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2014-15 Performances

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5.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
37
Goals
14
Assists
6
Yellow cards
4
Red cards
1
Status
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akash02 said:
Before Van Gaall arrived, all anyone could talk about (rather gleefully I might add) was how Van Gaal would come here and drop Rooney in favour of RVP and how he would realise that Wayne Rooney was in fact shit at football. This was all based on Van Gaal's reputation of dropping players if he didn't like them and not giving a shit about the boardroom.

Of course Van Gaal came in and made Rooney his captain and by all accounts seems to rate him very highly. You would think at this stage some people would rethink their ridiculous opinions on Rooney but no we're back to the board dictating Van Gaal's team selections.

The lengths people go to to blame Rooney is quite astonishing.
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When you look at the players available when LVG made his decision of Captaincy, its not surprise is it there wasn't much choice, ffs he made Fletcher Vice captain, once Carrick is back we will never see him again. Its quite simple at the time of his decision he made his 2 most senior players *available Captain and Vice Captain.

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AFter the worldcup, everybody was assuming that RvP has a fair shot at the Captaincy, so Rooney was by no means the only choice.

RvP is a shadow of his former self for the last two years and his worldcup wasnt great either. He lost all his pace. He plays like a poacher; his touch is still great but helps him little if he cant move away from defenders. He´ll still score a decent amount of times if the service is good and he´ll add some spark of genius 2-3x a season but he doesnt offer much more. If you want to field an out and out striker Falcao is just better at the moment.

For some reason Rooney seems to believe that he is a Zidanesque midfielder, which is nonsense. He is decent, but his touch is slightly too heavy and he is just not intelligent enough for this role. That said his finish is quality, his hold-up is great, his workrate is good and he is always trying to get involved, which makes him a great #9 and a good all-rounder.

If I would play with just one forward I´d chose between Falcao and Rooney. Falcao as out-out goalscorer and Ronney as someone who is more involved in holdup/playmaking and with better workrate. Both have their benefits.

If you want to play with two striker its Rooney+Falcao/RvP. I´d never pair two player like RvP and Falcao. They want to operate in exactly the same area and wait for the same balls. They are too similar. Against Leicester Falcao can still shift to the wings and make things happen because he is much better than any of the defenders (=assist for RvP). Good opponents will render him useless in this area.
Rooney is at least decent as support striker and offers a lot of different things, even so non of them might be top quality. In the end he was always able to get a good amount of goals and assists.
 
wiz4231 said:
When you look at the players available when LVG made his decision of Captaincy, its not surprise is it there wasn't much choice, ffs he made Fletcher Vice captain, once Carrick is back we will never see him again. Its quite simple at the time of his decision he made his 2 most senior players Captain and Vice Captain.
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You could argue that De Gea should've had a decent shout at being captain. Not incredibly experienced, but he's already established himself as a first teamer, plays regularly, is fairly professional and was one of our best players last season. There was definitely a lack of competition for Rooney, but he wasn't the sole credible candidate.
 
Cheesy said:
You could argue that De Gea should've had a decent shout at being captain. Not incredibly experienced, but he's already established himself as a first teamer, plays regularly, is fairly professional and was one of our best players last season. There was definitely a lack of competition for Rooney, but he wasn't the sole credible candidate.
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What about the fact he's been widely criticised for not being able to organise the defenders in front of him and be a commanding presence? And that he moved here 3 years ago so probably can't speak English that well?

Being a regular starter isn't the only criteria for being captain...

I think the sole reason people aren't happy with Rooney being captain is because of the worry he'd be cemented in the starting line up, even when starting RVP/Falcao/Mata would be better. However true this is, he's clearly the best option for the captaincy right now. England have trusted him with it too!
 
LennonNL said:
What about the fact he's been widely criticised for not being able to organise the defenders in front of him and be a commanding presence? And that he moved here 3 years ago so probably can't speak English that well?

Being a regular starter isn't the only criteria for being captain...
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Never held Rooney back.;)

But seriously, I think he's become a little bit more of a commanding presence in the past season or two since his game has generally improved in general, even if he's not had an excellent start to the season.

It's not that he was a better choice, more that Rooney wasn't the only viable option for captaincy, so wasn't just given it completely out of merit. It seems that LVG does hold him in fairly high esteem.
 
From his FB, from 20 minutes ago: There seems to be a lot of people who have written us off because of Sundays result but I don't see it that way. When I look around our dressing room and see the quality we have and the managers unbelievable attention to detail I have no doubts this team will be successful.
 
Cheesy said:
Never held Rooney back.;)

But seriously, I think he's become a little bit more of a commanding presence in the past season or two since his game has generally improved in general, even if he's not had an excellent start to the season.

It's not that he was a better choice, more that Rooney wasn't the only viable option for captaincy, so wasn't just given it completely out of merit. It seems that LVG does hold him in fairly high esteem.
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No way DDG would have been considered for captaincy. If not Rooney, then Van Persie takes precedence.
 
Will Singh said:
His being payed that much cos of Moyes, if SAF was still here he would have sold him off by now!

I'm not his biggest fan but will admit that his a hard worker on the pitch.
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We can't say what SAF would have done and please let's not blame everything about last season on David Moyes. How do you know it was up to him? It was most probably a decision from the board based on his marketability and all.
 
There seems to be a lot of people who have written us off because of Sundays result but I don't see it that way. When I look around our dressing room and see the quality we have and the managers unbelievable attention to detail I have no doubts this team will be successful.
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I'm slowly growing to love Wayne again, not ashamed to admit it.
 
shamans said:
He's being paid that much for his marketability. English, Manchester United, Striker and famous.
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His being payed that much cos of Moyes, if SAF was still here he would have sold him off by now!

I'm not his biggest fan but will admit that his a hard worker on the pitch.
shamans said:
We can't say what SAF would have done and please let's not blame everything about last season on David Moyes. How do you know it was up to him? It was most probably a decision from the board based on his marketability and all.
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We now cos SAF was about to sell him as Rooney asked for a transfer. Moyes came in and openly admitted that he wants Rooney to stay and treated it like a achievement that he convinced him to stay!


So with a big wage comes big demand, if you can't handle the heat get out the kitchen and Rooney in my opinion should have left the house let alone the kitchen.....!
 
I never want to see him as the #10 again, but I sadly think that's how we will set out in most games, with him behind RvP and Falcao
 
KiD MoYeS said:
I'm slowly growing to love Wayne again, not ashamed to admit it.
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If only writing good stuff on Facebook (Rooney) or saying good stuff in press conferences (LvG) would win us games, eh?
 
Why are people still banging on about him playing as the number ten or whatever. We were good going forward and scored three away from home. Rooney was not the problem. People can feck off about he is in danger of being dropped.

Yes Mata is a good player. Him playing instead of Wayne would have changed nothing though.
 
iBoss said:
Why are people still banging on about him playing as the number ten or whatever. We were good going forward and scored three away from home. Rooney was not the problem. People can feck off about he is in danger of being dropped.

Yes Mata is a good player. Him playing instead of Wayne would have changed nothing though.
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His power from the 10 is just much better utilized when RVP is in the side. RVP tends to drop wide and run off the shoulder and when Wayne and a 10 are playing Wayne drops way to far back and gets trapped between the circle and the box almost in no mans land. He either needs to be withdrawn from the start or has to have the person playing at 10 removed for it to work in a balanced way.

He's almost like a box to box midfielder but doesn't play exclusively between the boxes. More of a pushed up box to box player that occasionally returns to the edge of the area but when we have the ball and are up the field he arrives late.
 
He's not in danger of being dropped because he's undroppable. LVG said so don't you know.
 
From our attackers trio at the moment (Rooney, RVP and Falcao) Rooney is the one play the best from the three of them so far this season. So obviously he shouldn't be dropped but still didn't play good enough for our quality and far from expectation.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
No way DDG would have been considered for captaincy. If not Rooney, then Van Persie takes precedence.
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I reckon Evans would've been second choice. LVG stated the captain must be home grown, or at least have English as their first language I assume.
 
LennonNL said:
I reckon Evans would've been second choice. LVG stated the captain must be home grown, or at least have English as their first language I assume.
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I still don't think so. Evans did not even break into first team regularly. Last season it was still Vidic there as captain and this season, injury and horrible form afterwards, no way he would have been a captain. Robin being captain of Arsenal & Dutch team definitely is more worthy.
 
Edgar Allan Pillow said:
I still don't think so. Evans did not even break into first team regularly. Last season it was still Vidic there as captain and this season, injury and horrible form afterwards, no way he would have been a captain. Robin being captain of Arsenal & Dutch team definitely is more worthy.
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Yes but Van Gaal is a man who does things his way, so if he strongly believes that the captain should be a British/home grown player then that's what will happen. I admire him for that, and in a way agree, but I also think that if there was a stronger leader in the squad (younger Vidic) then of course he would've been chosen as captain.
 
Smoke On the Water said:
His power from the 10 is just much better utilized when RVP is in the side. RVP tends to drop wide and run off the shoulder and when Wayne and a 10 are playing Wayne drops way to far back and gets trapped between the circle and the box almost in no mans land. He either needs to be withdrawn from the start or has to have the person playing at 10 removed for it to work in a balanced way.

He's almost like a box to box midfielder but doesn't play exclusively between the boxes. More of a pushed up box to box player that occasionally returns to the edge of the area but when we have the ball and are up the field he arrives late.
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Don't get what this has to do with the Leicester game. We created enough to score 3 goals away from home. Very rarely will you score three and not win.
 
iBoss said:
Don't get what this has to do with the Leicester game. We created enough to score 3 goals away from home. Very rarely will you score three and not win.
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It was a game where he didn't play up front. Where it was obvious that him coming off the front line to create from deep was clogging up Mata playing at the 10. Probably what Van Gaal mentioned as to why he didn't think Rooney should start up front.
 
I think Rooney needs to be put up front again in all honesty, probably along with Falcao on current form.

With the current formation we have Di Maria providing width on the left from central midfield and I feel Rooney as a forward could drop to the right when the ball is going down that channel. He wouldn't have the defensive responsibilities of a winger as Herrera/Blind would provide the cover, but he'd provide the attacking outlet on the right which we seem to have been missing lately. We've also been exposed on the right as Rafael has ended up with no-one ahead of him, so has ended up playing 1-2's inside and carrying on his runs.

I'm not Rooney's greatest fan, but he has the engine to regularly peel off centre and provide an option on the right hand side in front of Rafael, while Mata and Herrera always provide an option inside. The problem with playing Rooney behind is that he regularly finds himself in an area of the pitch that isn't conjunctive to a tactical unit, sometimes this is to our benefit as he might be covering our full backs, but often it can be at the expense of cohesion.
 
From Marcotti:

The fact of the matter is that Rooney is more versatile and adaptable than any other United forward. For all the criticism he took on Sunday, he still set up a goal. And he was still the guy busting a lung to get back on Leicester's fourth goal. (Watch the highlight again, if you can. Mata gives the ball away, Rooney sprints back full tilt, actually outrunning two of his teammates in the process.)
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Anyone's got a GIF of the same?

Also noticed that the almost-assist for Falcao's super strike against the bar was by Rooney - a pretty chip too (Not sure how to embed GIFs here)
 
Maroo said:
From Marcotti:



Anyone's got a GIF of the same?

Also noticed that the almost-assist for Falcao's super strike against the bar was by Rooney - a pretty chip too (Not sure how to embed GIFs here)
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Marcoti's argument is very weak. It's like the "he can play left-back!!" argument.
 
MUFCpiffgawd said:
Marcoti's argument is very weak. It's like the "he can play left-back!!" argument.
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It's not an argument. He's pointing out one of his qualities.

If I wanted to have an "argument" about why Rooney's such an important player, I'd probably highlight other qualities, such as his record in the league last season of a goal or assist per game. Something he's very close to keeping up in this season so far. All as part of a team that has generally been miles below the standard you'd expect at United.
 
Mrs Smoker said:
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Blind and Smalling then. Blind just isn't very quick across the ground but a bit surprised that Rooney was that much quicker than Smalling. What with him being fat and old.

Blackett's defending looks worse and worse with each loop of that gif. What was he thinking? Dithering Dave doesn't exactly cover himself in glory either.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
It's not an argument. He's pointing out one of his qualities.

If I wanted to have an "argument" about why Rooney's such an important player, I'd probably highlight other qualities, such as his record in the league last season of a goal or assist per game. Something he's very close to keeping up in this season so far. All as part of a team that has generally been miles below the standard you'd expect at United.
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It's a very (lazy)weak point from him nonetheless. Being able to run all the way back should have nothing do with how well you can play the #10 position.
But with that said, the attack wasnt the reason why we lost the game. In fact I thought the attack looked quite dangerous before things went downhill due(in part) to some terrible decisions from the referee.
 
Smalling didn't look half as quick as some people make out. He has about 10 yards on Rooney (who isn't as quick as he once was) and still loses. Maybe he wasn't flat out but that doesn't really help matters...
 
How would you rank Rooney in terms of current strikers? Where on the list is he? For me, not including Messi/CR, I'd have:

Ibra
Suárez, Lewandowski
Aguero, RVP, Falcao
Cavani, Rooney
Benz/Costa/Neymar
 
Its ridiculous to criticize a forward for tracking back. This argument might have some merits, if you play with a single forward, but if you have two poacher upfront its exactly what the team needs.
Against the popular believe, blackett doesnt make any major mistake; he has to move towards the man with the ball, beacuse Blind would have never been able to close him down. I have no clue why Smalling is that high up the pitch and I really wonder where Herrera is. That said you should never lose the ball in this situation.
 
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