Is Sir Alex preparing our number 10 for a future in midfield?

Plan M

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This will be second game in a row that Rooney will be playing in midfield. Does anyone think that Sir Alex see's him there long term or is this a stop gap?

I for one thinks that he could make a superb midfielder, attacking from deep. But then there is the argument that we're not "playing him in his best position".
 
Our midfield is not strong + we've got some injuries + Owen and Berbatov need games + we're playing Galaţi at home + Rooney is not bad in midfield.
 
Maciek said:
Our midfield is not strong + we've got some injuries + Owen and Berbatov need games + we're playing Galaţi at home + Rooney is not bad in midfield.
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Completely agree.

But I've got a suspicion that our manager might see him there in the future. He changed Smith into a midfielder.
 
For Gods sake.

If it's really true that Anderson is our only fit midfielder, we should have bought not one but two midfielders in the summer. This is ridicilous.
 
I hope not really. Dont like him playing that deep. Just behind Chico is as far as I want him to be played. He is capable of scoring 30 goals a season still ffs.
 
Plan M said:
But I've got a suspicion that our manager might see him there in the future. He changed Smith into a midfielder.
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But Smith wasn't a great striker (good, but not great, and we had Rooney, van Nistelrooy and Saha). He was one of them and he couldn't many minutes and we needed someone in midfield.

Fergie won't change his best striker into a midfielder. He would rather spend some money on Sneijder or someone else.
 
I hope not, buy a proper midfielder and play Rooney in the position where he has been fantastic the past 10 months.
 
I think he could be excellent there if given time to adjust. I still don't think it's worth the risk in taking our best player and moving him to an unnatural position though.
 
Sir Alex has said a few times in the past Rooney could play as a midfielder, but I don't think he ever gave the impression that he planned to move him back there long-term. He said this in the summer:

Wayne could play centre midfield but not the way that Scholesy played it. They are too different. The way that Wayne would play as opposed to Scholesy is that he would be more dynamic and all over the place, using his energy to run everywhere, challenge and hit those crossfield passes that he’s terrific at.
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EDIT: And Sir Alex repeating as much in the pre-match interview, he can play there, and he has some good qualities for it, but really he's just playing there as a stop-gap because Fletcher's still finding his peak fitness ("it's important he plays 1 game a week"), Carrick's injured and Anderson's just back.
 
Rooney could very well turn out to be an amazing attacking midfielder. He could be the next Gerrard.

He needs to mature though. This position requires more discipline. If Rooney can calm down, stay fit over the next few seasons, he can do it.

He possesses so many of the traits of a great attacking midfielder.

It will be very interesting to see what happens.
 
I think Rooney could become a midfielder very easily but I don't see that type of conversion occurring until he loses that yard of pace, even then I think he'll stay as a number nine. He has the passing range and hunger to play the midfield role but he probably lacks the positional discipline as of now, I think it's more of stop gap at the moment because we have injuries. The other times you see in the middle is when we are chasing the game, I don't think SAF will ever convert him into a midfielder though because when by the time such a thing should be possible we should have Pogba and Morrison at the correct level to be first team regulars.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
I think Rooney could become a midfielder very easily but I don't see that type of conversion occurring until he loses that yard of pace, even then I think he'll stay as a number nine. He has the passing range and hunger to play the midfield role but he probably lacks the positional discipline as of now, I think it's more of stop gap as of now because we have injuries. The other times you see in the middle is when we are chasing the game, I don't think SAF will ever convert him into a midfielder though because when that time would arrive we should have Pogba and Morrison at the correct level to be first team regulars.
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This.
 
ArmchairCritic said:
I think Rooney could become a midfielder very easily but I don't see that type of conversion occurring until he loses that yard of pace, even then I think he'll stay as a number nine. He has the passing range and hunger to play the midfield role but he probably lacks the positional discipline as of now, I think it's more of stop gap at the moment because we have injuries. The other times you see in the middle is when we are chasing the game, I don't think SAF will ever convert him into a midfielder though because when by the time such a thing should be possible we should have Pogba and Morrison at the correct level to be first team regulars.
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This.

Fergie just said "Wayne can play there" and he's "got the ability" for the position. Don't read too much into tonight's selection which has been influences by midfield injuries. I can see him as a striker for a long time to come.
 
Maciek said:
But Smith wasn't a great striker (good, but not great, and we had Rooney, van Nistelrooy and Saha). He was one of them and he couldn't many minutes and we needed someone in midfield.

Fergie won't change his best striker into a midfielder. He would rather spend some money on Sneijder or someone else.
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Like he did this year you mean?

:boring:
 
It'd be a terrible waste of his abilities if that was the case.I think it's more about not having good players in CM than preparing Rooney to play in a position where his talent would be waste
 
In terms of the squad today, I think we're going to win 5-0.

Maybe 10-0
 
Regarding the midfield situation, there was always going to be a time in the season when certain people that thought we should spend on it could say "I told you so".

We've just got to put our faith in Ferguson and that at some point, be it at the end of the season when we are picking up the honors or in a year or two when our home grown Cleverley and Pogba are running the show....

Fergie will turn it right around and say "Nae ah tol youse so, there's no dow bowt tha"
 
He's doing well when in the final third, or when we've played through their first line of pressure. Some fantastic incisive passes. As if his passing quality was ever in doubt.

But he's dallying on the ball in dangerous positions, and he's utterly clueless when our CBs got the ball, which has led to a couple of half-dangerous situations, which is frankly horrific taking the opposition into account.

He could be deployed as an AM, but that wouldn't be too different to what he did last season against Chelsea for instance - asking him to do a job on their midfield anchor while still allowing him freedom to roam.

Poisitionally, playing him and Anderson is basically suicide. Luckily Otelul is utter shite.
 
Is it even possible to look as clueless playing in CM, while still being the best player on the pitch? Because that's what he's done so far.
 
Reminds me of the stupid experimentation with Rio/Smith in midfield

Why oh why didn't fergie replace scholes
 
So yeah. I know we played a bunch of albanian butchers and all, but can we please not do this again? Possibly the worst idea since playing Phil Jones as an AM.
 
Really wanna see Cleverley and Carrick together, we looked a better team as soon as Park came in and we started with short sharp passing.

Rooney was the best player on the pitch, but that didn't have much to do with him being "brilliant in centre mid", if that makes sense.
 
He did relatively well, he's not a worse CM than our regular ones but he's better than our other strikers so let's keep him in that final third.
 
Rubbish in midfield. A few hollywood passes didn't make up for him giving it away, failing to extert any control on a game against a load of shite & generally looking clueless.

Stick him up front and buy a proper fecking player for the middle now. Please.
 
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