His second goal is what we've been missing all season. His movement is excellent and you can bet he'll be in the right place at the right time more often than not. The further up the field he plays the better he will be.
10
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 37
- Goals
- 14
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
That sums up Wayne Rooney today and for the last few years. I think his all round game is nothing special but he pretty much guarantees a decent goal return when he plays up front. Hope the midfield experiment is over. We need his goals up front.
He puts them away. Well done Wayne.
10 league goals despite playing most of the season either in CM or stuck behind our two static strikers. Play him up top and he'll guarantee you goals. Did well to stay on and be in the right position at the right time for the second goal. Also a read a stat that he becomes the first player to score 10+ goals for 11 seasons in a row? Not bad for a mediocre striker!
Not a particularly good performance overall but did the job in two key situations which is what you need from your big players.
Good performance from him today I feel. Not only because of the two goals but also because he always offered a passing option for our midfield.
I'm usually bricking it when I see Rooney stepping up to take a penalty, but the last couple of pens have been well taken by him.
I thought Rooney had a good game as he looked lively with the ball. He actually got by defenders a few times with nice moves while receiving the ball.
Les be honest, the best thing he does now is put the ball in the net. Its the only 'world class' attribute he has left.
Madness to be wasting him in midfield.
Madness to be wasting him in midfield.
Play him as a striker or don't play him at all. He is by far our best striker and there he actually looks a class player. I hope Van Gaal plays him there all the time.
Our best player after De Gea this season? I think that it is between him and Blind for our second and third best player (based only on performance).
Our best player after De Gea this season? I think that it is between him and Blind for our second and third best player (based only on performance).
The only player in the history of EPL to have ever done so.
He'll go as a legend of both United and Premier League.
England?
Dunno. He didn't deliver when it matters since 2004, but he'll probably be the all time goalscorer.
No player in his generation delivered to be fair, England haven't gone past the quarterfinal stage of any competition(major) since 1996. If he becomes the all time goalscorer for his country, i see no reason why he shouldn't be considered a legend.
I would not agree to this blindly... however...
When you consider we have Mata on the bench it makes no sense not to push Rooney up the field and sit Falcao. Think about Rooney, Mata, Herrera, Blind all moving off the ball and making supporting runs...
!!Now add some width to give them more space and you can really see a dangerous team and one I think could compete against the top two. We are never beating Chelsea and/or City playing Falcao or RvP the way they have been playing.
He wasn't that good, but he delivered. Delighted for him, we need players that can deliver when things don't go our way.
He was much better after Falcao went off and he was moved in front.
He was much better after Falcao went off and he was moved in front.
He needs to stay up top from now on.
He doesn't have the creativity or vision of a #10, but he doesn't have the sharpness, movement, ball control, and speed of thought that he had as a proper #9 in the 2009/10 season. Ever since the 2009/10 season, Rooney has struggled when playing up front on his own, and he's only world class when he has a strike partner to play off of. If he plays as a deep-lying forward a la Muller under van Gaal at Bayern, then we can see the best of Rooney. However, he won't be effective enough in anything else.
Rooney's quite a paradoxical player. On one hand, he's very versatile and can bring in 6/10 performances from almost anywhere. However, he's at his best only at the very specific free-roaming central forward role with a strike partner. At this rate, I cannot see Rooney playing up front as he's lost the traits of a proper #9 after the injury against van Gaal's Bayern, and he cannot play as a proper #10 like he did today as it exposes his lack of creativity and vision.
Rooney's role model is Litmanen, and I only wish he can play now like Litmanen did for Ajax.
Rooney's quite a paradoxical player. On one hand, he's very versatile and can bring in 6/10 performances from almost anywhere. However, he's at his best only at the very specific free-roaming central forward role with a strike partner. At this rate, I cannot see Rooney playing up front as he's lost the traits of a proper #9 after the injury against van Gaal's Bayern, and he cannot play as a proper #10 like he did today as it exposes his lack of creativity and vision.
Rooney's role model is Litmanen, and I only wish he can play now like Litmanen did for Ajax.
Play him a bit further forward and he scores twice, who would have thought?
Every game he looks reasonably mobile and turns well enough I am happy. Stick him at the 9 and he'll be fighting with Aguero, Sturridge and Costa for whatever the feck we call the Pichichi for the next few seasons.
He wouldn't have scored the penalty if he was played in midfield?
But yes he should be played up top or not playing at all. His good movement as a forward, his finishing and frankly any lack of finesse to his play don't allow him to play a position other than a striker. He has some worrying weaknesses to his game and is prone to being absolutely woeful and because of that he shouldn't be undropable for the sake of the team. For the time being he should be battling Falcao and RvP for one position and based on performances up top he should be starting as a striker now.
He should be a striker or not playing. It really is that simple.
He's a strange one. Doesn't do anything overly impressive but then ends up with two goals and has to be considered for MOTM. Anyway, he's a goalscorer - that is something that cannot be disputed. Should be played as a striker from now on.
Still not looking comfortable, like most of our players, but he's effective and that pretty much sums up our performances this season. Keep him high up the field because he guarantees goals, something none of our strikers can do.
I've never seen another striker that can consistently score a brace while being average to below average for the rest of the match. Wayne up front isn't pretty these days, but like you say he usually puts the ball in the net. That cannot be said for our other two big name strikers this season.
He's due for a testimonial at the end of the season and hope we play against Madrid.
Any gif of that penalty? That was as perfectly taken penalty
Nothing special but got the job done, what we've been lacking for most of the season from our forwards.
He's such a polarising figure at the moment for me.
On the one hand his donkey like first touch and lack of finesse is a major part of the reason we look so slow and devoid of ideas in the final third. We've been ignoring our strikers' runs all season because as soon as Rooney gets the ball its either going sideways or out to Valenica.
On the other hand he scored twice, as he often does, one with as good a penalty as you'll ever see.
I cant decide if i think his pros outweigh his cons.
On the one hand his donkey like first touch and lack of finesse is a major part of the reason we look so slow and devoid of ideas in the final third. We've been ignoring our strikers' runs all season because as soon as Rooney gets the ball its either going sideways or out to Valenica.
On the other hand he scored twice, as he often does, one with as good a penalty as you'll ever see.
I cant decide if i think his pros outweigh his cons.
How you perceive his performance depends on what his role from lvg was. If he was put in the team to score and finish off moves he had a decent game, anything else and he was wank.
It's simple, the cons are not easy on the eye, they are frustrating, they are repetitive.
His pros simply win us games. The pros win.
Sparky the guy is awesome for continuing to get goals for us. Stick him up top for the rest of the season and our chances on making top 4 increase greatly.
I actually think people overstate this or rather concentrate so much on it they they ignore the times he actually doesn't do this. He's played plenty of excellent passes through the middle this season to our strikers, more than any of our actual AM's bar Di Maria.
And it's become increasingly obvious that he's been under instruction with that pass to Valencia over the last 2 years. Which is fecking stupid given that Valencia is wank.
Two simple goals, a pen and a tap in disguising another poor performance. He is lucky he is competing with RVP/Falcao. Once they leave, he is going to stick out like a sore thumb in the future.
Let's remember he was useless before Falcao won us the penalty. As useless as any of our striking performances this season. Penalty later though and he's the great hope to top 4.
I agree and if that's all he is being asked to do his season will be a success, if he is expected to contribute to our overall play not so much
As if his touch is *that* bad. Nowhere near. Like a guy who's been playing up front and as a No.10 for one of the best sides in the world for over a decade can't trap a football, or instantaneously create a yard of space for himself.
Going by this season alone, he's lost the ball through a poor first touch an average of 1.1 times per game. That compares to Falcao's 2 times per game, Januzaj's 1.5 times per game, Di Maria's 1.4 times per game and Van Persie's 1.3 times per game. And yet certain people will swear that all of those players have a much better touch than Rooney.
And if we go and look at other top players in the league, Sanchez has lost the ball through a poor first touch an average of 2.4 times per game, Ozil 1.8 times per game, Aguero 1.7 times per game, Silva 1.4 times per game, Costa 2.2 times per game, Hazard 1.9 times per game, Sterling 2.5 times per game, Coutinho 1.7 times per game, Kane 1.9 times per game, and so on.
Again, some would have you believe that all of the above players have a first touch that is so superior to Rooney's it isn't even funny.
Now, my point here isn't that Rooney has a better first touch than all of the players above, because he doesn't.
It's that to talk of his 'donkey like first touch' is sheer hyperbole, and an absolute myth that has somehow been allowed to take hold and pass without challenge.
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If we play him upfront with either Mata/Wilson as his partner we might actually stand a chance of getting 3 points at newcastle.
Sadly, I don't think this would happen because Falcao was probably taken off early to be saved for midweek.
Sadly, I don't think this would happen because Falcao was probably taken off early to be saved for midweek.
It's also the most important attribute in all of football.
I don't care if he walks backwards with less pace than Berbatov. If he kicks the ball and it ends up in the net - he's automatically our best choice striker.
Rooney having a rubbish first touch is just some trope that reached critical mass on the Caf and then became public "knowledge"
- Status