Wayne Rooney is a Manchester United great - so why is he not more loved?

[RooneyLegend]

Because he became angry and confused when he was dropped for one game because we signed one of the better players he supposedly wanted us to sign. He could not have cared less. What hypocrisy is at play here?

Not really true is it though, we benched him for welbeck not RVP.

 

[acnumber9]

Not really true is it though, we benched him for welbeck not RVP.

And who would have played in place of Van Persie had we not signed him? So tell me about this hypocrisy.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Mate from 06 to 10 we had one of the most ridiculous defensive records in champions league history. Apart from the final in 2009 we did not lose a game between the loss to Milan in April 2007 and May 2009. They were not just supporting actors but just as important as Ronaldo was upfront for us.

Truth be told Rooney was never as good as rio and vidic. He was a great player but never the best in the world in his specific position. And in before the "well he got shafted by Ronaldo and put out wide" excuse... That's because we had better players in those positions!

Thomas mueller is the player that Rooney should have become but never did. World class utility forward.

We also scored quite a fair number of goals. Another thing is our defending was also a product of our team shape and organisation. A defence never works by itself. Remember us not conceding goals even with an injured Rio?

So what, the worlds best defender isn't better than the worlds 5th best attacker.

We never had a better striker in those years than him. Truth is, rooney is the third most effective attacker this club has had in the prem era according to stats. I'd notch him down to 4th just cause ronaldo had some average earlier seasons statistically.


Rooney was better than thomas muller in those days. Muller has never reached rooney standards. In fact, I can't tell what he does better than him.

 

[RooneyLegend]

And who would have played in place of Van Persie had we not signed him? So tell me about this hypocrisy.

Hernandez or Welbeck. You do know Rooney played most of the games with Van Persie not instead of him right?

Oh, you wanna know about the hypocrisy? I'll be happy to enlighten you.

Fans: Sir Alex FFS, buy some quality. These blokes aren't producing vintage united displays.
These blokes will never be good enough to be quality regulars for us.
How in the name of baby h crist, are we replacing Ronnie with Valencia, Owen and some random french bloke.

Rooney: Sir Alex, get some quality players in or I go. These lads aren't the quality I'm accustomed to playing with.
Fans: F Rooney as a player, a person, and everything else in-between, how dare he question the great man? Sir alex, unrivalled football genius never to be questioned EVER!

Spotted the hypocrisy yet?

 

[mattsville]

Was a great player for us but has been fecked the past few years, need to get rid and move on as SAF tried to do with him as he did with many great players, SAF was a great judge of that in most cases, as controversial as it seemed at the time it worked out, this is the result of not doing it, thanks golum, watching a washed up has been earn the same money as messi and Ronaldo and holding the club back and more disturbingly watch a ruthless manager condone it, make him captain and put him first on the team sheet regardless of performance and then retire in a year, this is a mess.

 

[acnumber9]

Hernandez or Welbeck. You do know Rooney played most of the games with Van Persie not instead of him right?

Oh, you wanna know about the hypocrisy? I'll be happy to enlighten you.

Fans: Sir Alex FFS, buy some quality. These blokes aren't producing vintage united displays.
These blokes will never be good enough to be quality regulars for us.
How in the name of baby h crist, are we replacing Ronnie with Valencia, Owen and some random french bloke.

Rooney: Sir Alex, get some quality players in or I go. These lads aren't the quality I'm accustomed to playing with.
Fans: F Rooney as a player, a person, and everything else in-between, how dare he question the great man? Sir alex, unrivalled football genius never to be questioned EVER!

Spotted the hypocrisy yet?

So Welbeck would've played with Welbeck. That one seems unlikely. Do you really think Rooney would've been dropped for Hernandez? He was an unused sub so it's doubtful.

Fans stating an opinion is somewhat different to a player basically calling his team mates shit at a time when he was so out of form and shape he had to be shipped out mid season to get his act together. The motivations behind those thought patterns are also completely different. The fans thought of the club. Rooney thought of Rooney.

 

[sullydnl]

Hernandez or Welbeck. You do know Rooney played most of the games with Van Persie not instead of him right?

Oh, you wanna know about the hypocrisy? I'll be happy to enlighten you.

Fans: Sir Alex FFS, buy some quality. These blokes aren't producing vintage united displays.
These blokes will never be good enough to be quality regulars for us.
How in the name of baby h crist, are we replacing Ronnie with Valencia, Owen and some random french bloke.

Rooney: Sir Alex, get some quality players in or I go. These lads aren't the quality I'm accustomed to playing with.
Fans: F Rooney as a player, a person, and everything else in-between, how dare he question the great man? Sir alex, unrivalled football genius never to be questioned EVER!

Spotted the hypocrisy yet?

A. Fans question manager's decisions and question the quality of the players.

B. Player questions manager's decisions, questions the quality of his team mates and threatens to leave.

A and B are not the same. There is no hypocrisy. You can think Rooney's complaints were right while also thinking he had no right to question his manager, disparage his team mates and threaten to leave because of it. Why on earth would you expect fans and players to behave in the same way? They're in totally different positions.

 

[iKeano]

Rooney's questioning Utds ambition could almost... ALMOST be forgiven, had he not spat his dummy out when they bought a world class striker and made Rooney work for his place.
I wish we had RVP instead of Rooney now, while both players legs are gone, RVP always had better technical ability in my eyes. He would have scored a penalty tonight.

That said, I'm sick of Rooney/Rooneygate/LVGgate/worst-captain-of-all-time. Its a two-fold problem; Rooney continues to be shit + LVG continues to play him.
Wilson should be penning his transfer request as we speak. How Memphis started that 2nd half is a mystery*
*And by mystery, I mean a Dutch conspiracy. He is the next Nani, he loses the ball and NEVER tracks back. Still, the Dutch one got his obligatory full back substitution sorted as standard. If he was any more negative he'd be a cure for AIDS.
Cut Rooney loose & either get rid of Giggs or get rid of LVG, because they clearly don't communicate thus irrelevant having both.

Yes I'm overreacting, yes it's OTT, but gift wrapping silverwear to either Citeah or the scousers is unforgivable entirely & instead of culpability, it will be met with petulance and arrogance from all involved. I'm done with the proshesssh and I'm done with the philosshophy.

 

[mariachi-19]

We also scored quite a fair number of goals. Another thing is our defending was also a product of our team shape and organisation. A defence never works by itself. Remember us not conceding goals even with an injured Rio?

So what, the worlds best defender isn't better than the worlds 5th best attacker.

We never had a better striker in those years than him. Truth is, rooney is the third most effective attacker this club has had in the prem era according to stats. I'd notch him down to 4th just cause ronaldo had some average earlier seasons statistically.


Rooney was better than thomas muller in those days. Muller has never reached rooney standards. In fact, I can't tell what he does better than him.

Mate you're starting to embarrass yourself.

The same Thomas Muller who will obliterate the World Cup scoring record, who has been instrumental in turning Bayern into arguably the best team in Europe, and winning world cups with Germany and scoring bucket loads of goals along the way. Wayne Rooney wishes he had mullers resume and muller is five years younger.

Ronaldo is a far better striker/winger than Rooney ever was and sir Alex wouldn't have tried to sign forward after forward if he had felt Rooney as the best striker for United.

And the world best centre back is valued more than the 5th best attacker (aside from 1 maybe 2 seasons Rooney was never that regardless). If a player can influence and change matches like rio and vidic could, even when the other was injured, they are worth their weight in gold.

 

[mattsville]

Whatever about a decline in a player, he quite literally makes the team worse, as boring as it is, every time he plays, shit touch, can't pass 10 yards, shit decision making, but loves a Hollywood ball from deep, even though his is meant to be leading the line, immune to LVG observations and his army of video analysts too, hence where we are.

 

[Natener]

Hernandez or Welbeck. You do know Rooney played most of the games with Van Persie not instead of him right?

Oh, you wanna know about the hypocrisy? I'll be happy to enlighten you.

Fans: Sir Alex FFS, buy some quality. These blokes aren't producing vintage united displays.
These blokes will never be good enough to be quality regulars for us.
How in the name of baby h crist, are we replacing Ronnie with Valencia, Owen and some random french bloke.

Rooney: Sir Alex, get some quality players in or I go. These lads aren't the quality I'm accustomed to playing with.
Fans: F Rooney as a player, a person, and everything else in-between, how dare he question the great man? Sir alex, unrivalled football genius never to be questioned EVER!

Spotted the hypocrisy yet?

Fans whine. Rooney threatened. There is no hypocrisy. We are not mad at him for questioning. We are mad at him for threatening SAF and the club to get what he wants which in fact turned out to be a PR cover for the real reason.

 

[iKeano]

Whatever about a decline in a player, he quite literally makes the team worse, as boring as it is, every time he plays, shit touch, can't pass 10 yards, shit decision making, but loves a Hollywood ball from deep, even though his is meant to be leading the line, immune to LVG observations and his army of video analysts too, hence where we are.

Exactly, oh how I laughed when Gerrard attempted 'Hollywood balls' & hail Mary 30+ yard shots throughout his last 2/3 seasons.
I'm not laughing now... Not one bit!
I imagine Rooney's video analysis' go missing more often than MI5 survelance tapes. Every man + his dog knows it, embarrassing for everyone involved.
As the MEN put it this week, "if LVG can ignore the elephant in the room, he surely can't ignore its pile of dung!"

 

[MJJ]

Silent domination.

 

[Rezyuz]

If he truly loved United he would realize what hes doing to the team atm and would simply tell LVG to move him into midfield or take some rest to focus on regaining form.

 

[markhrad]

He will be remembered because of his impressive stats but Rooney is not good enough to be considered a great. Early in his man utd career he was surrounded by great players so his weaknesses were not that apparent. When Ronaldo left it was clear to me that Rooney was not good enough to lead our team but of course he was afforded excuse after excuse, such as, he does not take care of himself during the off-season so he does not perform well at he beginning of the season and the famous he needs a certain amount of games after being out so you have to play him back into form. These excuses and others will tell objective persons that Rooney has a history of not performing well and its because he is not and never has been technically gifted. What is happening now is that his deficiencies are clear for everyone to see because he no longer has an excellent group of players surrounding him. Its the same reason why he looks like crap in major tournaments for England. Its true he performed well in 2004 Euros but lets face facts that England team had a lot of top players.
Many great players have had weak national teams that do not progress very far but people like Ronaldo, Zlatan still manage to shine even when losing.
Rooney's greatness is media-manufactured and the public bought into it. Those of you who argue with stats are basically admitting that his greatness fails the eye-test, if a player is great we should all see it clearly for ourselves even those who have a personal bias against him.
I believe in years to come former players and managers will reveal their true impression of Wayne Rooney as a footballer.

 

[thejtrain]

Rooney's greatness is media-manufactured and the public bought into it. Those of you who argue with stats are basically admitting that his greatness fails the eye-test, if a player is great we should all see it clearly for ourselves even those who have a personal bias against him.
I believe in years to come former players and managers will reveal their true impression of Wayne Rooney as a footballer.

Exactly!

I doubt if the other players and managers will have anything bad to say about him though.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Hernandez or Welbeck. You do know Rooney played most of the games with Van Persie not instead of him right?

Oh, you wanna know about the hypocrisy? I'll be happy to enlighten you.

Fans: Sir Alex FFS, buy some quality. These blokes aren't producing vintage united displays.
These blokes will never be good enough to be quality regulars for us.
How in the name of baby h crist, are we replacing Ronnie with Valencia, Owen and some random french bloke.

Rooney: Sir Alex, get some quality players in or I go. These lads aren't the quality I'm accustomed to playing with.
Fans: F Rooney as a player, a person, and everything else in-between, how dare he question the great man? Sir alex, unrivalled football genius never to be questioned EVER!

Spotted the hypocrisy yet?

Oh yeah, because Rooney signed that contract only after we bought Ozil, Messi and got Charlton out of retirement.

 

[Halftrack]

Rooney: Sir Alex, get some quality players (by which mean money) in (-to my pocket) or I go. These lads (read: bundles of pound notes) aren't the quality (read: of the thickness) I'm accustomed to playing with (read: I want them to be).

I fixed it for you.

 

[acnumber9]

Fans whine. Rooney threatened. There is no hypocrisy. We are not mad at him for questioning. We are mad at him for threatening SAF and the club to get what he wants which in fact turned out to be a PR cover for the real reason.

I'd like to see anyone who thinks he did it for noble reasons to explain what changed in the few days between him questioning our ambition and the quality of our squad and him signing his new contract.

 

[iSparky]

Rooney is the human equivalent of marmite. Some love him, some hate him.

 

[marjen]

In terms of actually liking Rooney, the turning point for me was the second contract shenanigans.

After that he lost his appeal as a likable talisman I think, for the majority of our fanbase.

Therefore I'm not offering him any leeway in his current state. His acceleration has gone, he can't adjust to it and he's never going to be the player he once was.

If it were any other player than Rooney, he'd be benched a long time ago. And if it were any other player I'd say that he'd certainly be sold in the summer. Alas, I don't think he will be due to his position at the club and with LVG.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Mate you're starting to embarrass yourself.

The same Thomas Muller who will obliterate the World Cup scoring record, who has been instrumental in turning Bayern into arguably the best team in Europe, and winning world cups with Germany and scoring bucket loads of goals along the way. Wayne Rooney wishes he had mullers resume and muller is five years younger.

Ronaldo is a far better striker/winger than Rooney ever was and sir Alex wouldn't have tried to sign forward after forward if he had felt Rooney as the best striker for United.

And the world best centre back is valued more than the 5th best attacker (aside from 1 maybe 2 seasons Rooney was never that regardless). If a player can influence and change matches like rio and vidic could, even when the other was injured, they are worth their weight in gold.

Better players than Muller(one who plays here) were more instrumental in turning Bayern into the juggernaut that it is. Rooney has a wonderful resume, no matter how you spin it.

That's cause for most of sir alex's time here he played rooney as a second striker. As sir alex said he was buying a great footballer, not a great goal scorer in his mind. Sir alex never bought to replace rooney. Never in rooney's time here has he been anything buy first choice, no matter who was bought at any period of time. Ronaldo played with rooney not instead of him which makes the mention of him being better(an obvious point really) rather useless.

Rooney was in the top 10 players throughout his years here in the world. That's something vida or rio never reached.

In what world is T.Silva or Pique more valuable than Aguero or Robben?

 

[RooneyLegend]

Oh yeah, because Rooney signed that contract only after we bought Ozil, Messi and got Charlton out of retirement.

He signed it after there was pressure from all corners of the globe for him to stay. He already had a big contract on the table that as Gill said 'would compete with anything he could get anywhere'. How much of a difference(if there was any) between the first one, and the one he eventually signed no one really knows.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Fans whine. Rooney threatened. There is no hypocrisy. We are not mad at him for questioning. We are mad at him for threatening SAF and the club to get what he wants which in fact turned out to be a PR cover for the real reason.

In case you aren't aware fans are in no position to threaten. He is and many managers and players have done it before. RVP didn't just threaten to leave arsenal, he actually ditched them. How many times you here managers say if the club doesn't match my ambitions I'm a goner?

He already had a big money contract on the table, seems everyone has forgotten about that.

 

[Sky1981]

We also scored quite a fair number of goals. Another thing is our defending was also a product of our team shape and organisation. A defence never works by itself. Remember us not conceding goals even with an injured Rio?

So what, the worlds best defender isn't better than the worlds 5th best attacker.

We never had a better striker in those years than him. Truth is, rooney is the third most effective attacker this club has had in the prem era according to stats. I'd notch him down to 4th just cause ronaldo had some average earlier seasons statistically.


Rooney was better than thomas muller in those days. Muller has never reached rooney standards. In fact, I can't tell what he does better than him.

Rooney better than muller???

Which muller? Gerd muller? Thomas muller?

Lol. Seriously.. By the time muller hangs his boots his medal will be twice of rooney.

The only edge he has over muller is that he starts at 16 (and finished at 28)

 

[2mufc0]

Rooney threads everywhere.

 

[Cassidy]

We also scored quite a fair number of goals. Another thing is our defending was also a product of our team shape and organisation. A defence never works by itself. Remember us not conceding goals even with an injured Rio?

So what, the worlds best defender isn't better than the worlds 5th best attacker.

We never had a better striker in those years than him. Truth is, rooney is the third most effective attacker this club has had in the prem era according to stats. I'd notch him down to 4th just cause ronaldo had some average earlier seasons statistically.


Rooney was better than thomas muller in those days. Muller has never reached rooney standards. In fact, I can't tell what he does better than him.

Crazy talk. We're talking about potential world cup all time goalscorer Muller here?

 

[2mufc0]

Crazy talk. We're talking about potential world cup all time goalscorer Muller here?

He does have a point i don't think Thomas Mueller has been as good as peak Rooney yet.

 

[Cassidy]

He does have a point i don't think Thomas Mueller has been as good as peak Rooney yet.

I disagree, Muller isn't even a striker. In terms of technique and sheer efficiency, he surpasses Rooney IMO.
Rooney has NEVER had such an impact at 1 worldcup let alone consecutive ones.

 

[2mufc0]

I disagree, Muller isn't even a striker. In terms of technique and sheer efficiency, he surpasses Rooney IMO.
Rooney has NEVER had such an impact at 1 worldcup let alone consecutive ones.

Technically - yes i agree, as for the rest agree to disagree, don't think it's fair to judge players on world cups only, in that case Klose would be the best player of all time.

 

[Cassidy]

Technically - yes i agree, as for the rest agree to disagree, don't think it's fair to judge players on world cups only, in that case Klose would be the best player of all time.

Its not really just the World cup though is it, what has Rooney achieved in club football that Muller has not? NOTHING, but internationally we know Muller has achieved a hell of a lot more.
Its horses for courses anyway but Muller is such an underrated footballer.

 

[Natener]

In case you aren't aware fans are in no position to threaten. He is and many managers and players have done it before. RVP didn't just threaten to leave arsenal, he actually ditched them. How many times you here managers say if the club doesn't match my ambitions I'm a goner?

He already had a big money contract on the table, seems everyone has forgotten about that.

And that makes what he did acceptable? Because others have made the same shite move as him before? Would you like to cheat on your wife while she's pregnant because I have heard others do that.

Fans are also well in the position to boycott the club, protest or make our displeasure with the club known. In fact, it's a hell lot easier considering fans don't have a legal binding contract with the club. We don't because we are not hypocrites who say we love the club only to threaten turning our support elsewhere whenever it suits us, and turning back again when the club makes a good signing.

 

[2mufc0]

Its not really just the World cup though is it, what has Rooney achieved in club football that Muller has not? NOTHING, but internationally we know Muller has achieved a hell of a lot more.
Its horses for courses anyway but Muller is such an underrated footballer.

But you could also switch that question around and ask what has Muller achieved in club football that Rooney hasn't? Agree it's not clear cut but peak Rooney was one of the best strikers in the world.

 

[Cassidy]

But you could also switch that question around and ask what has Muller achieved in club football that Rooney hasn't? Agree it's not clear cut but peak Rooney was one of the best strikers in the world.

Asking the question the other way round means nothing, as the statement was that Muller has not reached peak Rooney standards.
Muller is currently one of the best players in the world, who excelled at all levels of the game for both club and country. Peak Rooney well I've always felt he was just a level below the best strikers, and you cannot say the same for him in terms of club & country.

 

[GeneralGattuso]

Meh, he moaned about our lack of ambition and angled for a move (twice) so when his form dips and he looks like his best is in the past then the club by the same token are entitled to ask what they are getting from their highest paid player and if they feel, move him on.

 

[SammyUnited_83]

He is finished, no where near the level he needs to be at, factoring in the position he plays and the wages he get - needs to go.

 

[Minimalist]

I'm sure it's been touched on in this thread but another memory I have is that after he got his big contract in 2010, the rest of the season in 2010/11 (bar the overhead kick against City) he was absolute shite in most games which was just rubbing salt into the wounds.

I'm sure some will be along to tell me that never happened but I remember it very clearly and how outraged supporters were at his lack of quality despite being given a major, major pay increase.

 

[2mufc0]

Asking the question the other way round means nothing, as the statement was that Muller has not reached peak Rooney standards.
Muller is currently one of the best players in the world, who excelled at all levels of the game for both club and country. Peak Rooney well I've always felt he was just a level below the best strikers, and you cannot say the same for him in terms of club & country.

I always look back at that time when we played Bayern and they shat themselves knowing Rooney would be back from his injury, it lifted the whole team and fans that he was in the lineup, there was genuine fear of him, don't hink Muller has ever had that sort of impact.

 

[Cassidy]

I always look back at that time when we played Bayern and they shat themselves knowing Rooney would be back from his injury, it lifted the whole team and fans that he was in the lineup, there was genuine fear of him, don't hink Muller has ever had that sort of impact.

Bollocks* the problem is that Rooney was our only genuine threat, so obv our fans will get a big lift when he is in the team, did he not play shit anyway? Where as Muller isn't. Believe me though when Muller isn't in the team, the opposition is happy, that goes for both Bayern and Germany

 

[acnumber9]

In case you aren't aware fans are in no position to threaten. He is and many managers and players have done it before. RVP didn't just threaten to leave arsenal, he actually ditched them. How many times you here managers say if the club doesn't match my ambitions I'm a goner?

He already had a big money contract on the table, seems everyone has forgotten about that.

Van Persie had a legitimate reason to leave Arsenal. He wanted to win the league. If he cared deeply about the state of the squad then why did he sign a contract when no players had been signed and why did he sign his last one when we were in much worse shape?