[Gerald G]

I don't think Falcao was completely useless for us either..but can a club as big as United afford to have players that are playing just above completely useless especially with that player being captain and talisman?

He's not been terrible in every game, anyone who says that is lying. But collectively looking at his season, his performances have been quite bad. What irks people further is that he never gets dropped. A lot of people would have much less of a problem with Rooney if he was deservingly sitting on the bench, with a cameo here and there. But to see him in the team week in week out serving dross annoys a lot of us. Its not us making him a scapegoat, seeing as people have been complaining about his performances, even when the team itself has been performing relatively well. The pointing out of an agenda just serves to divert from the main issue at hand, people don't want to see Rooney in the team because his performances don't warrant it, just like they wanted him in the team all the time in the past when his performances warranted it.

I tend to agree. I think he should be dropped and as I said on a whole this season he has been poor. I understand why some are getting annoyed because even I'm annoyed that he isn't getting dropped despite poor form.
The only reason why I brought up the agenda thing is because people have been unfairly criticising him ever since the transfer request and I think there's a bit of that in the criticism he is receiving from some and not all obviously.
As I've said he deserves criticism for the way he's playing right now but I have an issue when people overlook any thing good he does on the pitch then will jump on him the first time he misplaces a pass. Plus the worse is people that are willing him to fail, that's my biggest issue.

For the last time I think he deserves criticism because he's been poor on a whole but some of the things people say, just doesn't sit right with me. After all he is still our player.

 

[criticalanalysis]

For the last time I think he deserves criticism because he's been poor on a whole but some of the things people say, just doesn't sit right with me. After all he is still our player.

In the Everton game he lost the ball easily over 5 times. Not super intense pressing or in awkward tight spaces but generally open-ish play. He does this regularly AND can't control a ball without doing something productive and has no movement towards OR off the ball.

I don't think you realise how detrimental that is to a TEAM game. A good pass is equally as important as a player, who recognises the run/ability to receive it. The criticism of Rooney is not reactionary or exaggerated. He's literally been giving almost every opportunity and support to find his form/game but he's still dire. Position changes, players accomendating him, non-stop minutes, shielded criticism and public support from media, manager, players etc.

Sure you can criticise LVG's tactic but that is mutually exclusive to Rooney's form. People are nott saying things because he's been bad for a month or two, he's been bad over a year.

 

[Nucks]

If Rooney is past it, then he is past it, it's one thing to suggest he should move on or be relegated to the bench. It's another to see the disrespectful drivel that is spewed by a bunch of neckbeards on this website.

It's absolutely disgusting to see the hateful, vitriolic bullshit that a large number of people spew out here. Whatever your feelings are about the business side here and Rooney angling for better contracts, the guy has been a warrior for United. He has played wherever he had to play to best support the club, often to the detriment of his own statistics. He's a club legend, one of the best to ever play for United and the people that are bashing him are fecking disgraceful.

 

[.Rossi]

Starting to believe it's a commercial thing now at this stage....

"Ohhhhh WAYNE ROONEY!!!! He has scored the most amount of goals in a Manchester derby! What a hero!!!...Oh England's brave Wayne Rooney!!"
Aguero is about 1 or 2 goals behind him, in such a short amount of time and it's never mentioned....Bizarre...

"Oh he loves scoring against United"
"He's scored the most in a derby hasn't he Martin?!"
"You're hanging on by a thread Gary....A Rooney thread!"

Anyways, he's done compared to what he was

 

[Nucks]

In the Everton game he lost the ball easily over 5 times. Not super intense pressing or in awkward tight spaces but generally open-ish play. He does this regularly AND can't control a ball without doing something productive and has no movement towards OR off the ball.

I don't think you realise how detrimental that is to a TEAM game. A good pass is equally as important as a player, who recognises the run/ability to receive it. The criticism of Rooney is not reactionary or exaggerated. He's literally been giving almost every opportunity and support to find his form/game but he's still dire. Position changes, players accomendating him, non-stop minutes, shielded criticism and public support from media, manager, players etc.

Sure you can criticise LVG's tactic but that is mutually exclusive to Rooney's form. People are nott saying things because he's been bad for a month or two, he's been bad over a year.

It's absolutely reactionary and it absolutely is an overreaction. Rooney is catching disproportionate stick compared to anyone else. Our problem this season hasn't even been at the striker position. Has Rooney been good? No. Has he been as bad as people say? I honestly can't answer that and neither can you, why? He has gotten almost ZERO quality service all season. The fact Martial has done well despite that is a testament to the talent Martial looks to be. However, you can't blame a guy who has had virtually no quality service.



Do you have any idea who kept that goal alive? You can probably guess since this is a Rooney thread. The pass out to Martial? Guess who it came from. Wayne Rooney. The pass into Rooney? Was a sloppy, high ball that was dumped into him. He controlled it, in traffic and played it out, keeping the move alive and seconds later a cross comes in and we score. How many people commented on that in the match day thread? Two people. Two people commented that Rooney helped save the move that led to our second goal. Did he get any credit for it? Not really. He did get shit on the remainder of the match however!

 

[NextSeason]

If Rooney is past it, then he is past it, it's one thing to suggest he should move on or be relegated to the bench. It's another to see the disrespectful drivel that is spewed by a bunch of neckbeards on this website.

It's absolutely disgusting to see the hateful, vitriolic bullshit that a large number of people spew out here. Whatever your feelings are about the business side here and Rooney angling for better contracts, the guy has been a warrior for United. He has played wherever he had to play to best support the club, often to the detriment of his own statistics. He's a club legend, one of the best to ever play for United and the people that are bashing him are fecking disgraceful.

Well said Sir. I feel ashamed to be associated with the majority of posters on here.

 

[Lawman]

If Rooney is past it, then he is past it, it's one thing to suggest he should move on or be relegated to the bench. It's another to see the disrespectful drivel that is spewed by a bunch of neckbeards on this website.

It's absolutely disgusting to see the hateful, vitriolic bullshit that a large number of people spew out here. Whatever your feelings are about the business side here and Rooney angling for better contracts, the guy has been a warrior for United. He has played wherever he had to play to best support the club, often to the detriment of his own statistics. He's a club legend, one of the best to ever play for United and the people that are bashing him are fecking disgraceful.

True and well put buddy

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

I think a lot of the anger is justified but aimed at the wrong person. It should be lvg getting it for his refusal to bench Rooney, it's not like the bloke is going to say sorry boss, I'm not going to start. Secondly seeing as how his best performance of the season came after a 10 day break how has lvg not realised Rooney can't play two games a week every other week any more. Even if this decline is perminant and the plan is to get rid in the summer by rotating and resting him we would probably get a more productive and effective Rooney than running him into the ground.

 

[Kostur]

It's absolutely reactionary and it absolutely is an overreaction. Rooney is catching disproportionate stick compared to anyone else. Our problem this season hasn't even been at the striker position. Has Rooney been good? No. Has he been as bad as people say? I honestly can't answer that and neither can you, why? He has gotten almost ZERO quality service all season. The fact Martial has done well despite that is a testament to the talent Martial looks to be. However, you can't blame a guy who has had virtually no quality service.

Do you have any idea who kept that goal alive? You can probably guess since this is a Rooney thread. The pass out to Martial? Guess who it came from. Wayne Rooney. The pass into Rooney? Was a sloppy, high ball that was dumped into him. He controlled it, in traffic and played it out, keeping the move alive and seconds later a cross comes in and we score. How many people commented on that in the match day thread? Two people. Two people commented that Rooney helped save the move that led to our second goal. Did he get any credit for it? Not really. He did get shit on the remainder of the match however!

It's not like we're creating plethora of chances, no, but he's still had his and still usually failed to score them miserably. Take the Tottenham match for example, the goal he failed to score exemplified that he's either in a huge form crisis or simply (and more likely) simply done as a striker (footballer?) at the very top level and we were yet to find out.

You've highlighted two things he's done right in this match, fine, but Everton match was one of his better matches this season in the league, if not the best. On a flipside you could make a point that he should've scored his second when he was going 1v1 with Howard but Jagielka (who's by no means a sprinter) caught with him.

Out of all matches he's played this season he's had maybe 3-4 matches where you could call him from average to good. In the rest it's hard to label him anything other than shit and in most cases our worst player on the pitch. Given that 1) he's our captain 2) he's our highest paid player 3) he's meant to drag the team (up, not down as he does nowadays) it gets pretty problematic not to blame him. What's even more problematic is that our manager has no balls and is afraid of dropping him and now on top of that we're shunting our second best attacking player this season out to the wing in order to accomodate Rooney there.

 

[jojose]

so the latest excuse is.........he needs pace around him.

 

[jojose]

The likes of Scholes, G Nev and Rio hanging out of his arse and providing him with excuse after excuse after excuse whilst criticising every player that wasn’t a United playing during their time is almost as awkward to watch as another laboured, slow and clumbersome Wayne Rooney performance.


All three continue to talk about pace, power, inventory, attacking intent, risk taking, beating man, crisp forward passing, chance creation, movement etc etc etc


Isnt that exactly what a modern attacking player provides??


Although Rooney isnt incapable (or hasn’t shown otherwise for a year) of providing this he is the one who is offered the excuses. Where ever he’s played the excuse is he should be played elsewhere. Even the Arsenal game, Memphis was (quite rightly) slaughtered where as Rooney was defended at every possible opportunity despite allowing Cazorla to run the game.


Martial plays is moved out of position to accommodate rooney yet he still gets a goal and troubles defenders. Mata is played wide and despite his lack of pace (and that of those around him) scores goals and creates chances. Ander Herrera plays the number 10 makes chances, moves the ball quickly and scores goals.


Play inform players in their best positions regardless of age, salary experience etc and we have a squad to compete for the league.


Continue shunting players into foreign positions just to try to find a place for Rooney to look decent (lets face it thats all he was against everton – despite it being by far his best performance of the season) and we’ll be 3/4th and some way off the top 2 again.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

It's absolutely reactionary and it absolutely is an overreaction. Rooney is catching disproportionate stick compared to anyone else. Our problem this season hasn't even been at the striker position. Has Rooney been good? No. Has he been as bad as people say? I honestly can't answer that and neither can you, why? He has gotten almost ZERO quality service all season. The fact Martial has done well despite that is a testament to the talent Martial looks to be. However, you can't blame a guy who has had virtually no quality service.


Do you have any idea who kept that goal alive? You can probably guess since this is a Rooney thread. The pass out to Martial? Guess who it came from. Wayne Rooney. The pass into Rooney? Was a sloppy, high ball that was dumped into him. He controlled it, in traffic and played it out, keeping the move alive and seconds later a cross comes in and we score. How many people commented on that in the match day thread? Two people. Two people commented that Rooney helped save the move that led to our second goal. Did he get any credit for it? Not really. He did get shit on the remainder of the match however!

1. Wow. Can't believe that excuse is being made still when it comes to Rooney. We might not have the midfield we once had but are you seriously blaming his shit performances on lack of service?! Fact is, he can't control a ball anymore (and by that I don't mean every single ball he receives), he's slow, lethargic and he barely gets into good positions (Everton match was very positive in that regard). Don't forget he's virtually unable to beat a man anymore. He might still possess a high top speed but his lack of acceleration is seriously harming his play. The thing is, everyone would love to see him back to his old best, but let's realise it, that will never happen. Such has the decline of Wayne Rooney been. It's a shame that the abuse gets directed at him (I'm guilty of this) when it's not his fault but LvG's, but as long as LvG continue to select no matter how many times he's one of the worst players on the pitch, the more abuse he will get. And that happened to the likes of Gibson and Evans too. They might not have the United CV Rooney has, but atleast they aren't seen as the top dog in terms of status and contract. And back then we could actually afford to carry lesser players because of the other players we had. Now it's glaringly obvious that we need a talisman upfront but instead we get a legend way past his expiry date.


2. The pass out to Martial came from Bastian. Not a particular good pass I must add. Yes Rooney controlled the ball under pressure when it was played to him (such accomplishment!). He then passed it backwards to Schneiderlin who squared to Bastian who in turn directed it wide out to Martial. I'll make sure I'll be on the lookout for some more genius Rooney involvements in the coming matches. And I'll be the first to praise Rooney if he manages to complete a pass under pressure.

 

[jojose]

Think he's still capable of doing a very good job as an out and out striker.

Based on what? his pace? his movement? his finishing? his touch and ability to hold the ball up?

Why anybody in there right mind would move martial from centre forward to wide right to accommodate Wayne Rooney is absolutely beyond me.

Managala and Ottamendi will be praying he plays up top on sunday

 

[Maradona10]

For what uts worth, mitten says he ll be dropped soon if he doesnt improve and Lvg is thinking about playing herrera behind martial.

 

[Adisa]

Martial looking dangerous and threatening up front has thrown the service excuse out of the window. It's nonsense.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

1. Plays as a striker for five matches without contributing anything. "I think his best position is no.10".
2. Plays five matches as a no.10 without contributing. "Would like to see him get a run of games as a striker".
3. Plays another four matches as a striker before he finally scores. "Proves his critics wrong. Shows he's still a class player".
4. Next two matches he's back to his usual "retirement-worthy" level. "He lost a bit of pace, but he can still deliver those fantastic passes in a midfield role".
5. Ends of being our worst player after a few games in midfield. "He s constantly being played out of position".
6. "No matter where you play him, he will still work his socks off". That's true – at a pace of -0,65mph. But he still works his socks off!
7. Back in a striker role, but he still underperforms. "He gets no service. On top of that, we need more Englishmen around him as he can't understand those Spanish guys."

Rinse repeat.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Mata Herrera Memphis
Martial​

Potentially lethal if you ask me.

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

1. Plays as a striker for five matches without contributing anything. "I think his best position is no.10".
2. Plays five matches as a no.10 without contributing. "Would like to see him get a run of games as a striker".
3. Plays another four matches as a striker before he finally scores. "Proves his critics wrong. Shows he's still a class player".
4. Next two matches he's back to his usual "retirement-worthy" level. "He lost a bit of pace, but he can still deliver those fantastic passes in a midfield role".
5. Ends of being our worst player after a few games in midfield. "He s constantly being played out of position".
6. "No matter where you play him, he will still work his socks off". That's true – at a pace of -0,65mph. But he still works his socks off!
7. Back in a striker role, but he still underperforms. "He gets no service. On top of that, we need more Englishmen around him as he can't understand those Spanish guys."

Rinse repeat.

Harsh but accurate

 

[clarkydaz]

1. Plays as a striker for five matches without contributing anything. "I think his best position is no.10".
2. Plays five matches as a no.10 without contributing. "Would like to see him get a run of games as a striker".
3. Plays another four matches as a striker before he finally scores. "Proves his critics wrong. Shows he's still a class player".
4. Next two matches he's back to his usual "retirement-worthy" level. "He lost a bit of pace, but he can still deliver those fantastic passes in a midfield role".
5. Ends of being our worst player after a few games in midfield. "He s constantly being played out of position".
6. "No matter where you play him, he will still work his socks off". That's true – at a pace of -0,65mph. But he still works his socks off!
7. Back in a striker role, but he still underperforms. "He gets no service. On top of that, we need more Englishmen around him as he can't understand those Spanish guys."

Rinse repeat.

what can you do but laugh? Never has one player had so many excuses made

 

[clarkydaz]

For what uts worth, mitten says he ll be dropped soon if he doesnt improve and Lvg is thinking about playing herrera behind martial.

if this is true, and I hope to god there is a shred of truth in it. It would probably do Rooney the world of good and give him something to prove again

 

[jojose]

1. Plays as a striker for five matches without contributing anything. "I think his best position is no.10".
2. Plays five matches as a no.10 without contributing. "Would like to see him get a run of games as a striker".
3. Plays another four matches as a striker before he finally scores. "Proves his critics wrong. Shows he's still a class player".
4. Next two matches he's back to his usual "retirement-worthy" level. "He lost a bit of pace, but he can still deliver those fantastic passes in a midfield role".
5. Ends of being our worst player after a few games in midfield. "He s constantly being played out of position".
6. "No matter where you play him, he will still work his socks off". That's true – at a pace of -0,65mph. But he still works his socks off!
7. Back in a striker role, but he still underperforms. "He gets no service. On top of that, we need more Englishmen around him as he can't understand those Spanish guys."

Rinse repeat.

Absolutley bang on.
The frustrating aspect is for the first time in years with have a strong, quick and clinical number 9 who comes in and despite no pace around him, the team being slow in the build up, few chances created etc etc he scores goals, looks a threat and is clinical infront of goal. What do we do with him?????? Move him wide left!!!! Pathetic!!

 

[JPRouve]

if this is true, and I hope to god there is a shred of truth in it. It would probably do Rooney the world of good and give him something to prove again

I'm sure that he is close to be benched and it will be the end of his career at United.

 

[Adisa]

For what uts worth, mitten says he ll be dropped soon if he doesnt improve and Lvg is thinking about playing herrera behind martial.

Please link to the article?

 

[Barca84]

For what uts worth, mitten says he ll be dropped soon if he doesnt improve and Lvg is thinking about playing herrera behind martial.

Good to hear and it's going to happen sooner rather than later as there is no sign of him recapturing some form.

I really do think this is the beginning of the end for him at United and that it will happen very quickly

 

[psychdelicblues]

For what uts worth, mitten says he ll be dropped soon if he doesnt improve and Lvg is thinking about playing herrera behind martial.

Please link to the article?

Given the poor form of Rooney, who United will drop if his performances don’t improve, there’s a case for starting Martial as the main forward with Herrera behind him, though Rooney has done well in Manchester derbies.

http://blog.paddypower.com/2015/10/...AFF_ID=16562&dclid=COGs-9Sr2MgCFcJgwgodxL8G2g

 

[Andy_Cole]

I'd rather have Tom Cleverly in center mid than our Wayne up front. That's how bad he's got.

 

[Adam-Utd]

I don't know why but it's like he's forgotten how to move in the box and create space. He runs in straight lines and when inside the box he Just stands there with his back to goal, and really struggled to shield the ball.

It's like night and day compared to when he was a few years younger.

 

[jojose]

I don't know why but it's like he's forgotten how to move in the box and create space. He runs in straight lines and when inside the box he Just stands there with his back to goal, and really struggled to shield the ball.

It's like night and day compared to when he was a few years younger.

His movement has never been great when compared to real number 9’s. He’s also very selfish in his movement. If he does make a run / movement its with the intent of him getting on the end of it. You’l never see him making an overlap or any type of movement to create for others.


He’s doing a brilliant job of proving wrong the statement.....”you don’t become a bad player over night”

 

[Maradona10]

Please link to the article?

A new topic has been made for the same article, here it is if you are lazy.

http://blog.paddypower.com/2015/10/...AFF_ID=16562&dclid=CMWPy4y02MgCFYsVjwodtQ4CSQ

 

[Sammyjunn]

One of the best United has ever had? Do you mean top 10 by that or top 50? He's been class but he hasnt been at the very top in his position for more than 2 seasons. He's been outstanding for many seasons in a row, but in terms of real peak he isnt close to my too 10 even.

 

[Adisa]

A new topic has been made for the same article, here it is if you are lazy.

http://blog.paddypower.com/2015/10/...AFF_ID=16562&dclid=CMWPy4y02MgCFYsVjwodtQ4CSQ

Thanks.

 

[bubbles_]

If he is going to drop him, I don't think it'll be for this game. We can only hope he comes up with a moment like that overhead kick..he was playing terribly in that game before that moment as well.

 

[Cassidy]

I'd rather have Tom Cleverly in center mid than our Wayne up front. That's how bad he's got.

Ouch

 

[Sky1981]

Im torn, i want him to do well and scores, but if he scores he'll play even longer and every goal he scores buy him an extra 10 games of being shite and ruining the team.

It's like last year under moyes, would love to finish 4th and the cl, but that would mean 6 years of moyes...

A very unpleasant dillema i tell you.

I'd rather he play well and no goal rather than an odd goal against lesser team and not playing well.

Off course playing well and scoring is what we all want him to, but 18mths is too long for purple patches, i fear that he's finished this time and it's not just form. He's like a bouncing ball, his ceiling is getting lower with every dead cat bounce he makes

 

[LeChuck]

A rebuttal to that Jamie Jackson article that was nothing but drivel.

Wayne and Jamie, sitting in a tree
Mediawatch cannot fathom whether The Guardian’s Jamie Jackson knew the statistics he used to ‘form the bedrock for the case billing Rooney as a Premier League great’ were massively flawed and just thought ‘ah f*** it’ or whether he blindly blundered into using the numbers that would back up his fluff piece, gobbling up statistics like a greedy child with unlimited access to Cheestrings.

Presumably Jackson asked somebody with a calculator to tell him which footballers had scored the most Premier League goals by the age of 30. Bingo, Rooney came out top. Rejoice.

‘When he leads the side out the following day [after his birthday] against City at Old Trafford for the 170th Manchester derby Rooney’s count will stand at 187. That is 11 more goals than Alan Shearer’s 176 at the same age, 13 more than Thierry Henry’s 174 and 35 more than the 152 scored by Robbie Fowler, the fourth man on the goals-at-30 list.’

Couple of things:

* The Premier League began when Alan Shearer was 22 years old; he had already scored 23 top-flight goals before football officially began.

* Thierry Henry came to the Premier League at the age of 22; he had already scored 23 top-flight goals in the footballing backwaters of France and Italy.

So Wayne Rooney (‘the stats stack up to suggest he will leave an indelible mark on the Premier League’) has scored more Premier League goals than two players who played eight seasons in the competition before they were 30; Rooney is now in his 14th season.

Why not go further and say that Rooney is a greater goalscorer than Sergio Aguero? After all, that chump has scored only 84 PL goals? Loser.

Jackson is not finished there:

‘Shearer retired at 35. His career was blighted by serious injury, which made his achievements more admirable. Given Rooney’s desire to continue for the foreseeable future, his ability to operate in differing roles and his benign injury record, he should play until the same age as Shearer, at the very least.

‘That means the Liverpudlian should be able to surpass Shearer to set a new goal record.’

Wait a minute. Rooney is now 73 goals behind Shearer, which means he needs to start scoring goals at a rate of around 15 a season for the next five years to catch the Geordie. Rooney has reached that mark only twice in the last five seasons, with 2011/12’s 27 strikes very much the outlier on that graph. Even with his ‘desire to continue for the foreseeable future, his ability to operate in differing roles and his benign injury record’, he is presumably not immune to ageing. We suspect he will get worse rather than better.

Nonsense, says Jackson.

‘To become the all-time Premier League assist leader Rooney needs 73 more, to pass the 162 of another United stalwart, Ryan Giggs. Rooney’s 90 have come at around 7.5 a season – although there is still two thirds of the current term to play – a ratio that would allow him to pass Giggs if he were to play until 40 as the Welshman did.’

Four words: Not. A. F***ing. Chance.

Mediawatch really hopes Jackson gets the exclusive interview his shameless fluffing deserves.

If not, maybe next time he should point out that Rooney has scored 187 more goals than Lionel Messi in the Premier League.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

A rebuttal to that Jamie Jackson article that was nothing but drivel.

Hardly "nothing but drivel".

Even with all the nit-picking over stats at the end of his career he'll up there with Rooney and Henry in terms of PL goals and has a good chance of finishing second to Giggs in the most PL assists ever table. That's a remarkable achievement which is getting lost in all the tedious fecking hating over the bad form he's going through for a while now.

It's also worth bearing in mind that he wouldn't be the only player to have a bad season or two, around the big three oh, only to reinvent themselves and remain productive at the highest level for another few seasons after that. I really hope that happens, if only to so he can ram all the comments of the United fans gleefully declaring him finished at 29 years old right back up their fecking holes.

 

[LeChuck]

Hardly "nothing but drivel".

Even with all the nit-picking over stats at the end of his career he'll up there with Rooney and Henry in terms of PL goals and has a good chance of finishing second to Giggs in the most PL assists ever table. That's a remarkable achievement which is getting lost in all the tedious fecking hating over the bad form he's going through for a while now.

It's also worth bearing in mind that he wouldn't be the only player to have a bad season or two, around the big three oh, only to reinvent themselves and remain productive at the highest level for another few seasons after that. I really hope that happens, if only to so he can ram all the comments of the United fans gleefully declaring him finished at 29 years old right back up their fecking holes.

It was overly romantic nonsensical drivel. It's not even a fair comparison ffs. To base an article off of that is ridiculous and shoddy journalism. And that's not even nit picking stats. It's just a misrepresentation of stats. If you want to make comparisons of where Rooney is at at the same age as Shearer and Henry at least make it truthful! That should be the bare minimum for a stats based piece, surely?

Honestly Pogue - do you really think we'll see the Rooney we saw 04-10?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It was overly romantic nonsensical drivel. It's not even a fair comparison ffs. To base an article off of that is ridiculous and shoddy journalism. And that's not even nit picking stats. It's just a misrepresentation of stats. If you want to make comparisons of where Rooney is at at the same age as Shearer and Henry at least make it truthful! That should be the bare minimum for a stats based piece, surely?

Honestly Pogue - do you really think we'll see the Rooney we saw 04-10?

No chance. Even if he does become an important player for us he'll have to reinvent his game and become a different type of player to what he was in his youth. In the same way that the 30+ Giggys didn't go flying down the wings any more. I'm thinking (hoping?) that his recent woes are part of this process and that he'll have an Indian summer once he's refined his game to adapt to his waning physicality. Might be a pipe dream, though. Time will tell. He may have a physique that ages badly but he's always been a very intelligent footballer, which is a big help for any player aspiring to have a long career at the highest level.

 

[NinjaFletch]

No chance. Even if he does become an important player for us he'll have to reinvent his game and become a different type of player to what he was in his youth. In the same way that the 30+ Giggys didn't go flying down the wings any more. I'm thinking (hoping?) that his recent woes are part of this process and that he'll have an Indian summer once he's refined his game to adapt to his waning physicality. Might be a pipe dream, though. Time will tell. He may have a physique that ages badly but he's always been a very intelligent footballer, which is a big help for any player aspiring to have a long career at the highest level.

There was a spell, I think when he was about 38, when Giggs suddenly started being able to beat players again. It was weird. The game that sticks out was one against Man City where he absolutely bullied their right back for a good 45-60 minutes.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

There was a spell, I think when he was about 38, when Giggs suddenly started being able to beat players again. It was weird. The game that sticks out was one against Man City where he absolutely bullied their right back for a good 45-60 minutes.

Yeah, true. I remember that. I was mainly thinking of the "Sack Fergie, Sell Giggs" era when he'd lost a yard of pace, couldn't get away from defenders and looked like he might be finished. Probably a very similar age then to what Rooney is now.

Basically, I'm really hoping Rooney takes up yoga!