Why does every Manager play Rooney in Midfield?

shamans

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It's always annoyed the hell out of me. The guy is lethal upfront and has proved that whenever he's played there.

I'm just wondering why Fergie, Moyes and now LVG have played Rooney in midfield?? What is the logic behind this?
 
He had a spell there under fergie but it certainly wasn't often

I would love to see him back where he should be, scoring goals
 
Because of what he brings to the table , he is too versatile to be a striker alone and not versatile enough to play in the midfield.
 
It's the easy thing to do. They know he'll put in a shift while allowing them to play the other centre-forward who's hard to leave out for whatever reason.
 
a) he has a hell of a work rate and provides more than just a 9.
b) we have Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao. In form both are better.

He's also hard to keep in one spot on the pitch. I remember when we did play him up top he would frequently be found in our own half chasing the ball down.
 
Because they all wanted to fit Van Persie into the side. Now we have Falcao, Mata and Di Maria to compound the confusion.
 
I'm not keen, think the game often passes him by. He was good in the second half though, and his corner was quality.
 
Because we bought Falcao and the manager is trying to shoehorn all our strikers in together to Rooney's and our detriment.
 
I don't really mind him playing in midfield personally, but I don't understand why LVG downright refuses to play him as a striker, ever.
 
Because when you play him upfront he spends 2/3rds of the game running around the rest of the pitch instead of being upfront where he's needed.
The problem is, he's so preoccupied with being a disciplined midfielder now, that he's not all over the pitch like he used to be.
 
I don't understand how it's always Di Maria, a midfielder, who gets pushed up top, when Rooney, a striker, stays in midfield. If he's trying to shoehorn all the strikers in, then why didn't Rooney play up front when Falcao and RVP went off?

Van Gaal moans about imbalance, but he's creating a lot of it himself.
 
Because we haven't had a decent midfielder since Scholes retired. Still think Herrera should be given the chance and Rooney should go back up top in place of Falcao.
 
Trying to fit too many attackers in one side and Rooney usually has to pay the price for his versatility. We can all see it takes something away from his natural game though. We're blunting him.
 
He's maybe an 8/10 player in midfield rather than a 10/10 player up front.

But we have other 10/10 players up front and lack 8/10 players in midfield.
 
It's because he isn't actually brilliant in any position, so he ends up playing in a position where there is no other standout players.

All managers want him in the team but noone wants him in the team at the expense of other top players (Ruud, Ronaldo, RVP etc).
 
Not sure, but he isn't very good there. If not for Valencia's pace, we could easily have been 1-0 down early on. He's so sloppy with his passing at times. I wonder how often he loses the ball without any real pressure. Then again, a minute later he can pull off something really sublime; mind you, that's normally much closer to the opposition box though.
 
rcoobc said:
He's maybe an 8/10 player in midfield rather than a 10/10 player up front.

But we have other 10/10 players up front and lack 8/10 players in midfield.
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We do? Since when?
 
Because he bloody runs his socks off and is defensively capable. A freak of nature really.

Really deserves to play up top. Hopefully this will happen when LVG finally wakes up and plays Herrera in midfield. Oh and buy Strootman.
 
rcoobc said:
He's maybe an 8/10 player in midfield rather than a 10/10 player up front.

But we have other 10/10 players up front and lack 8/10 players in midfield.
Click to expand...

Scholes was a consistent 8/10 player in central midfield. Rooney is more like a 5.
 
rcoobc said:
He's maybe an 8/10 player in midfield rather than a 10/10 player up front.

But we have other 10/10 players up front and lack 8/10 players in midfield.
Click to expand...
Not true. He's not a 8/10 midfielder. He's average in central midfield. Herrera, Blind, Carrick and even perhaps Fellaini are better midfielders than him.
 
Because we have three massive, borderline undroppable names up front in Van Persie, Falcao and Rooney, and since we can only play two of them as strikers at the same time, one of them has to be shoehorned in somewhere else. Rooney is the best fit for a deeper role, so he gets pushed back.

I'm curious for next season. I can't see Falcao staying with us and Van Persie isn't getting any younger. I expect Depay to join us in the summer, so hopefully we'll move to a formation with just one striker, so we'll see Rooney in his best position a lot more often.
 
let him play no10 or as one of the strikers, its good when he drops deep in the game from time to time but why does he need to play that deep as his starting position I really don't understand. Maybe the only reason is passing range but he misplace too many passes and often has got one or two dangerous passes as he had today, he is not scholes.. And he is takes place in the team from Herrera who is our best player, If Herrera was dutch or was named Rooney he would definitely play..
 
Red Stone said:
Because we have three massive, borderline undroppable names up front in Van Persie, Falcao and Rooney, and since we can only play two of them as strikers at the same time, one of them has to be shoehorned in somewhere else. Rooney is the best fit for a deeper role, so he gets pushed back.

I'm curious for next season. I can't see Falcao staying with us and Van Persie isn't getting any younger. I expect Depay to join us in the summer, so hopefully we'll move to a formation with just one striker, so we'll see Rooney in his best position a lot more often.
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LVG doesn't rate him as a striker though, so if Falcao leaves we'll probably go and buy another one.
 
Maybe because he drops into midfield a lot when he's played up top, but that's the type of striker he is - a false no.9, who's not just looking to go in behind, but can also drop and bring others into play. Look how good he was for England when he played there against Scotland.
 
He would be quite good in midfield but he has too direct instincts to play there, the same applies to Mata. Other than that he has all the required attributes, beside short passing. He seems allergic to short passing.


Why does every manager see Valencia as first choice player is another interesting case.
 
Rooney was outstanding today. If Rooney in midfield means less Fellaini and Mata then I am all for it as long as Falcao, RVP, Januzaj and Di Maria can maintain form...Januzaj is frustrating but the potential is there
 
finneh said:
It's because he isn't actually brilliant in any position, so he ends up playing in a position where there is no other standout players.

All managers want him in the team but noone wants him in the team at the expense of other top players (Ruud, Ronaldo, RVP etc).
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Yeah, I think this is the real answer. He's a brilliant goal scorer whether he plays number 10 or number 9 (and to an extent in midfield too) but I don't think he's got a brilliant game suited to leading the line as a number 9 or being creative enough as a number 10 so invariably managers look for other solutions to fit in him (playing on the wing and playing in midfield, notably).
 
Because Van Gaal made him captain, and has to play him. He's quickly realised we have better options upfront. Where else is he going to play?

Rooney is nowhere near top level midfielder. I pray that if we return to the champions league we have a decent partner for Blind/Carrick as it seems Herrera isn't wanted here.
 
Falcao was very good today but what a mess we've created in having 3 very good strikers at top money available to play for us. We have to justify paying for their wages by playing them, so Rooney by the process of elimination is stuck in MF.

When you think about it, all Rooney is doing ATM is playing a shallow version of Carrick. He's trying to distribute while keeping himself positioned to defend against counters. He is really having no influence on the attack, but what really can he be expected to do from that spot on the pitch?

Sad.
 
He is our captain, LVG does not drop the captain. He also has a hard on for RVP who he refuses to drop. Falcao is far too good to be 3rd striker. Result - shoe horn the most versatile one in midfield and leave the best midfielder (Herrera) we have on the bench, game after game.
 
starman said:
He is our captain, LVG does not drop the captain. He also has a hard on for RVP who he refuses to drop. Falcao is far too good to be 3rd striker. Result - shoe horn the most versatile one in midfield and leave the best midfielder (Herrera) we have on the bench, game after game.
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Nah it isn't just Van Gaal; Fergie moved Rooney all over the show for years and even Moyes tried him as a midfielder, number 10 & number 9. He isn't a better number 9 than RVP, isn't a better number 10 than Mata and isn't a better central midfielder than Herrera or Blind. However he does bring a hell of a lot to the table so every manager would try to shoehorn him in somewhere.

Most teams would just put him up front as a number 9 and accept his flaws in that position. However with Falcao and RVP no manager of our current squad would do this.
 
finneh said:
Nah it isn't just Van Gaal; Fergie moved Rooney all over the show for years and even Moyes tried him as a midfielder, number 10 & number 9. He isn't a better number 9 than RVP, isn't a better number 10 than Mata and isn't a better central midfielder than Herrera or Blind. However he does bring a hell of a lot to the table so every manager would try to shoehorn him in somewhere.

Most teams would just put him up front as a number 9 and accept his flaws in that position. However with Falcao and RVP no manager of our current squad would do this.
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Fergie nor Moyes never consistently played him as midfielder.
 
I blame Ferguson, he just had to have his precious RVP signing (not to mention he also bought Kagawa for the nr 10 position) instead of buying an actual midfielder !

Than you get discussions about what to with Rooney because he is too valuable to be dropped and timing to sell him wasn't right either (never would get a fair deal for him) so the solution than always results in him playing more as a midfielder.

What we should have done back in the day was fecking leave Rooney were he was being up top as our main striker (and having another attacking player in support), stayed clear from RVP and invested some money in an actual real midfielder like Modric (or even beter just played Pogba and kept him here instead of chasing him into the clutches of fecking Juve).
 
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