15 Jun 2014 10:02:48
Is anybody worried about Paul Scholes comments.

He knows a lot about the game. More than anyone who posts on here.

His quote. "Rooney's best days are behind him".

He's 28 nearly 29. Should be in his prime now.
Has problems with his weight.
Hasn't scored a goal on the World stage.
Has moaned about playing out of position.
Has threatened to quit United twice.
Has held the Club to ransom once or twice.
Had temperament problems in the past.
Off field problems that have effected his game.
Plus it seems van Persie is the new Golden boy.
Rooney was given the Cpt armband & it maybe taken off him.

How will he fit into van Gaal system?
Will he be turned into a midfielder?
Will he be captain?
Why are we reportedly in for Cavani?
Will Rooney be sold???

1.) 15 Jun 2014
Not worried at all.

2.) 15 Jun 2014
Last season I said on here that I had come around to the idea of letting Rooney go. Then he was given a massive new contract. SAF was no mug and the ex managers apparent favouritism towards Rooney appeared to cause friction. Rooney has been a good player when in his position but never took the step up like Ronado did. SAF would have shipped him out but Moyes kept him and for me there were many mistakes within that scenario. Scholes has a very clear view but I bet SAF was thinking on similar lines. LvG is strong enough to make decisions and Rooney may not like them, so it will be interesting. I would not be sad if Rooney left, preferably abroad as long as we replace him well and allow Wilson to have a chance. My guess is that Chicarito will go this summer so if Rooney does we are short up there. We need some pace both in midfield and attack so I would not rule anything out.

3.) 15 Jun 2014
For me, Rooney is hugely overrated and massively over paid. I don't honestly think that ourselves or England would do any worse if we dropped him.

4.) 15 Jun 2014
I think Rooneys days are numbered and have suggested that in another post. I do think Rooney has been a very good player but ultimately falls short of being world class. Unlike RVP, Ronaldo and Scholes for example.

He's not as fine an athlete as those and needs to work harder at keeping fit. That will only get worse as he gets older and if you consider he's been playing in Premiership as first choice now for 12 pushing 13 seasons it's not that fantastic a leap to suggest that at approaching 29 he's nearing burnout. I think physically he's maybe 3 or 4 years beyond his actual age.

Before the pro v anti-Rooney rants starts my main reason for thinking Rooneys days are numbered at United is his lack of positional discipline. He showed that in the Italy game in spite of his usual all action style he struggled to cope with the defensive duties required of playing on the left side. Unlike Welbeck who I thought played well.

I appreciate as Rio intimated on MOTD last night either play him as a 9 or 10 or not at all. Problem with that in United's team is we have better players than Rooney for those positions as a 9 in Van Persie and IMO a better no.10 in Mata.

So could Rooney be pushed into a more central midfield role as Scholes did? He's certainly got exceptional long range passing but his ball retention is poor. Too poor for any team that needs to challenge for major honours. I think the time to have sold Rooney was last year but that ship has sailed. He has a long contract on £300k a week which to be blunt he wouldn't have got anywhere but United. I suspect we will see a very expensive squad player rather than first teamer in Rooney over next few seasons.

5.) 15 Jun 2014
15 Jun 2014 10:44:44
Your right. Maybe myself and other people do love football too much. It's a game. If we lose, we play again next week. If a player gets injured or leaves. Another player will step in sooner or later.

Football is just a game in the end.

I obviously have read about your sad news and i'm truely, deeply sorry. I wish you & your family best wishes and hope & pray for you.

6.) 15 Jun 2014
I thought he was the worst attacking player on the pitch for us, I really hope we don't start him, sad news but I think the ox (if fit) should start or Adam

7.) 15 Jun 2014
After the Dutch beat Spain, GDS2 said "Imagine if we were watching that game and didn't already have van persie how excited we would be at the prospect of signing him and him playing under van gaal."

Now replace Rooney with RVP and how many people would be excited to see him sign? Playing in a relatively weak England side, he was one of the worst players on the pitch. He got his assist and that will add to the argument of those who boast about his stats, but he was poor and failed, once again, to perform on the biggest stage.

Hodgson even understands why he isn't good enough to play in his favourite position, but he's worth £300,000 a week to us? Unbelievable. Gerrard and Baines had to spend the entire first half telling him to stay in position and do his job, but even then they had to move him because he is incapable of not wandering off. The top players can perform on the biggest stage, whereas Rooney just looks like a lad from a pub team who won a competition to play at the World Cup.

8.) 15 Jun 2014
Rooney still plays the game like a kid. He no longer has the freshness and his lack of intellect is now exploited because he doesn't have the speed to adjust like he used to.

I have been a very harsh critic of Rooney over the past few seasons and the main objection has been his stats and his decent form at the start of last season.

There were 3 reasons why Rooney performed last Summer/Autumn - Wanted more money, Moyes loves him and finally the team were told to play through Rooney to their own detriment.

It was the equivalent of having 10 mates around for dinner, none eat fish but the 11th turns up who wants fish, so you make everyone fish for dinner. We let everyone suffer to please one guy and that is why we dipped so dramatically. He may have enjoyed his meal but everyone else couldn't wait to get out of there.

9.) 15 Jun 2014
People talking of selling Rooney! Are you mad? No I don't think he's a great player, but judging our efforts in signing players we can't afford to let any go!

10.) 15 Jun 2014
15 Jun 2014 18:59:07
Beast,

Yep Rooney playing so well at the start of last season was the reason why everybody else was rubbish. I've heard it all now.

11.) 15 Jun 2014
Your spot on beast.

Moyes is obsessed with Rooney as he said only a few days ago the England team should be built around him, which for me is wrong.

Lets be perfectly honest Rooney was good until he had his contract then he was poor after it.

Another thing he does play just like a child as he runs about like a headless chicken in all the wrong areas using up all his energy and making pointless tackles.

Everything last season was about Rooney and you could bet it peed off a lot of the other players. He has lost most of his pace as he never runs at players no more and he does not have the intelligence that Robin has as a striker so without his pace and power you lose a lot of what he is all about.

He clearly is not first choice striker for England at the moment or he would of been up top instead of Sturridge. I feel all of Scholes comments were spot on and we have certainly seen the best of Wayne Rooney and I would not be 1 bit shocked if 1 of LVG first acts was to sell him

12.) 15 Jun 2014
GDS2 - Happens in lots of sports - most teams have a key man that is the focal point of attack, more often than not the others sacrifice themselves because the Hero is so good that if he performs you win. Rooney did well, but the suffering wasn't worth it. Rooney doesn't justify that sacrifice, Messi does, Ronaldo does, but Rooney can't pull you through so we shouldn't have based our team around him.

Moving on slightly -
What proved Rooneys epic fall was the freekick Gerrard took off him last night. 18 months ago that would never have happened. It shows even his own team mates doubt his quality and are sick of him getting glory from penalties, free kicks and the odd tap in here and there distorting the stats and headlines. I know some of you will say Gerrard was captain and fancied it, but there is no way anybody but Rooney would have taken that free kick 18 months ago, especially the way he grabbed the ball - also none of the players talk about him when interviewed or the manager (only to give a ridiculous defence to Gabby Logan, which everyone knew was ludicrous).

13.) 15 Jun 2014
15 Jun 2014 21:11:31
I thought Rooney did what was asked of him last night. Playing on the left he tracked back as much as he was meant to, put in more yards than any other England player and provided an assist for the goal.

I think a lot of the problem with Rooney is that people think he's better than he is, but we know what he is really like, and was last night any worse than he's been for the last 6 months?

14.) 15 Jun 2014
Not at all, he played 5/10 maybe 6/10 as usual. We were weak on the left, he didn't know what he was doing, but that is the managers fault for playing him out of position. Rooney shouldn't be playing as he isn't the best anywhere and LW is a disaster for us. I hate the fact that Moyes & Hodgson lack the balls to drop him because of his name. Better than Lambert but second to Sturridge.