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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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Have been criticizing him a lot lately, but fair play to him. He showed up with a match winning moment when all else failed.

That being said, i think no one of him, Martial or Mata have been particularly good the first few matches, and on evidence form yesterday, i would say Rashford and Mkhitaryan deserves to start ahead of them.
 
His body has declined over the years but his winning mentality hasn't.

I absolutely loved his drive for that pass. He could've easily dropped his head and accepted a point.
 
Great piece of skill at the end and bery composed to put in such a good ball for Rashford to tap in. If he keeps producing like this, I will have no problems with him in the team even though his general play isnt neccesarily excellent. But we need the goals and assists.
 
Yesterday was another fine example off what i keep saying to those that wonder why Rooney continues to get picked. Shite over 90 minutes but pulls something out of the bag. By the end of the season he'll again have respectable stats in what people will be calling another shite season from him.

I do agree that he's not really good enough now. But when you're the manager here and you need the results, he pretty much picks himself. If we still had Fergie then he'd be gone. The problem we've got is we've gone through 3 managers and each time we get a new manager, they have to come in and get results first and foremost. Hence Rooney is still here. If Jose can have a good season or two then he'll be comfortable enough to make the big call and sacrifice Rooney to get us playing better football over 90 minutes each week.
 
pocco said:
Yesterday was another fine example off what i keep saying to those that wonder why Rooney continues to get picked. Shite over 90 minutes but pulls something out of the bag. By the end of the season he'll again have respectable stats in what people will be calling another shite season from him.

I do agree that he's not really good enough now. But when you're the manager here and you need the results, he pretty much picks himself. If we still had Fergie then he'd be gone. The problem we've got is we've gone through 3 managers and each time we get a new manager, they have to come in and get results first and foremost. Hence Rooney is still here. If Jose can have a good season or two then he'll be comfortable enough to make the big call and sacrifice Rooney to get us playing better football over 90 minutes each week.
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I don't think many want Rooney thrown out of the club, most just want him benched - which won't happen that easily. What I would take is a peripheral role foe him because currently he is doing too little to affect the game but popping up with important contributions at critical moments of the game which he can do from the right wing drifting into the box when AV overlaps. I think Mkhi's cameo showed us that he can give us more and make our frontline play more as a unit, with Martial out of sorts we can go with a frontline of Rooney (right), Rashford (left), Mkhitaryan (10) and Ibra as the striker for a few games.
 
Classical Mechanic said:
One of Martial's assists was a terrible shot ended up arriving at Zlatan's feet and the other was a two yard pass in a non threatening position. Those assists were the perfect example of why stats should only be considered with context. Rooney's assist today was a match winning piece of play and all down to him.
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Dress the stats up how you like, I could say Martial was in those positions to make those assists! But the bare fact is Rooney has been bang average for a long long time now.
 
Shades of the old Wayne, with that piece of play for the assist yesterday.

Last minute, need a goal to win, and he pulls something out of the hat. Although huge credit must also go to Rashford as well.

His record shows that he simply has created and scored a lot of goals throughout his career, and it looks like he's not quite finished yet.
 
Could only see the extended highlights so I can't comment about his general performance. But he was involved in some good attacks yesterday.
Good run and pass to Martial in the first half as well as a nice free kick to Ibrahimovic.
Unlucky with his volley in the second half and obviously that great assist at the end.
 
sammsky1 said:
Contributing more than martial and Mata right now. I'm very happy with him so far this season
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I'm happy he's contributing, you just know there is more ability there, if he'd be just a little quicker in his decision making.
Like the assist, as soon as he got the ball he drove at the full back and played a great cross same for his goal against Bournemouth pure instinct. I think that is what mourinho meant when he said some players never lose that instinct of finding a goal and why he'll never be a 8 or 6.
Certainly think he is getting better, having played deeper with time maybe it's taking a little time to get used to being up top again.
Hope that's the case because a Rooney on form would feel like a new signing
 
Early days yet, but Rooney has arguably been our most creative player over the 3 games. 2 goals created already, and some decent passing stats:

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Good to see he still has an appetite to win. He's been a bit passive, slow, negative in possession and mostly careless with his touches so far this season- the last 15 mins shows what he can do when he is aggressive
 
Great work to get the assist but his first touch and control is fecking dogshit at the minute and I don't know how he can keep getting picked.
 
Statistics flatter WR this season. A more productive footballer yesterday would have had that game wrapped up long before the 92nd minute.
If he continues to start, then United will find themselves behind and chasing games long before he can do his minute of magic at the end. Martial is another who could do with some time out of the starting 11 too.
City next match and WR will unfortunately continue to be the man holding this team back from producing some really good football.
 
NessunDorma said:
Early days yet, but Rooney has arguably been our most creative players over the 3 games. 2 goals created already, and some decent passing stats:

edw.jpg
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Interesting stats, in fairness to the others, the position he's playing should be more creative, but interesting to see none-the-less.
 
soapythecat said:
Statistics flatter WR this season. A more productive footballer yesterday would have had that game wrapped up long before the 92nd minute.
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So why did Ibrahimovic or Martial not wrap up the game before? Did Wayne prevent them?
 
I still think he should be dropped because his overall game is so poor and because the squad has improved so hugely in the last few months he stands out even more for his crapness. If Rashford or Mkhitaryan start that game instead of Rooney then we probably wouldn't have needed a last minute winner.

All that said though, you have to admire how he is still able to make things happen despite all of that.
 
soapythecat said:
Statistics flatter WR this season. A more productive footballer yesterday would have had that game wrapped up long before the 92nd minute.
If he continues to start, then United will find themselves behind and chasing games long before he can do his minute of magic at the end. Martial is another who could do with some time out of the starting 11 too.
City next match and WR will unfortunately continue to be the man holding this team back from producing some really good football.
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Is it possible to objectively comment without agenda on Rooney?

As the poster above also replied, why didn't Ibrahimovich, Mata, Martial or Pogba 'wrap up the game' with a goal scoring contribution before then?

As somebody who bashed Rooney for the past 18 months, I know it's hard to admit I was perhaps wrong to write him off. But he has started this season well, looks happy and most importantly is having huge influence.

So give the poor man a break?!
 
Djemba-Djemba said:
I still think he should be dropped because his overall game is so poor and because the squad has improved so hugely in the last few months he stands out even more for his crapness. If Rashford or Mkhitaryan start that game instead of Rooney then we probably wouldn't have needed a last minute winner.

All that said though, you have to admire how he is still able to make things happen despite all of that.
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an easy but also lazy assumption I also think your wrong: Hull did well to hang on for so long.
 
You are all genuinely embarrassing, it makes me cringe reading through this thread up until the assist. That is why Rooney is in the team. More importantly, Rashford is the man.
 
pocco said:
Yesterday was another fine example off what i keep saying to those that wonder why Rooney continues to get picked. Shite over 90 minutes but pulls something out of the bag. By the end of the season he'll again have respectable stats in what people will be calling another shite season from him.

I do agree that he's not really good enough now. But when you're the manager here and you need the results, he pretty much picks himself. If we still had Fergie then he'd be gone. The problem we've got is we've gone through 3 managers and each time we get a new manager, they have to come in and get results first and foremost. Hence Rooney is still here. If Jose can have a good season or two then he'll be comfortable enough to make the big call and sacrifice Rooney to get us playing better football over 90 minutes each week.
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Exactly my thought.

Rooney is done as influential player as he is used to be, but he is still an impact/moment player. Similar to Mata, while having way worse first touch on average, but Rooney is still more favored due the physical suitability of his play as well as his captain status.
 
sammsky1 said:
Is it possible to objectively comment without agenda on Rooney?

As the poster above also replied, why didn't Ibrahimovich, Mata, Martial or Pogba 'wrap up the game' with a goal scoring contribution before then?

As somebody who bashed Rooney for the past 18 months, I know it's hard to admit I was perhaps wrong to write him off. But he has started this season well, looks happy and most importantly is having huge influence.

So give the poor man a break?!
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I comment because it's the WR performance thread!! I also mention Martial needs dropping so it's hardly bias.

The WR apologists are out in force today after one assist in another poor performance.
 
sammsky1 said:
an easy but also lazy assumption I also think your wrong: Hull did well to hang on for so long.
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Rooney was diabolical for the first hour.

It's a perfectly valid opinion that playing a superior player in his position would have resulted in a different game.
 
soapythecat said:
I comment because it's the WR performance thread!! I also mention Martial needs dropping so it's hardly bias.

The WR apologists are out in force today after one assist in another poor performance.
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It's not one assist though. In every game this year he's scored or assisted at least one goal.
 
soapythecat said:
well I said AM needs dropping too and ZI if the front man waiting for WR to supply him (plus he has scored 4 goals so far). WR did not supply ZI much at all. If you can't see this, fine.
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Actually our best chance yesterday (aside from the goal) was Rooney supplying Ibrahimovic with a great free kick delivery.
 
If Mkhitaryan or Rashford had started in Rooney's place, we wouldn't have had to wait till the 92nd minute to get the winner. Rooney's performance up until then was conference league at best. We cannot continue to hope and pray he will produce a moment of brilliance when there are other players who guarantee top quality in the squad.

He did very well skinning his marker by the bye-line but I am not even sure the assist was meant for Rashford. Rooney intended to pass the ball to a heavily marked Ibrahimovic. Rashford - with his excellent positional instinct - made a dashing run and got to the ball first & did the needful.

If you look at the replay again, when Rooney looked up to make the assist, only Ibrahimovic was in his view. Rashford was far behind - the kid did well to get to the ball. Rooney has become what Gerrard became at Liverpool. Too big a player to be dropped, too ponderous a player to accommodate in the starting line up.
 
Son Of Sam said:
If Mkhitaryan or Rashford had started in Rooney's place, we wouldn't have had to wait till the 92nd minute to get the winner. Rooney's performance up until then was conference league at best. We cannot continue to hope and pray he will produce a moment of brilliance when there are other players who guarantee top quality in the squad.

He did very well skinning his marker by the bye-line but I am not even sure the assist was meant for Rashford. Rooney intended to pass the ball to a heavily marked Ibrahimovic. Rashford - with his excellent positional instinct - made a dashing run and got to the ball first & did the needful.

If you look at the replay again, when Rooney looked up to make the assist, only Ibrahimovic was in his view. Rashford was far behind - the kid did well to get to the ball. Rooney has become what Gerrard became at Liverpool. Too big a player to be dropped, too ponderous a player to accommodate in the starting line up.
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I'm no Rooney fan but that is surely agenda-driven right there. That pass was clearly intentional and played into space, if he was aiming for Zlatan he would have crossed because there were 3 players between that ball and Zlatan. He made the intelligent move plain and simple, the proof is in how when the defender planted his legs, Rooney has the presence of thought to slip it between them.

It's ok to say he has a poor overall performance but don't tarnish your argument by piling on that his assist was a fluke when all of it was clearly intentional. Players do it all the time, you don't need to see the player in the position, you can pass into the corridor of uncertainty and then have attacking player get into that position. Beckham made a career crossing into that corridor of space.
 
Excellent piece of play for the assist last night, and that would have earned him another extended run I suppose. He's still not a top player for my money, and it stands to reason that his goals and assists will be higher than players who are not on the fecking pitch. Credit for yesterday though, that was a proper assist. Sometimes stats don't move me. Because you score a tap in against Bournemouth, or a hopeful cross is powered in by Zlatan doesn't make you the best option. Just like if all Rashford did was tap it in from 1 yard, his argument to start would be far weaker - that could have been one of our centre halves scoring that. But yesterday's assist - that's the sort of stuff that keeps you in a team, it was quality. It's unlikely he'd change my mind though. He's obviously not a better footballer than Mkhitaryan, and I'm also working on the assumption that we will not lose goals and assists if we replaced Rooney with Mkhi. Mkhi will continue to have worse stats if he's not on the pitch though.
 
Rozay said:
Excellent piece of play for the assist last night, and that would have earned him another extended run I suppose. He's still not a top player for my money, and it stands to reason that his goals and assists will be higher than players who are not on the fecking pitch. Credit for yesterday though, that was a proper assist. Sometimes stats don't move me. Because you score a tap in against Bournemouth, or a hopeful cross is powered in by Zlatan doesn't make you the best option. Just like if all Rashford did was tap it in from 1 yard, his argument to start would be far weaker - that could have been one of our centre halves scoring that. But yesterday's assist - that's the sort of stuff that keeps you in a team, it was quality. It's unlikely he'd change my mind though. He's obviously not a better footballer than Mkhitaryan, and I'm also working on the assumption that we will not lose goals and assists if we replaced Rooney with Mkhi. Mkhi will continue to have worse stats if he's not on the pitch though.
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I reckon we'll see Rooney shifted to the left a few times this season. He did a lot better with open space and less of a priority to mark with players like Zlatan and Miki taking positions centrally.
 
At this point, as long as the stats at the top carry on ticking over like they are doing (contributed to 4 goals in 4 games) then he'll keep his place in the squad. If anyone else had those stats after 4 games, we'd be fawning over them as a key contributor.

When he starts turning in 5/10 performances without contributing to goals, then we can look at his place in the team.
 
Rozay said:
Excellent piece of play for the assist last night, and that would have earned him another extended run I suppose. He's still not a top player for my money, and it stands to reason that his goals and assists will be higher than players who are not on the fecking pitch. Credit for yesterday though, that was a proper assist. Sometimes stats don't move me. Because you score a tap in against Bournemouth, or a hopeful cross is powered in by Zlatan doesn't make you the best option. Just like if all Rashford did was tap it in from 1 yard, his argument to start would be far weaker - that could have been one of our centre halves scoring that. But yesterday's assist - that's the sort of stuff that keeps you in a team, it was quality. It's unlikely he'd change my mind though. He's obviously not a better footballer than Mkhitaryan, and I'm also working on the assumption that we will not lose goals and assists if we replaced Rooney with Mkhi. Mkhi will continue to have worse stats if he's not on the pitch though.
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This, of course his stats are impressive so far bur his influence on matches is minimal. I don't think his performances and stats are enough to completely shut out other options in the role i.e. make him undroppable. Imo we aren't involving our forward players enough because we don't have that thrust and link up play from the hole, we are predictably spraying the ball outwide for a cross and as Hull showed last night that is piss easy to defend against especially if you lack pace. Its not an agenda against Rooney to think that we could be better without him.
Personally I woud like to see a front four of Ibra, Rashford, Mkhi and Martial given a run of matches, Mhki behind Zlatan and the kids flanking Zlatan. That front four has everyrthing - goals, pace, strength and guile - to be up there with the best in the land.
 
TehRed said:
At this point, as long as the stats at the top carry on ticking over like they are doing (contributed to 4 goals in 4 games) then he'll keep his place in the squad. If anyone else had those stats after 4 games, we'd be fawning over them as a key contributor.

When he starts turning in 5/10 performances without contributing to goals, then we can look at his place in the team.
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So you don't think we can improve on what he is offering? I don't think we should be looking at his contribution in isolation or fail to speculate what another player could have done on the ball over ninety minutes because against better opponents that one assist may not be enough to earn us a point.
 
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