Cheers for that Crooksy
[quote=“gola”]A couple of months on from a lot of posters panning of Rooney he could be set to prove ye wrong. Obviously the hype in the english media and among his cheerleaders Dunphy and the RTE panel is a bit ridiculous but I’ve been hugely impressed by him in the last few games.
It’s amazing the difference genuine confidence can make and almost everything he’s trying lately is coming off. As Bandage says will be interesting to see if he can keep it up but I reckon he will. Has the skill, football brain, strength and attitude to be a genuinely great player I reckon.[/quote]
I agree he’s been thoroughly excellent for the last 6 weeks or something but equally it’s accurate to say he’s been fairly indifferent for two seasons prior to this. Dunphy mentioning him in the same breath as Pel on a repeated basis last night was ridiculous, as were his criticisms of those who questioned his displays over the last couple of seasons. It’s not a crime to state a player was playing below himself if those were the facts, as in Rooney’s case last year. And you can bet your bottom dollar if Ronaldo or Berbatov have a concerted spell of poorish form then Dunphy will be the first person lambasting them too. If Rooney plays as well as he is now consistently for the next 5 years, and he has the tools to do so, then the comparisons with all time greats will be more valid but as of now it’s just a very rich vein of form. Also, anyone notice the funny way Dunphy pronounced ‘hyperbole’ last night?
rooney’s form the last 2 years has been indifferent…a lot of it was down to ferguson fcuking him out on the right wing which forced him to drop far too deep to get the ball and get into the game…the best contribution he made to last year’s champions league final was an 80 yard pass to ronaldo from right back…
United already indulge Cristiano in their team and Rooney has suffered because no team can indulge two such players so Rooney has had to carry the water for the last few seasons.
I can see United going back to 4-4-2 when Cristiano goes to Real next summer. Rooney playing behind Berba.
[quote=“tipptops*”]United already indulge Cristiano in their team and Rooney has suffered because no team can indulge two such players so Rooney has had to carry the water for the last few seasons.
[/quote]
What an utterly ridiculous thing to say.
My point is that you can’t say a player is going to be an all time great based on the characteristics he supposedly possesses if he hasn’t shown these thus far.
That’s not to say that he won’t go on but the evidence thus far doesn’t support that prediction.
[quote=“farmerinthecity”]What an utterly ridiculous thing to say.
My point is that you can’t say a player is going to be an all time great based on the characteristics he supposedly possesses if he hasn’t shown these thus far.
That’s not to say that he won’t go on but the evidence thus far doesn’t support that prediction.[/quote]
He has shown it though, albeit sporadically. Euro 2004 he was unbelievable and England might have won it if he hadn’t broken his foot. His form has dipped with the emergance of Cristiano and his dominance of how the United teams plays.
He was unbelievable in Euro 2004 but hasn’t pushed on. To blame Ronaldo for that is frankly ridiculous.
ridiculous? The vast bulk of pundits say that the reason Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard don’t play well together because of the presence of each other in the same team.
Why then would it be ridiculous to surmise that Rooneys game has suffered due to the presence of Cristiano in the same team. Cristiano dominates the United game plan, which is to feed him in goalscoring positions. Of course if so much of the play is directed in the direction of one player, a dominating presence, then other players on the team will not be in the limelight so much, especially fellow goalscorers.
The reason that Gerrard and Lampard can’t play together as a midfield pairing (that distinction is key) is that neither are midfielders is the classic sense of the word.
No problem playing them if there is someone in there that is an actual midfielder.
Rooney got fed enough by United over the last few season to score more goals than he did. Really top players should not be affected by the presence of other players in the team.
Using your logic then a striking partnership ofOwen and Torres should have no problem playing together…as in not affected by the presence of each other but the reality is that the opposite is correct in that they are both finishers who take up similar positions. Same with United and Rooney/Ronaldo. Ronaldo is indulged by the other 9 players in that he has a free role and doesn’t have to track back. All the other 9 players games are affected due to the tactical decisions of Lord Ferg, none more so than the other player who has shone in the past in a similar free role - Wayne Rooney.
Uniteds entire tactical set up is geared towards Cristiano finishing scoring opportunities. The 40+ goals of the past two seasons didn’t happen by accident. Cristiano has domiated Uniteds play over this period of time.
Torres and Owen are both strikers though. Both operating in the same box (!). Of course they are going to be affected by each other.
Rooney and Ronaldo operate from much deeper on the pitch. There is plenty of room for them both to operate and do their stuff even if one of them refuses to track back. There is too much made of Rooney tracking back as if it exonerates him for not scoring goals or something.
Whatever you say for a player like Rooney to go two or three years or whatever it was without scoring in Europe is frankly pathetic.
But thats my point. If Cristiano is not there straggling behind then Rooney is. Rooney is the one getting a breather and galvanising himself for the next attack, instead of tracking back to the right full back position in the Champions League Final.
I notice that you left out the second part of my point.
He has scored for 7 games-in-a-row now. Lord Ferg knows Cristiano is leaving next summer and has halted his indulgence of the boy, to a certain extent. It has already been alluded to earlier in the thread that Rooney is playing more centrally now, in a change from the tactics of last season which saw him shunted around the formation to accomodate the greater good of the team.
We’ll see.
As I said my point is that he has done nothing to justify being called likely to become an all-time great.
Becks looks set to move closer to the Caps Record tonight against Spain. He is flying it with Milan by all accounts and looks like will move there permanently in April.
In other news, Rebecca Loos is up the duff.
Sky Sports News sources understand an agreement has been reached for David Beckham to remain with AC Milan until the end of the season, before returning to Los Angeles Galaxy.
Negotiations have been ongoing for some time since Beckham expressed a desire to extend his stay in Italy.
Sky Sports News chief reporter Bryan Swanson understands that Beckham will stay with the Rossoneri until the start of June and then go back to America to feature in the second half of the Major League Soccer season.
Beckham will then return to Milan next term in an arrangement that is likely to suit all parties.
He initially moved to the San Siro on loan in January but was due to return to his parent club on 9th March.
Milan have been impressed by Beckham’s attitude as well as his performances and have been eager to push through a deal to keep him.
Galaxy had been reluctant to let the 33-year-old go but it now seems the clubs have reached a compromise.
The midfielder is keen to play for Milan to boost his chances of representing England at the World Cup in 2010.
SO basically, as Beckhams getting older, he gets no summer break from playing. Whatsoever?
Right.
That makes sense.
[quote=“myboyblue”]SO basically, as Beckhams getting older, he gets no summer break from playing. Whatsoever?
Right.
That makes sense.[/quote]
ara its not like he’s laying tarmacadam or tining beet.
He spends more time getting dollying himself up that he does playing ffs.
What age is he?
Mr Beckham is 33.