Posted on Tuesday, 28th August 2012 by Andrew Richardson
"Rooooney!!!"
Remember in the 94/95 season when Robbie Fowler made the breakthrough at Liverpool and was scoring goals for fun?
The following season he went on to do even better! He was one of the most gifted finishers the English game has produced. He grew up as an Everton fan. At 26 was sold to Leeds and his career started on a downward spiral. I also remember a 17 year old Michael Owen scoring a consolation goal for Liverpool against Wimbledon, on his debut; the night we won the title. This superstar footballer who was going to break all the records at club and international level. He too grew up as an Everton fan and at 26 he suffered a horrific knee injury playing for England and never recovered. His career has gone downhill ever since.
Now I know that age and boyhood allegiances are tedious links, but at 16 years old Wayne Rooney was billed as the greatest England player of all time. Has he really fulfilled that potential? Would someone outside of England safely put him in the top 25 players in Europe? Let alone top 3.
He was tearing reserve teams apart up and down the country before that, and scored that wonder goal at 16 years against arguably Arséne Wenger’s greatest assembled side. He soon made his England debut and was fearless in the most hostile of environments such as Istanbul. He became on the most expensive teenager in football history on the back of a fantastic Euro 2004, cruelly ended by a broken metatarsal which has haunted him ever since.
When he scored a hat trick on his debut, it was not beyond the realm of doubt that he could become United’s greatest ever player. From when he arrived, until the 2006 World Cup, some even labelled us a one man team, we were so reliant on the young scouser; even though his strike partner was Ruud Van Nistelrooy and we had Cristiano Ronaldo in our ranks. Another broken metatarsal meant he went to a world cup not fully fit and, after a poor tournament and, unsurprisingly give they’re United players, he, along with Cristiano Ronaldo returned as national hate figures following their infamous spat.
Cristiano Ronaldo embraced his newfound status as public enemy number in world football; he was publically denied FIFA Young Player of the Tournament because of his “antics”, and went on to earn what he felt was rightfully his; his status at the world’s best. Rooney just remained United’s second best player.
In 2006/07 we had a record 8 players in the team of the PFA Team of the Year. No Wayne Rooney. In fact he has only ever been in 3 in his career. Steven Gerrard has been in 6 in that time. Yet still it’s Wayne Rooney who’s considered to be England’s superstar. Now the United bias in me has always maintained he is world class. The best English player around. Second only in world football to Ronaldo and Messi. But how can we honestly believe that? He has never been anywhere near being nominated for the Ballon d’Or. Both Lampard and Gerrard have finished in the top 3, so it’s no conspiracy against the English. He won the PFA Player of the Year Award in 2010 despite not being the league’s top scorer, nor playing for the league champions that season. Would he have won it were he not English? He’s played in 3 Champions League Finals and not shone in any. Despite winning it in 2008, he was substituted and, although it has since been denied by the player, and for obvious reasons forgotten about, he threw a tantrum on his way to the bench, throwing his shirt to the ground.
In England we have this bad habit of overhyping our promising players: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott are three recent examples. They are not superstars. They are (or were in the case of Walcott) talented young footballers with potential to be good, but great? Can you ever see them challenging for Europe’s top player awards? Are they in the same league as Neymar, Hazard or Christian Eriksen? They’re English and talented so we automatically assume they’re world superstars. And it’s the same with Wayne Rooney. He was playing his best football in 2010. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were undoubtedly the two best players in the world, so Rooney had to have been number 3, right?
Wayne Rooney’s has bursts where he is unplayable. He’s a confidence player, no doubt. And he is extremely talented, no doubt, but has really become the player we expected him to be? This is not just a knee jerk reaction to last Monday’s performance. He was poor so often last season, and would often score a brace while having a very poor game. While we can find excuses to explain them all, he has never truly shone at a major tournament. In fact, he’s been dreadful at every single one. He’s never scored a world cup goal, and he’s never even looked like scoring one. I don’t think we should sell him as I think he is a very good; he’s just not the player we expected him to be prior to the 2006 World Cup. He’s nowhere near the top players in the world. Were we to sell him, do you really think we could get the same amount that Chelsea paid for Fernando Torres?
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Posted in Blogs, Let's hear it for the boy | Comments (28)
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August 28th, 2012 at 6:53 pm
If Rooney had been a Liverpool fan, you still wouldn’t have caught us in the league. Saying that, the last 18 months he has been very poor. Maybe RVP is the kick up the backside he needs, because signing 17 y/o’s or Plastic Mickey is not giving him any competition.
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August 28th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
He is on his way back to Merseyside, the bin dipping Scousers. We now have RVP, why do we need this injury prone Scouser ?
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kevin Reply:
August 29th, 2012 at 4:57 am
what you just said makes me want to smother you with a pillow while ur sleeping….right now ur going “ohh my god rooney is such a bad player….hes becoming fat , is slow” but i think uv forgotten all those moments of magic hes given to this club….no matter who says that rooney is still in love with everton….i wont believe it until he coms out and says “i want to go back to everton NOW”……till the hes a united player and all the tabloid talk about him being sold is utter bullshit!!!
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August 28th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
No he hasn’t, his goal tally is only boosted because he takes the penalties the majority of the time, if you take his normal play goals into account he’s an average marksman.
His inconsistency for the last two seasons with United and England reeks of a player who peaked early and is now in decline.
He needs to change his game, you know as soon as he starts to drop deeper, United will be in trouble.
He certainly isn’t worth the £250k a week we are reported to be paying him
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August 28th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
A very good and factual account of Wayne Rooney. While there is no denying that Rooney has made an outstanding contribution to Man U and to a lesser extent the 3 Lions, he hasnt measured to the world’s top 5 players. I,for one,dont think he has been England’s best player in the last decade. Stevie G takes my vote. Stevie G has had a greater impact for both his club and nation.When he was playing at his best he was regarded as the best midfielder in the world.
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August 28th, 2012 at 8:03 pm
And you say you are united fans, Rooney has proven his potentials. I can’t believe a united blog posting this absurd article. Rooney’s done all that was ask of him may be even more. Do you expect him to single handedly win England the world cup, every individual player must contribute his quota to win trophies, but in England its not so, every tournament they find that one person to put all the pressure on, if he fails they give him the stick. 23 players go to win you competitions not a single player, and each member of the team must take responsibility for success or failure not a single player. English media make players and break them. This thing you just wrote kills a player you have had so much trouble producing. Again, wasn’t he selected in the Fifa 11 last year, or have you forgotten that. He’s proven his potential and you have got to stop this Hullabaloo for just the arrival of Van persie, for i am sure you have a new world class now and that explains the fuss about Rooney is this and that plus Rooney is injured he simply is not going to be missed, isn’t it? He will prove his critics wrong like he’s always done
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Idika Reply:
August 28th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
Top notch reply to ‘Hey’ Rooneys never gone to say hes the best in the world.. cant help how critica judge you. The qualities Rooney excels in are ones that come rarely for a player, let alone a striker. Never seen a cf work so hard for the team and if anyone can give a better example I’d love to hear it./?
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The Fox Reply:
August 29th, 2012 at 3:06 am
Luis suarez..
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Azeem Reply:
August 29th, 2012 at 9:43 am
He said, a CF that works hard for his team, not one that works hard to bring his team into disrepute.
August 28th, 2012 at 10:59 pm
Hey, I wouldn’t've talked if I didn’t think you were talking crap! Rooney is over-hyped, no question. He doesn’t even have the temperament of manners to hit the top. He’s a fatso becos he’s too arrogant to train properly or rein in bad habits that only destroy the best talent. Every so often he presses the self-destruct button becos he is over-pampered and wrapped in cotton-wool; and your customary english hero-worship. He’s got nowhere to move, ‘xcept downwards becos you made him feel he’s much better than he really is. He’s finished believe me!!!!
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kevin Reply:
August 29th, 2012 at 4:58 am
dont lemme me come across you…otherwise ull be finished for good!!!
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August 29th, 2012 at 3:26 am
Top notch article on Rooney, ℓ̊ have always feit the same as this author. With Rooney you know what you are getting, a sidekick never the one to be the main man just a sidekick. He was sidekick to RVN, Saha, Ronaldo and Tevez and now he is going to be a sidekick to RVP!. Rooney can’t honestly say he is in the top ten best players in Europe , forget the 0english hype, he is average at best. As U̶̲̥̅̊ United fan of many years ℓ̊ know Wayne too much to let media hype cloud my judgement. Rooney though a good player is not and will never be world class
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August 29th, 2012 at 3:27 am
Top notch article on Rooney, ℓ̊ have always feit the same as this author. With Rooney you know what you are getting, a sidekick never the one to be the main man just a sidekick. He was sidekick to RVN, Saha, Ronaldo and Tevez and now he is going to be a sidekick to RVP!. Rooney can’t honestly say he is in the top ten best players in Europe , forget the English hype, he is average at best. As U̶̲̥̅̊ United fan of many years ℓ̊ know Wayne too much to let media hype cloud my judgement. Rooney though a good player is not and will never be world class
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August 29th, 2012 at 4:10 am
Simple question to ask is .. Has any English player of premier era reached his potential. Probably not. All far too worried about pay packet and fail on international stage to grasp greatness. Rooney, Gerrard, Shearer none set the world alight. Good players elevated way above their talent by desperate agents, media & sponsors.
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NathonW Reply:
August 29th, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Beckham has. Domestically, internationally, playing abroad. Won everything there is to win.
He is the only one of recent times though.
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NathonW Reply:
August 29th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Won everything there is to win at club level, I mean.
Internationally, a consistent 9 out of 10 every match. A leader.
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August 29th, 2012 at 4:59 am
@Hey. Sorry, but what are you smoking? No, he can’t win a World Cup on his own, but as the focal point in attack you’d think he could put the goal into the net on occasion when ten other people have been busting their guts to get him in a position to score. If memory serves me correctly, the solitary goal he scored in the recent European tournament was his first for England at a major tournament in 6 years!
The same applies for United. Take a close look at his goal scoring performances, and not only are they vastly inconsistent, but also bloated (at least in recent years, bu those he’s put away from dead ball situations). In general play, his goals to minutes played is abysmal for a striker of his supposed reputation. Most of his goals also come against teams in the lower two thirds of the table – look at his record and note how abysmal it generally is against the very best.
He doesn’t have the skill, technique, or physique to be a true center forward, especially in the solo-striker role United often ask of him against top teams, when they try to stack the midfield to compensate for the lack of class in the engine room. In general, because big central defenders of quality know how to isolate and defend him, he ends up looking like a frustrated passenger against quality opposition.
Yet slot him next to another striker in his preferred deeper-lying role, and the other striker becomes the sacrificial lamb to Rooney’s style of play – he’s a legend for being a lousy strike partner, yet everyone else pays the price via the revolving door that is the second banana role next to Rooney up front. Only at United could a player of Berbatov’s ability be shunted out of the team because the manager keeps blaming everyone but Rooney for his inability to mesh with other forwards.
Great players make those around them better, with players like Cruyff being prime examples. Rooney is the anti-Cruyff, the stellar team leech, a player of such limited talent that everyone else around him has to sacrifice their games in order to pander to his narrow range of ability. Rooney has such lousy touch, poor passing ability, non-existent vision and orientation, awful shooting that the ball virtually has to be delivered to him on a plate within 10 yards of the goal in order to try and guarantee a goal. From 20 yards out it’s an open lottery whether it will go anywhere in the general vicinity of the goal or get launched into the stratosphere over it.
When was the last time you saw Rooney make a goal for himself out of nothing, or manage to kink around a defense to score? The fact is the guy can’t beat anyone one-on-one to save his life, and can be relied upon to do two things if he’s anywhere near the final third of the pitch and gets approached by a defender – he either tries to lamely get by the guy and loses possession (which, more often than not, can be relied upon to elicit a foul on the player) or he loses his nerve and lamely passes the away ball laterally. That or he gives it away by trying for a ridiculous pass forward. It’s a toss up between Rooney and the latter day Giggs regarding who squanders possession the most.
I’ve been saying that Rooney’s an over-hyped lame duck, the team anchor round United’s neck, for at least 3 – 4 years now, so it’s kind of funny to see the theme being picked so belatedly. People have long lived off the ‘potential’ monicker and forgiven him his many flaws because if it, and also because they mistook his work ethic and fiery never-give-an-inch character for class. It’s the whole ‘British Bulldog’ spirit of his play that appeals, but sadly, the rest of the world has left that kind of play behind. He’s just a slightly above average player who’s been hyped to the heavens by a British public desperate for sporting heroes, especially in the one major team sport they’ve gifted to the world at large but which they’ve been so sorely deficient at for decades.
A last point to note is that much of Rooney’s play in the past has been based on his supposed pace, especially in counter attacks, which, for a player of his limited technical ability, represented his best opportunities to score or make an impact. Anyone who’s watched closely would have noted in the last couple of years how easily defenders have been able to run him down on the break, which I’ve found quite ironic and bemusing, especially given that Berbatov has often been slated for being ‘slow’ and counter productive to the team’s style of play because of his supposed lack of pace. The Bulgarian put the lie to that notion two seasons ago during his five goal effort, when he started a play deep in defense, passed it away to someone else as defenders closed in, yet managed to sprint up-field to finish off the move with ease as he slotted in the goal.
So yeah, the emperor’s clothes are finally being seen for what they are, and one can only hope that there’s a shred of truth to the rumours that Fergie might sell Rooney on, because the team would be so much better off without him. Van Persie, potential injuries aside, was clearly purchased with a view to at least playing him in the solo striker role that he’s far better suited to, with Rooney coming in as strike partner at need in 4-4-2 formations against lesser teams, or to spell Van Persie.
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Craig Reply:
August 31st, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Are you for real? Maybe you should be employed to write full time for the D@ily M@il. Thats the only other place I’ve ever heard such nonsense.
Wayne is a great player, however like EVERYONE else in the world he has his good and bad days. There have been many footballers who have “wasted” their potential, but i shudder to think of what his career would have been like without SAF.
Give the guy his due he works hard on the pitch and hopefully RVP will help add a new dimension to the united game along with Kagawa. I hope to see the new attacking line up shine.
To the naysayers, tough… He’s a better footballer than you will ever be. To even be compared in the same breath as Ronaldo and Messi is an honour for most. Honestly there have been times when he looks to be struggling but he’s HUMAN!
Give the dude a break… Looking forward to him scoring 20+ goals again this season… So sod the rest, support the best!
GGMUFC 4 EVER!!!!
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August 29th, 2012 at 5:52 am
Austin, I am not even English, I am just trying to say what my opinions are, afterall everyone is entitled to his own opinion. Rooney’s overall play and desire to play football is unbelievable. Even if he doesn’t score he helps to keep the team tick, he comes down to support the midfield and plays there attimes. Last time I checked he’s 4th in united all time scorer. He’s no Messi not Ronaldo, but he’s simply Wayne Rooney and I will say he’s done his best for both club and country. He’s a fighter and he will prove you all wrong
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August 29th, 2012 at 7:11 am
Why criticise dis young man…presently he may not be able to compete with messi or cr7 but is dia any hardworking player lyk rooney,if man u av a decent midfield lyk barca or madrid or perhaps if england av a gud passing midfield lyk spain….then rooney too could av excel upfront nd not continue to drop deeper nd deeper for d ball…u claimed stevie G is ur best english player in d last decade…since d departure of alonso nd masherano has he shown a great world class status….NO…cos he is nt a gud midfielder…he only enjoys playing behind d stike…
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August 29th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Dis aticle is totally rubbish and for sumbodi sayin rooney scored against lesser oppositions,i want to knw weda scorin against barca,arsenal,liverpool or chelsea are no big feat,we all knw dat messi has neva scored against chelsea in his 11meetins so cut d crap man
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August 29th, 2012 at 11:47 am
He became on the most expensive teenager in football history – He became the most expensive*
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August 29th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
messi or even cristiano have teams that play for them rooney doesnt have a squad the lvl barcelona or real madrid has, he some times saccrifices for the good of the team, maybe at a different team he would be what many expect of him, for now he is doing what he and ferguson need to be top of the premier league
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August 29th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
What you on about? Rooney is world class. Support your team you punk.
Only joking mate – you make a very good point in a well written article.
I do feel Rooney is actually ‘world class’ and I do believe he would get into most sides across Europe; but these dips in form he has are strange and to be recognised as a great, you cant have as many dips as he does.
I hope bringing RVP in will be a kick up the arse in consistency, more than anything.
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August 30th, 2012 at 11:07 am
Well in my opinion his problem is his lack of pace, excess weight and lack of dribbling skills that apparently he has forgotten from his younger years.
He needs some heavy training. He’s still 26/27 though. He shouldn’t be so slow, and I agree with the comment that most defenders outpace him nowadays and apparently he can’t go past a defender. However his vision and passing can’t be complained about really.
That said I miss the times where he played second fiddle to Ronaldo. Think those were his best years and that was his best position.
I think if he works hard on this physique he shall be considered one of the greats once again.
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September 1st, 2012 at 10:20 pm
A measured article with some deep insights into the Rooney psyche. I am sick and tired of hearing people say ‘ Man U are spearheaded by an old potato head ‘ it’s unfair to Rooney and its unfair to potatos.
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September 2nd, 2012 at 3:02 am
Yeah I actually agree Rooney has not become the world class player we thought he would be when he signed in 2005. He is a talented footballer and we shouldn’t sell him, but he is not world class like Ronaldo or Messi. I think he has lost his way with the scandals with the cheating with other women and all those bad headlines. The signings of Kagawa and van Persie is a message that the team won’t be built around him anymore.
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September 2nd, 2012 at 4:19 pm
Rampant Red has a point. It’s not just good old potato head that is letting down the mighty reds – it is the other vegetables. giggsy and Scholes are too ripe , Rvp is nearly too ripe and Sir Alex – well- withered prunes come to mind! Oh, that’s a fruit! My metaphor has become mixed! As I write it’s Southampton 1 DFSR’s 0. I think I’ll have some horseradish on this Beef!
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