Im red2
Prophet of Doom
Anyone with even half an eye can see that Wayne Rooney is feckin useless now.
Drop Rooney but Im not sure how effective it is when the replacement is Lingard, Mata, Young, Memphis.. Henrikh, please find some form.
Despite the goals, the thing that Zlatan has over the other players is that no player in our squad can lead the line as good as he does. Rooney on the other hand, we have players that can was replace himMartial, Zlatan, Fellaini have been well below par. Only that Zlatan got some goals to save him.
I don't understand why they have to go so far to defend someone who played like shit. What game are they watching?!
Martial, Zlatan, Fellaini have been well below par. Only that Zlatan got some goals to save him.
As opposed to shot stopping?Martial, Zlatan, Fellaini have been well below par. Only that Zlatan got some goals to save him.
Who has defended him?
I'm still surprised that anyone even bothered to reply the guy! I honestly believe he gathering all his loving comments of Rooney and sending them to Colleen and Wayne to say "Hey, I'm sticking up for you, please send me an autographed shirt and come to my 13th birthday party"
Rooney only played 6 balls forward today or something? I don't think he had much of a bearing on which of our forwards got the ball. Rooney isn't enough of a playmaker to dictate our plays positively or negatively to too much of an extent. Whichever player finds space gets the ball. Valencia is excellent at finding space in the RB position, Martial on the left really isn't good enough off the ball yet, he is never fully open, just doesn't understand space so with Rooneys long balls not being great he just plays it to the most open player. Pogba for instance is regarded well for his passing but he couldn't get anything decent off today, not just because he was playing poorly but because our forwards don't understand off the ball movement aside from Zlatan who doesn't have the pace to make the most out of it.
Having said that Zlatan played two or three knock downs to the ten position, if prime lampard played for us we could have had some goals off that move.
I'm still surprised that anyone even bothered to reply the guy! I honestly believe he gathering all his loving comments of Rooney and sending them to Colleen and Wayne to say "Hey, I'm sticking up for you, please send me an autographed shirt and come to my 13th birthday party"
There are a couple of terrible moments missing in the video posted a couple of pages back. Which I have included here:
There are a couple of terrible moments missing in the video posted a couple of pages back. Which I have included here:
Must be tough times for @nick2004, trying to rationalize what's happening these days, given that he's an utter Rooney fanatic AND an utter Mourinho fanatic.I'm still surprised that anyone even bothered to reply the guy! I honestly believe he gathering all his loving comments of Rooney and sending them to Colleen and Wayne to say "Hey, I'm sticking up for you, please send me an autographed shirt and come to my 13th birthday party"
Rooneys most alarming problem, I think, is his awareness. The amount of times in the last 18 months that I've seen him receive the ball and then just get pick pocketed by a defender is unreal and it's not like these defenders are making crunching tackles. It's just defending made easy by Rooneys inability to shield the ball and move it quickly on.
The ironic thing is that as a younger player he had a superb first touch and could shrug off markers and bring his team mates into play from all angles. If we played him as main attacker (not that he'd oust Zlatan) then I don't think this is as relevant but playing him where we are the one thing he does need to do is protect that ball and be cute with it but he does neither and a lot of opposition breaks come from him conceding possession all to easily.
As others have said 'thanks for the memories' but this is become a sad downfall watching him like this. He might only be 30 odd but in football terms he's nearer 34,35 because of the early exposure he had and his natural physique does not lend itself to a career well into his 30's.
He is.To be fair he still thinks Rooney is world class. I'm beginning to think he is just a troll.
This. Somehow his best attribute has become his worst one. The old Rooney never lost the ball, not so much the current one. This has a massive impact on his overall game as well, and it's easy to see. Unless he has 10 feet of free space around him, he becomes very cautious.
Benching Rooney now will not necessarily solve our problems though.We might drop him and still lose like the last time we did against Stoke on boxing day .Then Jose will just panic and bring him back and we are back to square.Benching him could turn out of be a masterstroke for Jose. Media won't create a hue and cry as everyone knows that he is done and it will send a message across the squad that shit performances won't be tolerated.
If Fergie could bench Rooney three years back when he still something in the tank, Jose can bench him now when he is running on empty. Do it Jose.
I was watching and after it went out of play the commentators were putting all the blame on Shaw's weight of pass, and I was thinking "what on Earth?" It wasn't the best ball from Shaw by any means, but it deserved a lot better than Rooney's horrific control.That pass out wide from Shaw that he couldn't even keep in play was absolutely pathetic.
Rooney tells the ref to eff off, sudden cries of "ROONEH ROONEH ROONEH" can be heard from the Stretford End.World class at debating with the ref though Rooney is the best
Benching Rooney now will not necessarily solve our problems though.We might drop him and still lose like the last time we did against Stoke on boxing day .Then Jose will just panic and bring him back and we are back to square.
The key is to drop him and change our formation completely. The 2 men midfield isn't working and we don't really need a 10 in this formation at all. That makes Rooney's position obsolete.He isn't good enough a player for us to play a formation that gets less out of everyone else.
The Pogba-fellaini pivot is ineffective as Wayne and would need to be canned too.A ball dicating mid us a must.
We have to create a side that doesn't require us to fall back into the Rooney trap because they will lead us nowhere.
There are a couple of terrible moments missing in the video posted a couple of pages back. Which I have included here:
He really didn't, that is the worst I have seen him play for us. Him and Pogba made fellaini look like pirlo in comparison.
I was watching and after it went out of play the commentators were putting all the blame on Shaw's weight of pass, and I was thinking "what on Earth?" It wasn't the best ball from Shaw by any means, but it deserved a lot better than Rooney's horrific control.
Can't disagree with the initial point of your post but my God the double standards where Rooney is concerned are quite special. Rooney had half a season to play himself into form and didn't; this year he's had five games and is getting worse but Mkhi and the rest of the alternatives have had their United careers quartered and butchered on less than ninety minutes of football, no wonder we are in the doldrums if all it takes to lose your chance is one poor outing which surprisingly doesn't apply to the most prominent and constant participant of the laat couple of disastrous regimes.I agree. Rooney is a huge problem but he is not the only problem. Simply dropping him won't magically turn us into an attractive winning team. If we were looking for proof, we'd need to only go back as far as Thursday night.
Agree wholeheartedly with the rest of it too. We don't have an exceptional number 10 and our midfield options are suited for a different set-up. The dream is that dropping Rooney will make the manager utilize the rest of the squad to it's ability.
I really don't want to have a go at you but do you play any football or understand the idea of cause and effect?
Your insistence that Rooney's play doesn't affect others is ludicrous. Nobody is absolved of any blame for their individual game but Rooney is absolutely a big reason to why others play so sh|t.
There's two sides of every coin and you're just siding with the one...that happens to give Rooney benefit of the dobut in every situation.
Your reasoning: Rooney doesn't operate 'enough' as a playmaker therefore he's not the problem.
Flip side: He's the problem because he doesn't get himself involved enough. As others have said countless times, he only finds those pockets of space where he can't threaten and has all the time in the world to play simple passes i.e further away from goal/no pressure/deep in midfield. Even then he's terrible.
Your reasoning: Rooney isn't a playmaker so he shouldn't be expecting to dictate play.
Flip side: He's the furthest one up the pitch apart from Zlatan yet he couldn't affect anything in the final third because he has the touch of a donkey and he's incapable of playing a straight central forward pass because it requires a good touch and some vision. He absolutely is a play maker in that position. Unfortunately it impacts us negatively.
Your reasoning: The long ball to Valencia is great because he only plays it when he sees it and Valencia is great at finding space.
Flip side: He literally plays it 7-8 times out of 10 and that's his go to move. Every time he does that, he's basically taken away the chance to drive at the defence or pass to his striker or other players in space.
Your reasoning: Pogba is poor because he was poor.
Flip side: Yes he was poor but how can he build any momentum of play when he can't rely on the furthest player up the pitch to pass back to him in a good positon or trust him to control the damn ball in tight situations.
You don't think how a central defender's peformance can be affected by say a tentative keeper or his defensive partner? You don't think a midfielder's perfomance can be affected by the defenders behind him or the players in front o.him? Etc etc. Rooney is an abomination of a player that sucks up the space in the most important part of the pitch. Nothing's gonna change overnight but giving him benefit of the doubt still? Crazy (ily bias).
I agree. Rooney is a huge problem but he is not the only problem. Simply dropping him won't magically turn us into an attractive winning team. If we were looking for proof, we'd need to only go back as far as Thursday night.
Agree wholeheartedly with the rest of it too. We don't have an exceptional number 10 and our midfield options are suited for a different set-up. The dream is that dropping Rooney will make the manager utilize the rest of the squad to it's ability.
The reason they dont play it is because he will either spoon it over, mis-control it and loose possession, or spanner it towards the corner flag. He is done, finished, kaput, as much use as a one legged man in an arse kicking contest, or a chocolate fireguard, or an ashtray on a motorbike, or a handbrake on a canoe, or tits on a fish, or a spoon in a knife fight. He has delusions of adequacy, he is at rock bottom and still digging. He is out of his depth in a puddle, he is grossly crap --144 times crapper than crap.The square ball is on so many times and he's in acres of space and nobody plays it. I guess if that is some crumb of comfort, that is all I can give.