Is Wazza the man who Fergie will be thinking of in the transfer window?
Wayne Rooney’s season was similar to the film Alien, at first it seemed a little slow, there was a truly disgusting bit early on, then it quickly became exceedingly entertaining and totally satisfying.
Rooney went from a lone striker figure bereft of goals, to a deep lying centre forward- or false 10 if you will who seemed to be the cog making most of United’s attacks happen.
There’s nothing better as a United fan than watching as yet another one of our player’s throws the media’s criticism of him back in their faces with one stellar performance after another.
Just as David Beckham did in 98/99 and Cristiano Ronaldo did in 06/07, Rooney was able to transform himself from one of the most disappointing players in South Africa, to a misguided, greedy fool, to the team’s superstar again- sort of.
Rooney seemed to find new freedom in having a prolific Mexican in front of him and wide men who loved nothing more than getting on the end of one of his sumptuous passes and converting it into a goal scoring opportunity.
It’s a testament to how far Rooney has evolved as a player that less than a year on from being almost exclusively a lone striker he can slot into deeper role to be arguably even more effective. He may not get as many goals but Rooney’s definitely at the heart of more and fundamentally the team seems less reliant on just his efforts.
Rooney in the false 10 role has been such a success that the question is “will he be reverted back to a standard striker next season?”
Much may seem to depend on the fitness of Chicharito as if the Little Pea was injured then it may be beneficial to push Rooney further up the pitch and allow Dimitar Berbatov the luxury of dropping deep now and again as he often likes to do.
However when Chicharito is fit there’s no denying that both he and Rooney seem to thrive with the Mexican further up field than his Scouse colleague.
With this in mind, you could cast your eye over the potential attacking midfielders being courted by Manchester United and ask “do we really need them?”
Take Wesley Sneijder for example an attacking midfielder in every sense of the word, a truly world class player who would be an asset to any team in world football.
The question is would United really need him if Rooney’s operating in a similar role?
Hayden Shaw wrote on this site over two months ago: “Now, if Rooney is playing that role, being the player who likes to operate in the gap between midfield and defence, making himself hard to pick up, threading the passes and linking the play, then that really doesn’t leave a lot of room for Sneijder.”
I’m inclined to agree.
A similar argument could be put forward for Alexis Sanchez who although able to operate on either wing, is just as adept and some would argue more at home in the false 10 role. With the signing of Ashley Young, plus Antonio Valencia and Nani available for the wide positions it’s questionable as to whether United really need Sanchez, unless he’s to be utilised in a central role.
The problem with using the Chilean just off the striker is that a certain freshly haired tweeter can do the job arguably better than anyone.
Then there’s Samir Nasri, again a player who when needed can be pushed out wide and can even be played as a bog standard central midfielder if needed but without a doubt an AM if ever there was one.
Again would you need Nasri if you had Rooney occupying the deep striker/ attacking midfielder role? Probably not but I’d still buy him if he was available because unlike Sanchez and Sneijder who’d probably cost the same amount as Andy Caroll- I honestly can’t believe I’ve just written that sentence- Nasri could be bought for the fairly cheap price of £10 million- nor many years ago did I expect to one day be saying that.
Rooney’s excellence in the deep striker role, means that forking out 30-40 million beer tokens for the likes of Sneijder or Sanchez may not be the most savvy of moves by United. I know Sanchez can play as a winger, but again do United need another one of those- especially at such a price? Probably not, nor do we need a player best suited just off the striker, not when we’ve already got one who’s proven he’s more than worthy of the role.
Feel free to comment, suggest or abuse below.
Check out Hayden’s Sneijder At United Thanks But No Thanks article here
Think that if Ferguson wants to “challenge” Barcelona and take Man u to a new level, we have to forget the 4-4-2, its got to be a more flexible system which is where names like Modric, Sanchez or Schneider come in.
Think more about a fluid 4-2-3-1 system, where they can all fit in.
We cannot rely on one player alone to be the creative spark.
Agree, about taking United to a new level. That means changing the style to a dynamic 4-3-3. Defence shouldnt be a problem once we sign a new keeper. Up top we should be looking at Rooney,Hernandez and Nani with Rooney and Nani both being given the freedom to drop deep to get involved. Its in the middle of the park where we need to spend money. Fletcher can probably play the anchor role like Busquetts but we then need to add 2 play-makers not just one. What we have are nowhere near the same level as Barca. Modric is a possible along with Wesley but Marvin Martin has been hailed as the little Xavi in France this season and made a big impact on his French debut this week. He looks like he might come a bit cheaper than the other 2 as well.
Rockdel,our creativity dsnt cm through our midfield,man u creative comes frm d wingers.so my dear we dnt need creative midfielder what we need is a match destroyer.Sneidjer is the man nt modric
Surely rooney is a fantastic player but we still need a creative midfield 2 make sumthin out of nothin. Fletcher n carrick r not gud enuf
Dear Coolidge, yes we can wait forever and more and get thrashed by the Barcas and the like along the way. Utd need a proper right back ( why nobody incl the very old man is talking about a decent right back??), a really good midfielder like Sneijder, not the feeble Nasri, a proper striker and of course a keeper. Missing out on Neuer was a terrible mistake. Hope something interesting happens. Soon. The Jones’ and Youngs are not the solution.
Eh? Rooney has evolved into a number 10? That’s how he started! Or had you forgotten the way he used to link up with Ruud? He involved into a lone front man last season but at least we have somebody in Hernandez who can utilise Rooneys talents instead of Berbatov just getting in his way…
What an absolute, unadulterated piece of crap. I clicked on the title thinking I was about to read a piece devoted to a rationale for Rooney’s exit. Instead I wasted my time reading another misguided devotional that verged on fiction in its childish and blinkered appraisal of the scouse nitwit.
The description of Rooney’s season moving from pitiful to sublime is written through the eyes of an adoring and worshiping acolyte too smitten to see the wood for the trees – or even reality in some shape or form. I also absolutely howled with laughter at the description of his supposed technical gifts, not least his stellar passing ability.
The author seems to possess Fergie’s gift for myopia and double standards where Rooney is concerned. This is the player who’s form was abysmal over the course of the first half of the season – it came across in the article as a slight hiccup! How many field goals did he actually score during the entire season, and how many winning goals did he slot away for United, compared to that much maligned figure, Dimitar Berbatov? The same manager who dumped the form forward of the EPL to the bench, claiming it was ‘on form’, had no problems playing Rooney for game after game, month after month, trying to play his favoured child into some semblance of form.
Isn’t this the same lout who spent the entire season smearing United’s reputation with his tales of his gross personal behaviour towards his pregnant wife, the greed and petulant demands regarding his contract and team acquisitions, the on-field indiscretions that brought so much heat on the club and which eventually garnered him a suspension – even the Twitter episode when he invited an individual taunting him to an altercation outside Carrington?
As for Rooney taking on a Scholes-like role in midfield – what are you smoking??? To be a decent attacking midfielder one requires intelligence, vision, situational awareness, a fine touch, accurate passing, and the almost indefinable ability to be able to find space and time when necessary. These are all attributes ENTIRELY lacking in Rooney’s makeup. Like so many, you mistake Rooney’s industry for class. Even his much vaunted speed isn’t what it was years ago – note how often he gets run down these days by defenses when making counter-attacking breaks.
The reality of Rooney is that he’s all energy and hype and not much else. His technique is so abysmal that he can’t even take a decent cross without shinning it yards away and having to waste precious time retrieving it before a defender can poach it away – even the goal everyone raved about, the bicycle kick against City, was a fluke effort that accidentally came off his shin, rather than the foot – he may as well have scored it in off his arse, for all the technique that was involved. His decision making and passing are so wayward that he’s up there with the latter day Giggs for being the team wastrel with the ball – no one breaks down attacks with the same tiresome regularity, or gets dispossessed so easily by defenses. As for his shooting? There are times where it seems that Rooney couldn’t hit the side of Old Trafford from 10 yards, so abysmal is his accuracy. His signature shot of recent seasons seems to have become the stratospheric blast up into the stands – yet as ever, when he misses in such spectacular fashion, or blows a shot begging to be put in the net, the faithful can be relied upon to wax rhapsodic about Rooney’s ‘fine effort’ or how he ‘put the goalie under pressure’!
All I can say in summation is ‘wake up’! Rooney is not the fulcrum around which the side should evolve and progress. That is utterly laughable. While he continues to maintain a presence in the team United will always be handicapped – Rooney is the anchor round the team’s neck, dragging it under due to his limitations and their flow on effect.
The effects were there for all to see in the game against Barcelona – at least for those who chose to watch the embarrassment. I love United too much to watch the side utterly humiliated, so I skipped the game once I saw the team sheet, knowing that Barca were about to wipe the floor with the Devils – I even predicted the scoreline before the game.
A United team with Rooney present will still be good enough to hold its own against the majority of teams, but like all flat track bullies, the better sides will always expose its weaknesses, some better than others. Rooney does not possess the physical attributes, the size, strength, and technique, to be able to play well as a solo striker against good defenses. Too often he’s left cutting an isolated and frustrated figure who gets so agitated at his lack of possession that he’s inclined to rash acts which undermine the team. His most natural position is as a deep lying second striker, yet historically he’s always been notorious for his inability to play well with the majority of players he’s been partnered with. He’s also much more the leech than the provider when it comes to the pairings – hence Berbatov’s frustrated hand-waving at times, particularly from a player who happily and unselfishly gifts goals to others.
Against Barcelona Rooney’s limitations came home to roost. In order to put him in his comfort zone by playing him deep, with a second striker on the pitch to take up the forward role, United conceded the match in one gargantuan fell swoop to the Catalan giants. Pairing an aging former winger in Giggs with a player in Carrick who’s confidence was shattered last time he came up against Barcelona, as the answer to Xavi, Iniesta, and Busquets was such folly that it verged on football suicide. Yet that’s what the Rooney factor imposes on a team. When bodies were needed in midfield to counter the metronome precision and dominance of Barcelona’s midfielders, Fergie instead chose to put another body up front in order to slot Rooney into his favoured role. End result? Chicharito was an invisible presence throughout the game, Barca’s midfield magicians had a field day enjoying twice as much possession, Giggs, Park, and Carrick spent the match chasing shadows, and Rooney justified team tactics by getting a goal – never mind the other three that Barcelona scored. United’s hierarchy were simply idiotic, and largely got sucked in by the team’s performances against Chelsea and particularly Schalke, a middling German team that simply punched above its weight until it met United. All the hoopla about United countering Barcelona by attacking was so much dross – the simple answer to that is that you can’t attack, or do much of anything, if you don’t have the ball. It really is that basic.
The fact is that if United are ever to get over the hump and approach anything like the level of play exemplified by Barcelona, they need to realize just how much Rooney holds the side back. Trade him in while his dollar value remains high, use the money to bring in a couple of world class midfielders, and either give Berbatov a run as a single striker (with time to bed down, instead of throwing him in at the deep end after benching him for game after game) or invest in a Drogba-style individual who can comfortably slot up front on his own with a couple of wingers in support. 4-4-2 against the silky skills and midfield creativity and dominance of teams like Barcelona simply won’t cut it anymore, particularly given the paucity of world class talent in United’s engine room these days and the way the team is forced to overcome it’s lack of drive through the middle by constantly bypassing the weakness via the agency of one dimensional wing play.
This is even without touching on the cancer Rooney must be proving to be in the dressing room, particularly for old stagers like Giggs who grew up under the fierce tutelage and famous hair dryer treatment of the fiery Scot. There is clearly a double standard in place for Rooney where United’s manager is concerned, and it seems he’s making the same mistakes with Rooney that his illustrious predecessor, Sir Matt Busby, made with George Best in the last few years of his time as manager of United. Rooney needs to go for the betterment of the team on any number of fronts – and not just on the pitch!
everything you just said is bollocks and you complained about wasting your time??? you probably spent more time typing your comment that it did for you to read the article
I thought Wayne scored 34 goals in season 09/10 to almost single handly drive the team to 1 point of recording Uniteds 19th premiership title, as far as scoring goals.Was he not Uniteds talisman during that season!
The post bye Timbo while its his view and that is his right,I personally as a younger United supporter have challenged him on several United forums on the various points he repeatedly’bangs his drum about’.He never replies!.Its like other United supporters are something you would scrape of your shoe, not only Justin on R.F.F.H but other Editors I have witnessed him trying to humiliate.
I seriously cant be bothered to try to debate the points again.The saying pissing in the wind, is so appropriate.
Note( not that it matters a monkey’s cuss) the very reason,I have thrown in the towel trying to debate with some ‘United’ supporters,Is contained above my post.In fact even record my views now on many United forums its just to sad, to read that kind of post.
Enjoy the summer lads anybody who knows me and has communicated with me, generally with a wicked smile on my face and brilliantly humoured(I think) and 100% behind what is best for our fantastic club.Good luck…keep it Red.
Be back fighting fit in October.
Pretty long and detailed analysis about UCL final from someone who didn’t bother to watch the game. Sigh.
schweinsteiger or de rossi for me
Lets hope this is more than mere speculation –
http://www.manutd.com/en/Fanzone/News-And-Blogs/2011/Jun/The-Gossip.aspx
Young Marvin had a record number of assists in France this season and should fit in perfectly if closing the gap on Barca is the goal rather than settling for domestic silverware only.
we need 2 young spaniards id say deffo javi martinez and either thiago alcantara or juan mata these three ran rings around england in our recent under 21s game there pure class just what we need and very good possesional players with that ability to thread a defence splitting pass