Date: 12th January 2013 at 8:46am
Written by:
Only one of these strikers should figure against Liverpool

Only one of these strikers should figure against Liverpool

In Oliver Stone’s American Football film Any Given Sunday, the owner for the fictitious Miami Sharks side is having a discussion with unscrupulous team doctor about the fitness of ageing star quarterback Jack ‘Cap’ Rooney played by Dennis Quaid. Despite it being feared he would be out for the season with a serious injury ‘Cap’ Rooney has managed to get himself fit for the upcoming play-off game.

Diaz instructs Woods to tell the coach that ‘Cap’ isn’t fit enough as she wants to see his star understudy Willie Beamen play.

An extremely similar scenario is playing itself out at Old Trafford- not with dodgy deals between owner and physios, but a dimenma facing the selection of a star player returning for injury for a pivotal game.

This Sunday could prove seminal as if United beat Liverpool -applying more pressure to City who then face Arsenal at the Emirates, there’s a chance by the end of the day the lead at the top could be eight or even ten points. Sunday has the potential to be one of those days we look back on at the end of the season. Should the almost unthinkable happen and United lose, then that could give City a ‘massive’ boost ahead of their game and before we know it the lead is a less final four points. Title race blown wide open and maybe even the edge given to the Blue half of Manchester as United feel the pressure.

Tomorrow’s game isn’t one for taking risks as United have a far better squad than Liverpool hence the 21 point gap between the two sides. United have more than enough quality to beat Liverpool without Wayne Rooney in the squad.

Only last month Sir Alex said of Rooney : “When he is interrupted in a run of games it takes him three games to get back.”

Rooney has been back in training this week and while a start tomorrow looks highly unlikely, an appearance from the bench does seem a distinct possibility. Personally I’d be reluctant to even use Rooney in a substitute role, as it could be counter-productive.  Rooney is sometimes too eager for his own good and his touch is often a little off when he’s retrurning from a lay off. My own choice would be to have Danny Welbeck start with Robin Van Persie and bring on Chicharito if we’re in need of a goal. The Mexican hitman is always extremely effective from the bench and would no doubt cause the Liverpool defence no end of problems if he came on with 30 mins left.

Whether Sir Alex agrees remains to be seen…

Have I lost the plot? Feel free to comment suggest and abuse below:

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10 responses to “Rooney Should Not Play Against Liverpool”

  1. Aj says:

    No feller, CHICHARITO is extremely effective as a starter or sub and should start with RVP, he is world class and will score. Welbz should be on bench as totally useless, stop bigging up your love child, remove your bias Welbeck specs, the kid is a non-threat and should not play. Chicha is 100 times better than welbz.

  2. Mwai says:

    Welbeck will make all runs but not effective.Liverpool knows that but not with Chica.Lineup,De gea,Rafael,Vidic,Evans,Evra,Carrick,Cleverly,Kagawa,Young,Van Persie,Chicarito.Have Giggs,Anderson and Rooney(if fit)on the bench for more firepower.

  3. Pre Munich Red says:

    I agree. Hernandez is brilliant coming off the bench in the same way as Ole was. Although Danny is unlikely to score goals he would soften up their defence for RVP to capitalise on. If that doesn’t work then bring on Chicharito and give them a completely different type of threat. It seems to me that those who knock Danny are the same people who don’t understand Carrick’s importance to the team.

  4. zubair says:

    Agreed.. Welbz poses absolutely no threat.. Better off the ball than on it, poor first touch, an average eye for goal, we want a hitman, a box player , and thats CHICHA..

  5. rooney should stay off the game to avoid more injury, cuz we need him a lot in CHAMPIONS LEAGUE against SPANISH CHAMPIONS madrid

  6. al bash says:

    Stop tagging Chicharito a super sub. He scores even if he starts. Played almost same number of games with Welbeck, may be Welbeck even played more but Chicha has 12 for the season, while Welbeck has 1. Hernandez is simply better, welbeck is just average. Striking requires result and that’s what Chicha gives, that gives him the edge. Chicharito all the way!

  7. CM says:

    Why all the hate on the young lad? At least he’s trying hard to do his job. I can’t understand why you hate him. It ain’t just all about stats you know. Think about this: for the 15 games he played, he’s mostly at the left wing, which in turn limits his goal scoring chances. Watch the game against Swansea where he is finally played as a centre forward and you’ll see he makes good runs to reach the ball, just a bit unlucky. Chicha is a good player, but never count Welbeck out, his game needs more maturing, but he can offer a different dimension to United’s play.

  8. Andrew says:

    There isn’t really any chance of Rooney starting tomorrow against Liverpool. I doubt he will be on the bench, but I can see him starting the reply against West Ham, along with Anderson and Nani. Rooney is one of those players that needs a run of games and so we cannot throw him into a big match.

    As for who starts tomorrow and the debate of Welbeck v Hernandez could be moot really. I can easily see Shinji Kagawa starting tomorrow behind RVP. We are playing Liverpool who are attempting to play possession football, so playing Kagawa in the hole would make sense in order to dominate the game and keep more possession ourselves.

    ……………De Gea………..

    ..Rafeal…Ferdinand…Evans…Evra..

    Valencia…Carrick…Cleverley…Young

    …………….Kagawa…………..

    ……………..RVP…………….

    If Ferguson decides he is playing two strikers then I have no doubt that Hernandez will start. The guy has been scoring goals and if everyone id fit he probably deserves a start ahead of Rooney. I’m only saying Kagawa for tomorrow because its Liverpool and for tactical reasons. Hernandez has started to show that he can score even when starting the match, but is a great threat of the bench as well.

  9. yes says:

    yes you have lost the plot.
    Hernandez to start with Rvp Not Welbeck.

  10. monet says:

    Pls pls and pls chicha @his worst is better than a fully fit welbeck,dude is totally ineffective,welbeck is simply not good enough.won’t be a starter @arsenal or swansea