Why does every Manager play Rooney in Midfield?

From the outside, I reckon it's bizarre that LVG keeps playing him there. I wonder what Rooney thinks of all this? I reckon he's pissed off but hasn't got the balls to moan about playing there again. After all being stuck in midfield could cost him the goal scoring record.
 
He plays in midfield because we never replaced Scholes and Keane (not sure if they are actually replaceable) and when you have to play so many strikers he is the only one who has the ability to do other roles. ie..we lack balance.
 
SAF played him there, as we had no midfielders (39 year old giggs, anderson-always injured, carrick, cleverley),and was only when we had no other choice

Moyes dont remember seeing rooney much in midfield

But LVG is defintely going a bit overboard with Rooney in midfield
 
Because for one reason or another they can't fit him in attack. First we had van Persie who was better than him up front and won us the league, now we have van Persie who van Gaal loves and will play him regardless of circumstances.
 
DomesticTadpole said:
He was our top scorer in the league. So it was the PL.
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His worst season for us fetched 11 goals for him in 28 appearances in 2010-11. This was the season when he threw the toys out of his pram the very first time and when Berbatov and Hernandez were responsible for us winning the League.
 
jem said:
I think he was brilliant the one season that played up top (2009-10.) For some reason, he hasn't really played there since.
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I think that's a bit of a fallacy to be honest. He has played as a number 9 in several stints and only really looked top drawer there for one full season and a few months (one that you mention). He played a large chunk of the 06/07 and 07/08 seasons as a number 9 and didn't set the world alight. He also alternated the position with Berbatov for the 08/09 and the start of the 10/11 season (before Hernandez started playing). 11/12 he played up front often as well, on the whole he played well but again he had really poor periods.

I genuinely think where he plays is almost irrelevant, I just think he's a player who is pretty inconsistent and will come in and out of form. Almost wherever he plays there is a vocal group that will say "well it's obvious why he's out of form, he's playing out of position". When he was out of form as a number 9, he was a natural number 10. When he was out of form as a number 10, he was a natural number 9. I believe he isn't really a natural anything, he's a player who could play in any of the front 6 positions (including central midfield) and look phenomenal on his day, but who can look really poor on other days.

It's unsurprising really. His great qualities are ones which are generic to most of the positions he plays: strength, work rate, intelligence, long range shooting. Whereas his weaknesses are ones which hurt him regardless of position: particularly his first touch and short passing.
 
coolredwine said:
His worst season for us fetched 11 goals for him in 28 appearances in 2010-11. This was the season when he threw the toys out of his pram the very first time and when Berbatov and Hernandez were responsible for us winning the League.
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I meant it was a bad season for the club all round, not him. In fact I think he was quite happy with David Moyes being there tbh. RvP didn't contribute as much last season due to injury. I just think we could score more goals.
 
I don't think LvG sees Rooney as a number 9 and I think a lot of it is to do with the fact that RvP holds the ball up better. Even when RvP and Falcao play together Falcao seems to be the one who drops deeper when most people would have him down as the penalty box player, but I think LvG wants RvP as his focal point because he holds the ball up well and brings others into play (and has a good first touch). My issue isn't that we aren't playing Rooney up top, but that we are playing him in midfield to accommodate Falcao. That is what upsets the balance. It seems obvious to me that the best option is Rooney behind the main striker (RvP).
 
Ferguson played him there because he had a vision of Rooney becoming the new Schools, and LvG plays him there because he's weird. Don't think he'll keep playing him there much longer.
 
soap said:
Ferguson played him there because he had a vision of Rooney becoming the new Schools, and LvG plays him there because he's weird. Don't think he'll keep playing him there much longer.
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I hope that's intentional.
 
Because he is willing to play anywhere and has a really good competitive attitude. Even when he plays striker, whenever we get countered, Rooney is usually one of the guys (The only attacker) sprinting back to help the defenders out. When LVG asked all the players where they think they can play, Rooney said he can play anywhere. Guess what position RVP and Falcao said they could play?

Off course all of that leads them to ignore the fact that his first touch is really inconsistent and he lacks the cutting edge/drive from that position...
 
diarm said:
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.
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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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Both of these are the reason, more so the second quote
 
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