What exactly is Rooney's role in the team? He is not good enough as an out and out striker and definitely not good enough for a midfield role. He is also not the typical #10 who can unlock defenses. So what will he be doing actually?
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Goals
- 8
- Assists
- 10
- Yellow cards
- 8
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Jamie (@Vault Dweller) are here to celebrate rare back-to-back victories for Manchester United! They analyse the late win in the Europa League vs. Rangers and then try and find things to analyse in a pretty dour game vs. Fulham. They also chat about the latest Marcus Rashford news, and look at the latest transfer news.
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Rooney is nothing if not versatile. Something the last decent manager we had took full advantage of. Even Hodgson was willing to move him round if he thought it suited the team to do so.
If Mourinho isn't willing or able to pick the best possible XI, to get the best out of all our most talented players then our problems go far deeper than Wayne Rooney.
How long have you been watching Wayne Rooney play mate?
You should know as well as i what he will be doing, bar the odd season up front or in midfield. He's pretty much always played the same position.
My immediate concern is that he won't work well with Zlatan. They don't seem like a good fit. If it does not work, how long will Mourinho persist with it?
Mourinho has already boxed himself in by saying, he will never use him as a 6 or 8.
Mourinho has already boxed himself in by saying, he will never use him as a 6 or 8.
Rooney + Zlatan is a receip for disaster just like Falcao & RVP looked so good on paper ...
Doubt Mourinho is worried about a backlash. Everyone in the country is of the opinion that his performances will determine whether he plays.
If he doesn't play well, doubt ere will be any complaints when he's dropped.
Been seen him playing every minute for United. And no, he didn't say every season in the position you refer. He has played left, right, midfield, #10, #9. I still don't know what his best position is for us currently. He is not good enough to be #9, #10, #6, #8 for us. He could be the second striker but I would rather we go 4-3-3 with Pogba at the tip.
Whether he's a good enough No 10 is another question but that is still his best position in the squad as it is.
I'd propose that we forget for several days our criticisms of Rooney and acknowledge his huge contributions to United. It's the week of his testimonial.
He definitely is versatile but you can't really believe the various positional changes and undroppable status over the last three years have been based purely on merit?
Clearly his name has got him into the United and England teams at certain times(that's putting it modestly I think).
Disagree. He was picked on merit IMO. Very occasionally dropped on merit too.
Agree with post above yours so won't continue the debate.
Not a fan of Hodgson, but Rooney's comments today are very disloyal. He is a snake.
"My captain shall always play."
Said before a ball was kicked. It's not possible to coherently argue he was picked on merit.
Sorry i don't understand this bit.
Yeah would be nice if that happened doubt it will though.
I have already stated that this excuse of not being an out and out striker doesn't wash since his game is that of a second striker than a attacking midfield play-maker. Rooney plays the role that Silva and Ozil play in a team albeit differently meaning that goals scored weigh more when measuring his worth. This "he is not an out and out striker" is just an excuse because the positions he takes up in the hole are that of a second striker.
It's not an excuse mate it's a fact, bar 2009-10 he has very rarely played as an out and out striker. He has more often than not played as a second striker. He's played by my count 8-9 seasons in that position and in this role bar one season when he scored 34 he has consistently scored 15-19 goals.
So taking that information into account why do you now expect more goals from him in that position, i am genuinely interested?
Thanks, thought so.
I've always said Rooney can still score goals if he gets service, and I think he can still get good numbers as a number 10.
Because I am now judging him by the standard of an undroppable Captain...
That make no sense mate, what does that even mean.
How is being a captain and undropable even if that were true which it likely isn't somehow linked to his expected goal return?
He has only once scored more than 20 goals in the position he will likely occupy under Mourinho, given that fact and considering he has declined as you say and most of us agree with. To now expect him to score even more goals from that position than he has in the past is silly to put it nicely.
Sorry, was on a phone. I meant "play", not "say".
I agree but that does not mean it is in the best interest of the team.
If a player demands and is granted a special status in the team so much so that he can go for half a season playing like the worst player in the league and retain his place in the team then his performance has to match that treatment and status, no? Managers appear to be genuinely scared of dropping him because of his golden boy status, asking him to justify it on the pitch is only fair.
One could also argue that the fact that he only scaled those heights just once in his career, considering his talent and potential, is a disappointment in itself.
It's been nice but think now it's better I concentrate on writing the report I've been asked to than sit here and letting this debate degenerate to this. I expect more from our captain and highest paid player, you obviously don't.
Oh ok mate i get you now, '' And no, he didn't say every season in the position you refer. ''
Well what i said was still pretty accurate though he played almost an entire season up front under Ferguson in 09-10 and mostly in midfield under LVG in 14-15. Other than that he has had stretches in midfield, left wing etc. over his career yes, but the vast majority of his career he has played as a second striker/deep striker/no10 however you wish to describe it.
So this has been confirmed to have been the case then yes?
Rooney demanded special status and the club gave it to him, any evidence for this?
Your expectations are obviously unrealistic mate mine are not, if he had been an out and out striker and averaged 30-35 goals playing upfront in 8-9 seasons or the bulk of his career would you now expect him to score 40-45?
I expect no you wouldn't because that would be silly, but that is essentially what you are saying whether you realize it or not. The fact he is captain is irrelevant in relation to his form or goal return as is his wages. If paying a player more money guaranteed better form we would give every member of the squad a raise tomorrow and win the league next year, but thats not how it works in reality.
I agree with you, only a few players at a few sides should be expecting to get 20+, a side like Utd would be one of those sides, and if rooney plays when fit, and as a striker for the whole season then really that is what he should be hitting, and he may well do it, and he may not. If everything clicks and the side are putting chances into him, its not an unreasonable expectation.
Mkhi only works as a winger in a fluid attacking system in which he can drift inside and a Kagawa/Reus/Aubameyang can drift over to the right to fill in for him. We don't have anyone bar maybe Rashford who can drift to the right and still create problems from there so I don't think he'll be as affective unless Marcus is playing alongside him. Or maybe Pogba depending on where he plays.
Wayne playing as a 10 or up front will definitely affect not only Mkhi but our entire attack. Unless he's in the team as an #8 where he's actually played well, though I doubt it going by José's comments.
Well I'm not saying Kagawa was good here and deserved the spot but we should have at least given him a proper run at the #10 considering that's why we bought him (before RvP became available). I thought that whenever he did get a few consistant games under his belt in the #10 position he did okay but didn't get to build on his soild performances. Less so for Mata, but it's hard to judge on van Gaal's era. Personally I don't think Rooney, Kagawa or Mata are/were good enough to be our #10s but squeezing Rooney into the team as a #10 when we had bought actual players who played in that position in Kagawa and Mata was befuddling to say the least.
I suppose the club just want it to be a case of 'he achieved everything possible here' when he moves on. It would make sense and his eventual departure would seem more like a mutual decision. There's understandably no way he'd want to leave while being just five goals off breaking the record, so if he was sold, it would be fairly obvious we sold him because he's not good enough anymore. I'd say we do owe him a good send off after all these years of performances (he inevitably will become a United legend), and what's a better send off than 'the man who did it all'? Obviously this would be coupled with Rooney 'looking for a new challenge' or something along those lines.I'm not saying you're wrong, but why do we believe this? We don't owe him the record and surely getting played just to get the record when you weren't good enough to get it when you actually merited a place in the team only diminishes the achievement. That last sentence might have gotten away from me a bit, I think it's understandable anyway.
That's the only somewhat acceptable explanation I can come up with.
But he's still a winger mate, so Rooney playing won't mean he's out of position. If Henrikh (need to learn of to spell his name) drifts in Valencia will bomb on on the outside of him. He doesn't need to be hugging the touch line like Kanchelskis or anything.
We'll see maybe Jose can get him somewhere near his best form again, if not we won't need to worry about him messing up attacks as he'll be on the bench.
According to Rene, Kagawa was bought with a view to playing him behind Rooney with Wayne going back up top, it's the same reason we wanted Sneijder the year before. Kagawa was the victim of Van Persies arrival not Rooney. Mata is a great player i think, much better than he's shown under Van Gaal but again he probably shouldn't have been bought as we already had Rooney, Kagawa, Fellaini etc.
In Van Gaal's first season Rooney played a lot of it in midfield in those crazy formations Louis was experimenting with, so again Rooney wasn't really playing at the expense of Mata. And then towards the end of the season he went up front as a 9 if i remember correctly.
Expecting him to play poorly under Mou cause under LVG is doing him a diservice. Now we'll be playing the football he generally thrived under, and that's where he's been particularly destructive throughout his career. This pass sideways nonsense was never going to work for him. I wouldn't mind him being sold, but we might as well give him one final chance since he's borderline impossible to get rid of. Another thing is an in form Rooney is a hell of a player. One thing that is for sure is that Mou doesn't fully believe he's still up to it and has bought players to compensate for him being poor. Certainly will be interesting what happens this season.
nobody bothered with his thread after his testimonial? Thought he looked sharp so fair play to him. Nearly made more passes to Zlatan tonight than RVP in 2 years
Testimonial.Was our best player on the pitch today. That's why this thread is so quite; the usual suspects have nothing bad to say.
Was our best player on the pitch today. That's why this thread is so quite; the usual suspects have nothing bad to say.
Makes me laugh that people are very quick to slaughter him when he plays bad but can't come out and compliment him when he does well.And your point is? It was basically just another pre season game and in the previous ones we played teams who had alot more game time and rhythm than our players and yet he got absolutely slaughtered .
Also why bother replying with one word and no explanation? Testimonial or not, he played well.
Testimonial.
Irrelevant.
ha well I'm probably one of the usual suspects but at least he pulled it together for his night, considering a few days ago he couldn't trap a ball. I was just happy seeing no floaty passesWas our best player on the pitch today. That's why this thread is so quite; the usual suspects have nothing bad to say.
I am usually one of his critics but I have always said I will give praise where praise is due. The other games this pre-season were just as if not even more meaningless and yet people were absolutely tearing into him.
He wasn't our best player at all but he did ok, didn't lose it too often.
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