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2016-17 Performances


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5.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
39
Goals
8
Assists
10
Yellow cards
8
Status
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Also when he tried that sprint on the left he looked like he was doing the tyres thing not sprinting :lol:
 
Not too bad by his current standards.

For me, it's boils down to the fact that I believe that all the good stuff he does could be done by other players aspiring to play in the no. 10 position, while the poor things he does are things that I don't think those players would do.
 
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To borrow from Jose, my cross is also amazing without pressure.

We can do better than him, even within the squad we already have. He just doesn't have the ability to play intricately in tight areas or the willingness to make forward runs.
 
Because he only had two options, right?

Rooney's the club captain and has been the face of United for years. Ibra who has been here for 2 months is unlikely to be anything but positive about him in front of the cameras. I'm not saying he doesn't actually mean the things that he said but he didn't really have a choice.
 
He was ... ok. I dont know if thats cos im comparing it to his normal games or not.
As long as hes still in the team (which looks like it) he needs to keep getting the assists / goals cos we know the performances / touches are not going to be the best.

Long term I think hes gonna be more of a hindrance than a help, but I still hope its proven wrong. Come September when the games start coming, hoping a few changes may occur and it gives others a chance to prove they should be ahead of him.
 
Steve for crying out loud. The "defense" amounts to "yeah he's not been that bad, calm down and lets see how he goes after a couple of months.." hysterical and melodramatic. Pull the other chain, pal.
I must have imagined sarcastic recent posts claiming people write stuff like "He's the anti-Christ", "Worst performance of all time" etc etc. But yeah, you're all the unbiased voices of reason, and so on.
 
Not too bad today but Martin Samuel's match report in The Mail ... Fecking hell. Couldn't be more obvious.
 
Much better than vs Bournemouth. Good cross in for the goal, but a bit quiet today.

Can't help but think we'd be a far better side with Mata at 10, and Mkhitaryan on the right.
 
He had a good game, not that hard to say. I know his levels have been absolutely dire as of late(the shit he was pulling in the Leicester game was below dire) however he did play well. His touch seemed to be back, his pace wont come back, however he still knows how goals are made during games and we all know that's what wins matches. .
 
oh no...shoot him!

It was an assist whether you put it down as one or not.

Yeah but you should definitely not use it to back up your reasoning as to why he is effective. The way you state '3 games 1 goal 2 assists' as if that alone should shut everyone up when in fact 1 of the assists was a 5 yard midfield pass and the goal was the result of a mis-hit shot that landed to him a couple of metres away from goal, under no pressure what so ever. What has he done in these 3 games that any no10 in the league or even championship would not be able to do? And besides his general play is absolutely horrendous. Today it was average to be fair which for a lot of his sympathisers translates to 'fantastic'.

If this was David Silva, De Bruyne, Oscar, Ozil or basically any other no 10 in a competitive team who had played in the same way today, people would be slating them for having a quite game, not really getting involved, probably giving them kudos for the assist whilst they would also reflect on the fact that the last two games they played were well under par.

But because it's Rooney, a different sort of standard seems to apply apparently; where not losing the ball as often as he normally does and putting in a cross without any pressure is playing 'really well' as a poster somewhere before put it and that he was 'good' in his last game because despite him losing and miscontrolling the ball around 7-8 times in dangerous areas, he scored an easy goal.
 
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He had a good game, not that hard to say. I know his levels have been absolutely dire as of late(the shit he was pulling in the Leicester game was below dire) however he did play well. His touch seemed to be back, his pace wont come back, however he still knows how goals are made during games and we all know that's what wins matches. .

Yeah he got his touch a little back. But when will he lose it again? And will he retrieve it afterwards? I dont really think so. I really hope Mourinho is planning on replacing him in 1/2 seasons.
 
Yeah but you should definitely not use it to back up your reasoning as to why he is effective. The way you state '3 games 1 goal 2 assists' as if that alone should shut everyone up when in fact 1 of the assists was a 5 yard midfield pass and the goal was the result of a mis-hit shot that landed to him a couple of metres away from goal, under no pressure what so ever. What has he done in these 3 games that any no10 in the league or even championship would not be able to do? And besides his general play is absolutely horrendous. Today it was average to be fair which for a lot of his sympathisers translates to 'fantastic'.
I never said that he was fantastic, The point is the No10 is essentially a forward thinking midfielder, if we discount the charity shield then it still equates to him having a hand in 2 goals in 2 games. So what is the problem?

People are too quick to point out the flaws in his games but seemingly can't be arsed to compliment the good aspects to his game, or his decent performances. I personally couldn't give a feck about the anti-Rooney brigade.
 
The best way I describe Rooney is serviceable. He may be capable of better performances than today, but they will be few and far between. Somewhere between today and Bournemouth will be par for course.

He didn't get in the way today as he did against Bournemouth. Was an okay cross for the goal, but Ibra did BEAST it.

I really feel he is holding us back from going up another gear. A 3 of Martial Mata Mkhitaryan with Rashford rotating in the front four could be amazing. Rooney as it stands doesn't have the ability to link up and interchange with the, much more capable, players around him at the moment.

However he will chip in with the odd goal and assist. This is enough to keep his fans happy and fight his corner. However I believe many have seen that, as a team, we are capable of much more given the players at our disposal.

I will repeat. A solid 6/10 performance today. Not much wrong, not much great either.
 
I never said that he was fantastic, The point is the No10 is essentially a forward thinking midfielder, if we discount the charity shield then it still equates to him having a hand in 2 goals in 2 games. So what is the problem?

People are too quick to point out the flaws in his games but seemingly can't be arsed to compliment the good aspects to his game, or his decent performances. I personally couldn't give a feck about the anti-Rooney brigade.

Mainly because his overall performances have largely been detrimental to the overall team at times, and because he just doesn't look like a particularly good footballer anymore. A two-game sample is very, very small, which is why I'd personally look at judgment of most players (good or bad) as being limited. Zlatan's been great, but I'll happily admit he could end up doing nothing for the rest of the season, as unlikely as I think that is. By the same token, Rooney could have an incredibly prolific season, but I'd be surprised if he does. And I suspect most people think the same. There's nothing wrong with that; it's up to him to prove the fans wrong in that respect, and that'll involve an improve in performances.
 
The best way I describe Rooney is serviceable. He may be capable of better performances than today, but they will be few and far between. Somewhere between today and Bournemouth will be par for course.

He didn't get in the way today as he did against Bournemouth. Was an okay cross for the goal, but Ibra did BEAST it.

I really feel he is holding us back from going up another gear. A 3 of Martial Mata Mkhitaryan with Rashford rotating in the front four could be amazing. Rooney as it stands doesn't have the ability to link up and interchange with the, much more capable, players around him at the moment.

However he will chip in with the odd goal and assist. This is enough to keep his fans happy and fight his corner. However I believe many have seen that, as a team, we are capable of much more given the players at our disposal.

I will repeat. A solid 6/10 performance today. Not much wrong, not much great either.

Yep, would say that's a fair summary. If you're wanting to improve as a team then you should be looking at areas upon which you can improve significantly. And I think most fans would surely agree that Rooney can be improved upon massively.
 
I never said that he was fantastic, The point is the No10 is essentially a forward thinking midfielder, if we discount the charity shield then it still equates to him having a hand in 2 goals in 2 games. So what is the problem?

People are too quick to point out the flaws in his games but seemingly can't be arsed to compliment the good aspects to his game, or his decent performances. I personally couldn't give a feck about the anti-Rooney brigade.

A forward thinker? :lol: Blimey, he turns his back towards goal, loses it, passes it side ways or backwards almost every time he receives the ball in a dangerous area. The only good things he has done in the last two were an easy goal and a good cross. There was a lot more he did wrong, so much wrong that a lot of people tend to focus on the whole game and his incompetence on the whole rather than a second or two of brilliance, if you can even call it that. Please tell me what else he has done to deserve compliments in those two games other than a good cross and a 5 yard finish?

Again is there really any forward in the league who wouldn't be able to put in a cross to Zlatan like today or finish 5 yards away from goal without any pressure in both cases? The main problem is that the 2 pieces of play that resulted in a goal and an assist were literally the only things he did well in the whole space of two games whilst there was a lot more that he did terribly. And they both certainly did not constitute of any kind of brilliance on his part to warrant the rest of his play being so bad.
 
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A forward thinker? :lol: Blimey, he turns his back towards goal, loses it, passes it side ways or backwards almost every time he receives the ball in a dangerous area. The only good things he has done in the last two were an easy goal and a good cross. There was a lot more he did wrong, so much wrong that a lot of people tend to focus on the whole game and his incompetence on the whole rather than a second or two of brilliance, if you can even call it that. Please tell me what else he has done to deserve compliments in those two games other than a good cross and a 5 yard finish?

Again is there really any forward in the league who wouldn't be able to put in a cross to Zlatan like today or finish 5 yards away from goal without any pressure?

Very true. He's become an increasingly cautious, safe passer who likes to pass to the player next to him or out on the wing, as opposed to someone who looks for through balls in dangerous position. Which contrasts with the dynamic player he often was when he was younger.
 
A forward thinker? :lol: Blimey, he turns his back towards goal, loses it, passes it side ways or backwards almost every time he receives the ball in a dangerous area. The only good things he has done in the last two were an easy goal and a good cross. There was a lot more he did wrong, so much wrong that a lot of people tend to focus on the whole game and his incompetence on the whole rather than a second or two of brilliance, if you can even call it that. Please tell me what else he has done to deserve compliments in those two games other than a good cross and a 5 yard finish?

Again is there really any forward in the league who wouldn't be able to put in a cross to Zlatan like today or finish 5 yards away from goal without any pressure?
if you think that finish was easy, you have clearly never played football in your life.
 
if you think that finish was easy, you have clearly never played football in your life.

I think it is quite telling that you ignored the rest of the post whilst picking out a little detail to argue with. Yeah, it was a good finish but it was gifted to him by a mis hit shot which was also the reason there was no defender there to put pressure on him. They were all over the place trying to block the shot at goal. Was quite easy for a professional football player in all fairness, never mind one who has played as a no10 or a striker throughout most of his career. Look at Zlatans goal today and the amount of pressure he had around him. Around the same distance, but there was a big difference in quality. It was a half chance. No one really expected a goal to come out of it whereas everyone was expecting Rooney to put that one in the net, including his critics.

Typical Rooney sympathiser. Ignores all but one or two convenient to argue against points presented to them and then has a sly dig at the person with which they are arguing. Actually I used to play for Reading u13's mate and have been part of many football teams throughout my life. I don't care if you believe me or not.
 
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Great point mate. If theres one thing i want from our number 10 its interceptions. Not assists or goals!

Grasping here pal. Really grasping.

For the record guys Bailly HAS ZERO ASSISTS. Embarrassing stuff really...
Champagne comedy. This thread in a nutshell.
 
I think it is quite telling that you ignored the rest of the post whilst picking out a little detail to argue with. Yeah, it was a good finish but it was gifted to him by a mis hit shot which was also the reason there was no defender there to put pressure on him. They were all over the place trying to block the shot at goal. Was quite easy for a professional football player in all fairness. Look at Zlatans goal today and the amount of pressure he had around him. Around the same distance, but there was a big difference in quality.

Typical Rooney sympathiser. Ignores all but one or two convenient to argue against points presented to them and then has a sly dig at the person with which they are arguing. Actually I used to play for Reading u13's mate and have been part of many football teams throughout my life. I don't care if you believe me or not.
:lol:

No...

You misunderstand me friend. I am not a Rooney sympathiser in the slightest, I get equally as frustrated with him as the rest of you. I am however a United fan, a passionate one. And feel that sometimes, like tonight. That people don't give him any credit if he deserves it. He wasn't poor tonight. He was on sunday and he was in the charity shield, but not tonight.

As for keeping the ball or playing it backwards/sideways etc, that can sometimes be common sense, yes, we all love it when United attack with pace, but you simply cannot attack every second of every game. If Rooney gets the ball and has nothing on ahead of him, i am happy to see him play sideways or even backwards, i am happy to see us keep the ball and build an attack from behind....this goes for ANY player FYI, it's just that we happen to be discussing Rooney here.

Something i do sometimes think is underrated from Rooney is what he does off the ball when we are going forward. Tonight especially, he would lay one of those boring sideways passes and then run into the space that same sideways pass created, of course because he doesn't have the ball this often gets overlooked and discredited....again this extends to ANY player, yet we happen to be discussing Rooney here.

Zlatan was actually further out then rooney for his header tonight, but they were completely different goals (Zlatans was better FWIW) Rooney had a chance that he did well to finish, it wasn't easy and you fail to credit his movement that led him to be in that position in the first place. Zlatan tonight came from deeper and rose above 2 defenders and picked out the corner, it was a beautiful header from a beautiful cross. However i concede the fact that Southampton should have closed Rooney down a lot quicker.
 
He was decent, still had some god awful touches at times and I didn't even notice he was still on the pitch after half time tbh.
 
:lol:

No...

You misunderstand me friend. I am not a Rooney sympathiser in the slightest, I get equally as frustrated with him as the rest of you. I am however a United fan, a passionate one. And feel that sometimes, like tonight. That people don't give him any credit if he deserves it. He wasn't poor tonight. He was on sunday and he was in the charity shield, but not tonight.

As for keeping the ball or playing it backwards/sideways etc, that can sometimes be common sense, yes, we all love it when United attack with pace, but you simply cannot attack every second of every game. If Rooney gets the ball and has nothing on ahead of him, i am happy to see him play sideways or even backwards, i am happy to see us keep the ball and build an attack from behind....this goes for ANY player FYI, it's just that we happen to be discussing Rooney here.

Something i do sometimes think is underrated from Rooney is what he does off the ball when we are going forward. Tonight especially, he would lay one of those boring sideways passes and then run into the space that same sideways pass created, of course because he doesn't have the ball this often gets overlooked and discredited....again this extends to ANY player, yet we happen to be discussing Rooney here.

Zlatan was actually further out then rooney for his header tonight, but they were completely different goals (Zlatans was better FWIW) Rooney had a chance that he did well to finish, it wasn't easy and you fail to credit his movement that led him to be in that position in the first place. Zlatan tonight came from deeper and rose above 2 defenders and picked out the corner, it was a beautiful header from a beautiful cross. However i concede the fact that Southampton should have closed Rooney down a lot quicker.

I never claimed he was poor. I said he was quite average and to suggest he played very well as some are saying I think is a bit OTT and points to the kind of standard expected of Rooney these days. For instance, I believe Fellaini, Pogba, Valencia and Zlatan all deserve such praise for their overall impact on the game but not Rooney himself for one moment of brilliance when the rest of his game was nothing special. I mainly picked on your post because the way you laid out the stats implied you thought that said it all but when you look at the overall picture he has been quite shite. Anyway, looking back perhaps you were just trying to put things in perspective and I understand that. At the end of the day he does always seem to manage to get the assists and the goals. I just believe that we would end up with a lot more goals as a team if a more creative, dynamic player was put there instead to exploit the space rather than benefit from it being there; if that makes any sense? We have enough players who will use the space well but not many who can create/exploit it.

As for the second bolded part, I agree but my problem with Rooney is that he tends to pass it backwards and sideways these days, or lose it completely in dangerous areas. When there is a chance to attack or pass the ball forward the time he takes along with the way he passes causes all danger to cease, which points back to what I said about him not exploiting the space in front of him for the most part. Mata, for example, makes a lot of the same kind of passes but when he sees a chance to send the ball forward he will do so where as Rooney's most forward kind of pass these days is to Valencia on the right.

What it boils down to is that I don't think his moments of brilliance are worth the negative impact he has in general on the team when going forward. And that what he does bring with goals and assists is not as valuable or someone who can keep that attack flowing with creativity.
 
This just in: Wayne Rooney is still quite a good footballer.

(Controversial opinion, I know, but sometimes you have to put the cat amongst the pigeons)
 
That was another good performance from Rooney. Of course I will be a fanboi and a blind defender for saying that. Despite his good performance my gut tells me Mikhitaryan has some magic up his sleeve and if Mata is to keep playing I would love to see how the side does with Mikhi instead of Rooney.

Then again, Mikhi and Mata are too similar so I am still not sure. That cross was just sublime.
 
Didn't have a bad game by his standards on the pitch. Having Phil Neville verbally fellating him on the commentary was nauseating.

I imagine that one of the Southampton players got ripped for not closing him down for the goal. Can't ignore him like you could last year with Zlatan lurking in the middle.
 
IMO, I can see him being eased out.

Personally, I wasn't impressed tonight and thought he stuck out like a sore thumb

But, 2nd game etc....He always shows up against City
 
Have said it all along. As long as he's not the main man, he's alright.
 
Were there any signs of him showing any tantrums with Zlatan taking the penalty duties? Don't think the cameras showed anything. If not, then it probably shows he is willing to be a part of the team rather than being the face of it. Good to see him buckle down and get on with the game.
 
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