Rooney the striker

Our best option there at the moment.
 
Rooney was totally alone upfront and still managed to be more involved than Falcao and RVP when they play with someone close to them, he is a striker or second striker.
 
Orton said:
Considering you made up your mind from day 1 on them this season like I say I'm not surprised. You are not long in giving Rooney all the praise when Falcao pretty much won us the game on saturday (yes, he offered nothing before it) with his touch and control that gave us the penalty. Was it Burnley earlier on when RVP scored a pen yet you couldn't wait to remind us how he done nothing before it. Just your usual double standard Sam post.
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Considering I have a reputation for being a massive RVP fan and a big Rooney 'hater', I think its safe to say that you're talking out of your ass. As usual.
 
Plenty of nice runs from him and we were unfortunate with some of the decisions there.
If he even steps foot in midfield again LVG should be egged and then sacked.
 
Not at his best yet but getting there. Should surely play without RvP or Falcao upfront
 
Orton said:
Don't see me starting threads about how Rooney needs to be sold. Just think he's hideously overrated by some. His performances on the pitch are nowhere near as good as some on here suggest.
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You're on the other side of the spectrum though, hideously underrating him.

I thought he played well today. Not great. A goal which he should have scored, a goal he scored but the ref messed up, good runs throughout the game and nice pressing for the winner. Also put Di Maria through very early on with a good pass.

I'll admit to being a Rooney fan but i don't think the above is a biased view of the game. I'm also a big fan of RVP and I actually prefer RVP as a #9 and Rooney behind him.
 
akash02 said:
You're on the other side of the spectrum though, hideously underrating him.

I thought he played well today. Not great. A goal which he should have scored, a goal he scored but the ref messed up, good runs throughout the game and nice pressing for the winner. Also put Di Maria through very early on with a good pass.

I'll admit to being a Rooney fan but i don't think the above is a biased view of the game. I'm also a big fan of RVP and I actually prefer RVP as a #9 and Rooney behind him.
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Someone saying he was great is ridiculous though. What was great about it? If that's great then what are the performances we see most weeks from Kane, Sturridge, Costa and Aguero? Even Giroud these days. Our striking dept needs a serious overhaul, and personally I wouldn't care if any of them were let go because they are all past their best.
 
Really should have scored in the first half but looks so much better with our wingers than our other strikers. Would still like to see him with Wilson in front but maybe something for a home match and not away.
 
He played better than our other strikers but I do think he should have finished one of those two good chances he had, well we need him to, we are very reliant on him to score. He also drops deep, that's not a problem but our players need to be better at penetrating into the space ahead.

I like him as a 10 especially in the big games, I feel he will be isolated up top and won't do enough in the few moments he will come alive, I'm not sure what else we can do though as there is little point in Falcao playing ahead of him.

In the games to come unless we are on the front foot I can see it turning into a 4-6-0. We should just train that formation so players know when Rooney does drop and get involved in build up play somebody needs to move ahead.

I also don't know why Louis van Gaal rates Fellaini, I think this was the match to give Wilson a game and if he did well start him in the next.
 
Suedesi said:
Decent article in the Grantland

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/w...emier-league-sir-alex-ferguson-lous-van-gaal/
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So, the question is: Has Rooney never settled into a position because of his imperfect skill set? Is he simply not good enough to be a central star player on a team competing at the highest level? Or is he so versatile that his managers can’t help but slide him around the field?
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In many ways, Rooney embodies the flexibility that was Ferguson’s core strength as a manager. If the opponent lacked the speed to exploit Rooney on the wing, Ferguson could deploy him there to best use his strength to charge into the box from wide. If there would be room for him to operate in the middle, Ferguson could play him as an attacking midfielder. If the opponent’s center backs were weak, Ferguson could slide him up top. Rooney has a malleable, imperfect skill set, and Ferguson had an unparalleled ability to deploy misfit toys to their utmost impact.
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That was Rooney’s career under Ferguson in a nutshell: He fit into the tactics; the tactics didn’t change to suit him. Rather than a superstar, he became a star role player.
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I think the writer hits on what was so great about Rooney in his younger days. The question I have now is does he now offer enough in any of these roles to be considered a mainstay as he physically declines? I don't think so and this may have been the reason Fergie wanted to turf him out instead of simply revenge over him asking for a transfer back in 2010.
 
Just play the man alone up front, everything else seemingly falls into place. Don't play him at 10 because we don't have that Welbeck type to play off him.
 
I said it in his player thread and I'll say it again here; we would quite possibly be chasing the title if we had played him up top all season.

He's worth at least a goal every two games. We'd be on more points and he'd have an extra five to eight league goals to his name, certainly.
 
Crazy to think he's been playing in midfield for most of the season. He's our best striker by far.
 
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