Rooney or Ronaldo

Andy_Cole

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Obviously this is a no contest but hear me out.

Going back to 2004, which of these players would you pick?

Rooney, who had given us 10 very consistently great seasons for us, with two or three bad ones.

Or Ronaldo, who gave us 3 great seasons, 3 absolute world class, best in the world seasons. Then he leaves us for Madrid.

I suppose the questions we should ask is would we rather Rooney was the best in the world for us in a few of his seasons, if it means sacrificing a few seasons. Has Rooney in the last few years really tarnished his legacy?

I think for me I'd choose Ronaldo. Those three seasons were magical. Rooney I feel has ruined it for me, I know many say it's not his fault, but he had such power at the club to make him undroppable. I do believe a big part of Uniteds downfall should be blamed on him.
 
We should have sold Rooney for £80m. I'm sure Madrid would've been up for it.
 
I don't think Rooney's last few seasons have tarnished his legacy but what Ronaldo brought to the team at his peak is worth signifcantly more than Rooney's longer peak.
 
Both players are legends of the club, but in the future when Ronaldo is being discussed as probably the best player ever, we should be proud that he wore the United shirt.
 
Andy_Cole said:
Or Ronaldo, who gave us 3 great seasons, 3 absolute world class, best in the world seasons. Then he leaves us for Madrid.
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And leaves us for enough money to buy literally anyone bar himself and Messi
 
Rooney will be a bigger Utd legend than Ronaldo I think - he has the longevity and he holds the all-time goal scoring record. As superb as Ronaldo was for Utd his achievements (for Utd) are no match to Rooney's in a Utd shirt.
 
Ronaldo any day of the week. Without him we would never have got close to winning the CL, and I reckon we'd have struggled to build the platform needed to win the EPL titles we did as well.
 
Don't know which one is more sad; a club legend, who has played most of his career at our club but some here just can't hold themselves to bring him down. Or, fans of a club, biggest in England, keep on trying to make association with a player who has left us years ago.

You just can tell what this thread will be about.
 
Ronaldo at his best for us was head and shoulders above Rooney at his best for us
 
I will always regret that our money men club managers were so daft as to let Ronaldo leave. Granted, he wanted to leave, but they could have done more to keep him.

On the other hand, when Rooney wanted to leave as David Moyes came in, why didn't they just let him go. The cost of keeping Rooney has been much greater than the stupid money he collects every week. We have arguably missed out on UCL due to LVGs insistence of playing him (to be fair, not Rooney's direct fault even the f he had some say on it). We have had great players look terrible due to playing alongside him, and ultimately leave: Kagawa, Chicharito, RVP, etc, but I understand it was never Rooney's fault.

Please don't get me started. This is just another thread to bash Rooney with. Let's just stop and let him to move on.
 
I always preferred Ronaldo, a had poster with his noodle hair and everything.
 
ManRant said:
Don't know which one is more sad; a club legend, who has played most of his career at our club but some here just can't hold themselves to bring him down. Or, fans of a club, biggest in England, keep on trying to make association with a player who has left us years ago.

You just can tell what this thread will be about.
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You know what they say-You either leave a hero or stay long enough to become a villian ;);)

Jokes aside for me Rooney would always be the bigger club legend. Inspite of everything he stayed and that's what is important. Ronaldo left, leaving at that time one of the best teams in the world to move to a club that was down in the doldrums, chasing some "childhood dream". I don't understand why this particular reason entitles him to sympathy from Utd fans. For me any player who actively tried to leave Utd to move to another club for no obvious footballing reason can never be a bigger legend than someone who gave us his best years and ran his body into the ground for us.
 
Ronaldo

It's hard to believe Rooney is the younger of the two
 
lsd said:
Ronaldo at his best for us was head and shoulders above Rooney at his best for us
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Don't think so. Rooney in 09-10 scored 34 goals and Ronaldo in 07-08 scored 42. Not a whole lot in it. Certainly not head and shoulders and all.
 
Ronaldo obviously.

Rooney in reality, never came close to the player of Ronaldo. He looked from 2004-09 that he had potential to be that but he never did it. From 2010, no matter what his goal tally looked like each season, his general play regressed (slowly at first, then rapidly later).

Ronaldo has just grown tremendously and even of late, has made the adjustment to pure striker to allow longevity to his career.

There's a certain irony that what will keep Ronaldo playing for Real Madrid in his 30s is his discipline (his physique etc), while Rooney thought he could continue to linger with United despite gaining weight, excessive drinking (apparently) and basically remaining with United based on his reputation rather than what he is producing currently.

Ronaldo despite his ego (which isn't of itself a negative) is a role model.

EDIT: Realising looking at the other responses I've perhaps not read the question correctly. :lol:
 
King7Eric said:
You know what they say-You either leave a hero or stay long enough to become a villian ;);)

Jokes aside for me Rooney would always be the bigger club legend. Inspite of everything he stayed and that's what is important. Ronaldo left, leaving at that time one of the best teams in the world to move to a club that was down in the doldrums, chasing some "childhood dream". I don't understand why this particular reason entitles him to sympathy from Utd fans. For me any player who actively tried to leave Utd to move to another club for no obvious footballing reason can never be a bigger legend than someone who gave us his best years and ran his body into the ground for us.
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Spot on.
 
I'm not sure I understand the question. If we went back in time to 2004 and could only pick one who would it be?

If that is the question then Rooney obviously, Ronaldo would still have left as soon as he hit a certain level.

Raees said:
Ronaldo any day of the week. Without him we would never have got close to winning the CL, and I reckon we'd have struggled to build the platform needed to win the EPL titles we did as well.
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We got to a Champions League final without him which is "close".
 
I picked Ronaldo from day 1. I'll pick him till my last.
 
balaks said:
Rooney will be a bigger Utd legend than Ronaldo I think - he has the longevity and he holds the all-time goal scoring record. As superb as Ronaldo was for Utd his achievements (for Utd) are no match to Rooney's in a Utd shirt.
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No doubt. I'm delighted we got to see him at United for quite some time, but he is quite clearly going to be a Real legend, not one you automatically associate with us like Rooney.

Kudos to Ronaldo, I always felt he was hellbent on moving to Madrid so he could go toe-to-toe with Messi every week competing for league, cups, pichichis, clásicos and, ultimately, the Ballon d'Or. Toying with EPL defences only to get shafted in the CL final wasn't good enough for him.

I thought he was mental to go down that path given how superior Barcelona were but he kept at it through that dominant period and emerges at the other end with 2 and possibly 3 CL wins for Real. Outstanding.
 
Andy_Cole said:
Obviously this is a no contest but hear me out.

Going back to 2004, which of these players would you pick?

Rooney, who had given us 10 very consistently great seasons for us, with two or three bad ones.

Or Ronaldo, who gave us 3 great seasons, 3 absolute world class, best in the world seasons. Then he leaves us for Madrid.

I suppose the questions we should ask is would we rather Rooney was the best in the world for us in a few of his seasons, if it means sacrificing a few seasons. Has Rooney in the last few years really tarnished his legacy?

I think for me I'd choose Ronaldo. Those three seasons were magical. Rooney I feel has ruined it for me, I know many say it's not his fault, but he had such power at the club to make him undroppable. I do believe a big part of Uniteds downfall should be blamed on him.
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Without Ronaldo you almost certainly wouldn't have won three in a row or a Champions League. Players of Ronaldo's level lead you to the biggest trophies, players of Rooney's level don't. It's a simple choice.
 
prath92 said:
Don't think so. Rooney in 09-10 scored 34 goals and Ronaldo in 07-08 scored 42. Not a whole lot in it. Certainly not head and shoulders and all.
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That's a 20% difference. It's at least the head and the shoulders.

Not to mention the importance of Ronaldo's goals in that season compared to Rooney's in 09-10. Ronaldo scored an goal in a Champions League final win, Rooney scored a goal in a League Cup final win. That sort of sums up the difference in caliber of player we're talking about.
 
Ronaldo. He could do anything Rooney could do and more. His dribbling and speed, plus his long range free kicks.
 
Ronaldo at 35 will probably be better than Rooney was at his peak. In fact Ronaldo just seems to be getting better, whilst Rooney - who is the same age - resembles a lower league footballer at times. There's no comparison on any level, Ronaldo always comes out on top, by a considerable distance.
 
El cagrejo said:
That's a 20% difference. It's at least the head and the shoulders.

Not to mention the importance of Ronaldo's goals in that season compared to Rooney's in 09-10. Ronaldo scored an goal in a Champions League final win, Rooney scored a goal in a League Cup final win. That sort of sums up the difference in caliber of player we're talking about.
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That's just idiotic to say the least.

Firstly, Ronaldo had tevez and Rooney working hard in tandem with him too. Rooney had nani and Valencia. A stark drop in standards there.

Plus taking goals in 2 different matches is pointless. Ronaldo did nothing against the best Barca side in a final. Rooney scored a goal against them in another final. Does that make Rooney a better player?

We didn't win the final in 2008 due to Ronaldo. His goal was cancelled out pretty much by his missed penalty in the shootout imo.
 
prath92 said:
That's just idiotic to say the least.

Firstly, Ronaldo had tevez and Rooney working hard in tandem with him too. Rooney had nani and Valencia. A stark drop in standards there.

Plus taking goals in 2 different matches is pointless. Ronaldo did nothing against the best Barca side in a final. Rooney scored a goal against them in another final. Does that make Rooney a better player?

We didn't win the final in 2008 due to Ronaldo. His goal was cancelled out pretty much by his missed penalty in the shootout imo.
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There's no logic to that. How can it cancel it out? You won anyway and, in very simplistic terms, the game wouldn't have gone to penalties if Lampard's goal was the only one of the game. It was clearly a very important goal.

If you honestly think that Ronaldo's stats are primarily down to playing with superior players to Rooney and nothing to do with the fact that he's a much, much better footballer and goalscorer then I have no idea what to tell you.
 
I always think it's odd how there is a substantial section of our fanbase who never forgave Rooney for trying to leave in 2010, but will pine for Ronaldo who actually went through with it.
 
2 Man Midfield said:
I always think it's odd how there is a substantial section of our fanbase who never forgave Rooney for trying to leave in 2010, but will pine for Ronaldo who actually went through with it.
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It's the weirdest fan phenomenon I've ever seen. And that's facing stiff competition.

In answer to the OP, Rooney obviously.

Ideally we'd have wanted both at the club for the duration. And in that scenario Ronaldo would have been a more valuable player to us but that didn't happen once he had his head turned. Sure he had a couple of great seasons at United but he benefitted from playing with Wayne Rooney in the same team throughout his whole time at United. The converse of which Rooney himself only enjoyed for a brief spell of his overall career.

The fact we remained so competitive after losing Ronaldo is testament to Rooney's quality at the time. We'd have been completely buggered if he'd followed Ronaldo out the door, that's for damn sure.
 
King7Eric said:
You know what they say-You either leave a hero or stay long enough to become a villian ;);)

Jokes aside for me Rooney would always be the bigger club legend. Inspite of everything he stayed and that's what is important. Ronaldo left, leaving at that time one of the best teams in the world to move to a club that was down in the doldrums, chasing some "childhood dream". I don't understand why this particular reason entitles him to sympathy from Utd fans. For me any player who actively tried to leave Utd to move to another club for no obvious footballing reason can never be a bigger legend than someone who gave us his best years and ran his body into the ground for us.
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Erm, are you forgetting Chelsea, City a few years ago?
 
El cagrejo said:
That's a 20% difference. It's at least the head and the shoulders.

Not to mention the importance of Ronaldo's goals in that season compared to Rooney's in 09-10. Ronaldo scored an goal in a Champions League final win, Rooney scored a goal in a League Cup final win. That sort of sums up the difference in caliber of player we're talking about.
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Ridiculously harsh. Ronaldo was the star of the CL winning team but Rooney wasn't far behind him that season in terms of importance to the team.
 
feck choosing, both players provided me with incredible memories during their tenures at United. Never felt otherwise towards them, after Rooney's shenanigans or Ronaldo's departure.

Also agree with @Pogue Mahone's post.
 
Both together :drool: The partner ship was phenomenal as well.

You can not choose one.
 
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nokillingmoths said:
Ridiculously harsh. Ronaldo was the star of the CL winning team but Rooney wasn't far behind him that season in terms of importance to the team.
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Rooney is a decent wing man like Benzema. No team that's been built around him has ever had success.

It's no coincidence that in the eight years since Ronaldo left, the two times United won the league were seasons in which Berbatov/Chicharito and Van Persie were the focal point.
 
King7Eric said:
You know what they say-You either leave a hero or stay long enough to become a villian ;);)

Jokes aside for me Rooney would always be the bigger club legend. Inspite of everything he stayed and that's what is important. Ronaldo left, leaving at that time one of the best teams in the world to move to a club that was down in the doldrums, chasing some "childhood dream". I don't understand why this particular reason entitles him to sympathy from Utd fans. For me any player who actively tried to leave Utd to move to another club for no obvious footballing reason can never be a bigger legend than someone who gave us his best years and ran his body into the ground for us.
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Totally agree , Rooney is a United legend whereas Ronaldo is a Real Madrid legend .
 
Ronaldo. Because he was the best United player I've seen since Best, and I'm old enough to question whether I'll be around when the next one comes along.

Players come and go, that's how it is. I've seen a lot of good, very good and even great players at United - but only a few extraordinary ones. Ronaldo was extraordinary, Rooney was never that.
 
2 Man Midfield said:
I always think it's odd how there is a substantial section of our fanbase who never forgave Rooney for trying to leave in 2010, but will pine for Ronaldo who actually went through with it.
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Not only did he go through with it he said we treated him like a slave.
 
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