sure he's aware of it.
Yeah but he's sacrificing himself, so it's ok.
His defending wasn't good and we know he's capable of better defending, we've seen it in big CL games. He didn't seem to want to be playing right wing.
People are a bit blind when it comes to Rooney. He definitely made mistakes, but i was generally pleased with him. The corners he took were dangerous and he played some good passes to release other players. He had some poor touches, but we set up in a certain way and Sir Alex will have to look at that. We were pragmatic, we were away from home, it was the right decision.
Considering how he played, i think it's rich to say he should have played where Kagawa did. Kagawa did a better job with what he had to work off than Rooney would have and Rooney was better suited to his role out wide than Kagawa. Rooney will have to step it up in the next leg and Kagawa might lose his place to Young, or maybe Cleverley if we want to maintain that shape.
Considering how he played, i think it's rich to say he should have played where Kagawa did. Kagawa did a better job with what he had to work off than Rooney would have and Rooney was better suited to his role out wide than Kagawa. Rooney will have to step it up in the next leg and Kagawa might lose his place to Young, or maybe Cleverley if we want to maintain that shape.
100% this. I think some people are being harsh.
That sums it up perfectly, three big chances for Real Madrid came after Rooney's poor defending. It's typical caf's praise for Rooney when he doesn't play good game overall, so he got praise for his defensive game, but last night he shouldn't be praised for that, because he didn't play good defensively either.
As I said earlier, I won't blame him because he didn't offer too much in attack, he was played out of position so it's reasonable he wasn't at his best in attack, and he has proved in past he is excellent in big games, but when I see some people praise him after yesterday's game proves that he isn't underrated by any means. Kagawa played probably better game than him, but he got a lot of stick just because he was outmuscled couple of times.
And last night's game was perfect example that we don't depend too much on Rooney as people like to say, even at his game off against Real Madrid we created a lot of great chances and played good football at times.
Btw, this is not dig at Rooney by any means, everyone can have poor game once in a while, it's just dig at people saying he is most underrated player here.
Saying that, I think and I hope he willl be one of our better player at Old Trafford, and I don't want to see him wide right anymore.
How many of the world's superstars would sacrifice themselves for the team like Wayne does? He did it in 2007-2009 and again in this year. Deserves huge credit for that.
It's okay to have him on the pitch and ask of him to do defensive work simply because he has a a good enough engine to work offensively as well. SAF was a bit annoyed we sat back too much and this is why he want Rooney in there instead of another player, who would most likely also sit deep, which makes it even harder for the team to connect with Welbeck/RVP/Kagawa.
Rooney isn't comfortable in this role as has been mentioned, but at least it gives the team a chance to be a better threat offensively while tightening things up.
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