I'm So Glad We Didn't Sign Shrek!

[King Kev]

Lescott and him neck and neck for goals.

Lescott's was from open play though.

[brite blu sky]

Another angle on not bringing a player like that to City is the british media bandwagon that goes with it. We dont need that and probs dont want it either. Besides as pointed out he isn't as good as the british media make out. Barry has scored more goals.

[Alioune DVToure]

World class player. So I was told by many people while back.

If world class means one of the best in the world in his position, then Rooney probably is. The people who told you that were right in my opinion. Not a very nice fella, no, and plays for the munes, yes. But he HAS been a consistently good player since his mid-teens. Nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade.

Did you not get your fill of smug self-righteousness when he re-signed at the swamp?

It's interesting though that, in the recent past, almost all of England's 'world class' young players & indeed most of the highly promising players have dropped down to at best quite good & at worst complete shit whilst they should be at their peak. Rooney has been a world class player imo, one of the absolute best at times, but if he was to spend the rest of his career in relative mediocrity, he would just be following the path of most other England 'stars' at the same stage of their careers.

Unfortunately I think he's too good for that to happen but I can still hope.

I've watched a couple of full mune games recently and he's been excellent. I've a feeling he might be carving a future as a deeper-lying forward with less emphasis on goalscoring, perhaps to step into the breach left by the ginger rat if he EVER fucking retires.

I think you're making excuses for him there mate. When you're 25 years old & scoring every week, the only reason you stop scoring (& it lasts for for months) is because something has gone really terribly wrong. Unless he puts it right, he's fucked imo. Unfortunately I think he'll solve it but in my ideal world, it would go fully pear shaped for him at the swamp first & he'd leave under a cloud of fans unrest. That would take about 2 or 3 defeats without him scoring imo; they'd sulk like fuck over there & blame him, especially if we passed them.

We'll see. My point was that, from what I've seen, he's been playing pretty well despite not scoring (and I've certainly no reason to go out of my way to defend him.) A lot of strikers (Defoe, Bent) bring little other than a personal goal threat whereas others (Tevez, Rooney) can and do create a lot of chances too. There's certainly a problem with *goalscoring* form, but I don't perceive a lack of fitness as he still seems busy. A confidence thing.

On a larger scale though I do take your point about players having individual expiry dates. I myself used the examples of Owen and Fowler to argue that Torres could be a busted flush by the age of 27.

[Pretty Boy Lee]

Lescott and him neck and neck for goals.

Lescott's was from open play though.

Not to play devils advocate, but theres no 3 point shots in football. The stat alone winds em up, beemn using it all week :)

[Ted Hughes]

On a larger scale though I do take your point about players having individual expiry dates. I myself used the examples of Owen and Fowler to argue that Torres could be a busted flush by the age of 27.

It's possible that both Torres & Rooney are finished but I think both will come back. Interesting though that nobody in the media has ever suggested the most likely instant cure to get Rooney back on track; a change of club.

If he played for anyyone but the rags, the media would never tire of suggesting it.

[Murph]

I've watched a couple of full mune games recently and he's been excellent.

He's been dire mate, a pale shadow of the player b4 he got caught out for shagging ho's.

Should have gone to specsavers advt if you think shrek's playing well.

[Niall Quinns Discopants]

World class player. So I was told by many people while back.

If world class means one of the best in the world in his position, then Rooney probably is. The people who told you that were right in my opinion. Not a very nice fella, no, and plays for the munes, yes. But he HAS been a consistently good player since his mid-teens. Nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade.

Did you not get your fill of smug self-righteousness when he re-signed at the swamp?

smug self-righteousness? He is and was a rag. I doubt we were EVER after him. Even Mancini laughed at the situation by saying 'he's their problem'.

You seem to subscribe to Rooney hype train. I don't. I've never thought he is World Class. Maybe in patches in the past but certainly not in past year or so. As a striker he isn't contributing. In fact, he really reminds me of Alan Smith (the shit rag one). He is transforming into different type of player and I predict that his career is going downhill and fast. I only wait when first established journalist dares to call him out. Right now he is still in position where very few people dare to say how poorly he has been playing for ages.

[Im_Spartacus]

World class player. So I was told by many people while back.

If world class means one of the best in the world in his position, then Rooney probably is. The people who told you that were right in my opinion. Not a very nice fella, no, and plays for the munes, yes. But he HAS been a consistently good player since his mid-teens. Nothing wrong with calling a spade a spade.

Did you not get your fill of smug self-righteousness when he re-signed at the swamp?

smug self-righteousness? He is and was a rag. I doubt we were EVER after him. Even Mancini laughed at the situation by saying 'he's their problem'.

You seem to subscribe to Rooney hype train. I don't. I've never thought he is World Class. Maybe in patches in the past but certainly not in past year or so. As a striker he isn't contributing. In fact, he really reminds me of Alan Smith (the shit rag one). He is transforming into different type of player and I predict that his career is going downhill and fast. I only wait when first established journalist dares to call him out. Right now he is still in position where very few people dare to say how poorly he has been playing for ages.

I have said for years that I didnt understand the hype about Rooney. He never scores as many as he should do, and that is the striker's job. Last season he had a purple patch, and part of that was a 15 minute spell in the semi-final at home where I thought he was single handedly going to destroy us - I absolutely shit it every time he got the ball, and after that I sort of understood his qualities particularly his ability to play in team mates - that spell to me was reminiscent of the very best playmaking forwards, Zola / Bergkamp at their height.

However I have not seen him replicate anything like that since. All this talk about his performances being good recently, I don't buy into. Rooney just seems to be doing what he has done for a lot of his career, receiving the ball on the edge of his own box, turning up at right back, and being completely detatched from the forward play because his indiscipline when United are struggling causes him to wander the pitch looking to get involved in the game. This invariably leaves his striking partner isolated.

I don't get him, too inconsistent, too indisciplined to stick to a game plan and therefore too selfish.

[Slim]

26 goals in 32 league appearances last season.

That's some purple patch.

He may not be as good as he is hyped to be and quite honestly, how could he be? I think if Jesus came back tomorrow and was hyped this much he'd disappoint a great many people.

[Im_Spartacus]

26 goals in 32 league appearances last season.

That's some purple patch.

Indeed it was, it was 7 months out of a 9 year premier league career though. We had this player called Stephen Ireland once........

[Ted Hughes]

26 goals in 32 league appearances last season.

That's some purple patch.

Indeed it was, it was 7 months out of a 9 year premier league career though. We had this player called Stephen Ireland once........

His PL average, apart from last season, is about 1 in 3, which when you consider his usual position as a support striker & his general play & contribution to the team, is very good. He stepped up to the plate last season & suddenly started knocking them in like Ian Wright, even going away & teaching himself to head the ball better in order to score more, just at the time the TEAM needed him, (as they had nobody else doing it). He scored more headers than all of our strikers put together. That's the sign of a world class player.

Imo, he was flogged to death by that wanker Ferguson who as usual put his own needs in front of the welfare of the player; playing him even when injured because he was carrying the team on his back. By the time the World Cup came around, he was utterly burnt out physically & mentally.

Now the question is; how bad is the burnout? Is it temporary or is it full blown Michael Owen?