Posts Tagged ‘Wayne Rooney’

Is Wayne Rooney Back?

Posted: January 17, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

image

(and, if so, where has he been?)

Is Wayne Rooney back to what passes as his best nowadays? Having scored a couple against Newcastle and now the winner against Liverpool, United fans could be forgiven for thinking that he is on the way back.

The truth is probably that he isn’t! At 30 years of age he has certainly lost some of the pace he never really had and watching him push the ball past players then resort to shoving them when he can’t outrun them is, frankly, quite embarrassing.

He has been tried in a deeper position at United at the expense of players who are better in the role and, with the exception of a decent range of passes, he brings little to the table in this position. The other problem with this is the fact that United already have more than enough midfielders.

He kept his place in the team for many weeks due to van Gaal’s illogical reasoning that “the captain doesn’t get dropped”. So, for quite a large part of the season, United effectively played with ten men. Yes, he was THAT bad!

Now he has found his shooting boots again he can, deservedly, be picked to play upfront, either alongside Martial in a 4-4-2 or on his own in a 4-2-3-1. (more…)

Louis Van Gaal & Manchester United Just Don’t Fit Together

Posted: January 17, 2016 in Football, Liverpool, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , ,
1

image

A win is a win, but don’t be fooled into thinking that this was a good performance from United. They were second best for 75% of this match and only Liverpool’s inability to finish kept the scoreline at 0-0 for so long.

Yet again van Gaal infuriated with his selection. Ashley Young, a winger, playing at wing back. Matteo Darmian, a right back, playing at left back and Daley Blind , a defensive midfielder, playing at centre back. Marouane Fellaini was selected, inexplicably , ahead of Juan Mata and he actually managed to last the ninety minutes.

If anybody wonders why this type of selection always annoys me then imagine Manchester City doing it. Jesus Navas playing at wing back, Fernandinho at centre back and Pablo Zabaleta as left back. Pellegrini would never play these players out of their natural positions which goes a long way to explaining why City are challenging for the title and United aren’t even in the top four!

United were totally disjointed and looked completely out of sorts for the vast majority of the game.

Daley Blind seemed to have his own game plan whereby he kept firing long high balls towards Wayne Rooney. As was to be expected every single one of these was easily won by either Sakho or Toure. (more…)

Van Gaal’s United Team Is Depressing

Posted: January 9, 2016 in Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
2

image

Having just watched Manchester United beat a league one team by 1-0, at Old Trafford, thanks to a penalty in the 93rd minute scored by their third choice penalty taker I was not really interested in what van Gaal had to say, but I listened anyway.

As expected he said that the important thing was to win the game, which they did. He did say that United were poor in the first half but were slightly better in the second, which I just about noticed. Saying that they were slightly better should in no way imply that they were actually good.

Certainly they looked better when Memphis Depay came on and he did show a little urgency when he was on the ball, winning the penalty for Rooney to score right at the end.

The problem is that, after reasonable displays against Swansea and Chelsea, United seem to have gone backwards again.

Van Gaal pointed to the fact that Sheffield United defended with ten men behind the ball but what did he expect? They would have been very happy with a replay at Bramhall Lane and the income generated by it so, to play on the break, as they did meant that there were two possible results they would have been happy with. Unfortunately for Nigel Adkins they got the one result that they wouldn’t be happy with. (more…)

Manchester United Flatter To Deceive

Posted: January 2, 2016 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
6

image

The transfer window has been open for two whole days and Manchester United still haven’t bought a striker! Is it not obvious to van Gaal that goals win games and decent strikers score goals?

So to the home game against Swansea where Laborious Louis had the chance to improve upon the Chelsea performance by winning.

Yet again United’s team selection was a sign of things to come.

Inexplicably, Wayne Rooney had been named as the man-of-the-match in the previous game against Chelsea. He hadn’t scored, as usual, so I guess he got it because he managed to raise his game from rubbish to average.

Van Gaal must have been sufficiently impressed because he decided his misfiring captain should remain at centre forward despite lacking the obvious requirement of goals.

As is the norm nowadays, van Gaal put his top scorer on the wing thereby limiting any chances he would have of increasing his tally. He played Ashley Young as a wing back, again. He played Daley Blind as a wing back, again. I get the impression that, if he got the chance to manage Barcelona again, he would play Messi, Neymar and Suarez as the back three. (more…)

United & Van Gaal Do Nothing To Convince

Posted: December 26, 2015 in Football, Louis van Gaal, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , ,
2

image

PRE-MATCH

So Louis gets another chance against Stoke. Judging by the team he has picked he has been listening to the supporters, which he will obviously deny. A manager listening to the supporters! What is the world coming to?

It actually might not have been a bad ploy to mention that he was bowing to incessant fan requests to drop Rooney and play Herrera. At least that way, the fans are less likely to have a go at him, whatever the result.

On Soccer Saturday, the pundits couldn’t quite believe why Rooney had been dropped for what they saw as a “must win” game. Well guys, I’ll tell you. Rooney has been the standout worst United player this season. I have watched every minute of every game and, apart from the game against Bruges, where he had three goals laid on a plate for him, he has been awful. Every time he has played it has been like United started with ten men. Why is it considered such a “big decision” to leave out your worst player? I would have thought it was one of the easiest decisions of the season.

Van Gaal appears to have realised that, in a must win game, he has more chance of winning WITHOUT Rooney and WITH Herrera. Let’s hope so anyway. (more…)

Manchester United Are Dismal Again

Posted: December 19, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

image

Manchester United proved yet again that they are absolutely toothless as an attacking force.

The return of Wayne Rooney only proved what everybody already knew, he is past his sell-by date. It was as though he had never been away. He got straight back into his stride by giving the ball away, shooting very wide and generally contributing nothing to the cause.

The scary sight for United fans was the sight of the three players furthest forward on occasions. For Messi, Neymar and Suarez read Fellaini, Smalling and Rooney. That may give you an idea of what at least one of the problems is at Old Trafford.

Of course the fact that Fellaini was playing meant that the ball was being sent wide to be crossed in. The problem was twofold. Firstly, the crosses were never of sufficient quality to cause any problems to the defence. Secondly, any headers Fellaini actually managed to connect with were never of sufficient quality to cause any problems to the defence. (more…)

Wayne Rooney & His Nasty Ankle

Posted: December 4, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Misuse of Words
Tags: , , , , ,
1

Wayne Rooney

(Wazza can’t quite reach the nasty ankle to check for injury!)

Apparently Wayne Rooney has a nasty ankle. I don’t know which ankle, but one of them is not too nice an ankle.

Having scoured the newspapers I cannot discern which it is because the great British press don’t deem it important that we have this knowledge. Suffice to say that one of the ankles belonging to Wayne Rooney is nasty.

This is the headline that says it all: “Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney will miss West Ham and Wolfsburg with a ‘nasty ankle injury’ confirms van Gaal”. Not, you will notice, a nasty injury to his ankle. There is a world of difference!

Maybe we should be glad that the injury is to his nasty ankle, rather than his nice ankle, assuming that his other ankle actually IS nice.

Anyway, enough speculation. Whichever ankle it is and however nasty it is, the injury has arrived at a very opportune moment for Louis van Gaal. (more…)

Manchester United, Gary Neville, Cristiano Ronaldo & Gareth Bale

Posted: November 30, 2015 in Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
0

image

Good old Gary. You have to admire his optimism, don’t you? He was a dopey defender, as Rodney Marsh used to say, who has turned into football’s answer to ‘The Man Who Knew Everything.” Very likeable and speaking a lot of common sense he is a refreshing addition to the world of punditry which previously boasted Paul Merson and his twenty words vocabulary as one of the leading lights, (and still does, to be honest).

According to Neville the elder, Manchester United are just TWO, yes TWO players short of being like Barcelona, whatever that means.

I suppose if Messi and Neymar were to sign for United tomorrow they would then be more like Barcelona. Only they wouldn’t be, because Barca would no longer have Messi and Neymar. They would still have Luis Suarez, which would make them more like Manchester City who also have only one world class striker in Sir Joe Aguero.

Trying to be more logical than Neville isn’t particularly difficult. All we need to do is work out which two players he means then, obviously, whoever is left would get into the Barcelona team. So let’s start up top. (more…)

Captain Rooney Feeling The Pressure

Posted: November 29, 2015 in England, Football, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , ,
0

image

(Don’t shoot me! I admit it, I am the weakest link! I promise to try and improve, just don’t drop me!)

At thirty years of age, Wayne Rooney’s best days are a considerable way behind him.

At present he keeps being selected by Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal because he, rather foolishly, made him captain. Not only is Rooney a long way off being captain material, he is currently a long way off even being first team material.

Almost as soon as van Gaal decided Rooney was his captain at United, Mr Roy followed suit with England.

Now I don’t know what these two see in him on the training ground, but I do know what I see on the pitch.

Over the years Manchester United have had some great captains. The ones that stand out are the likes of Roy Keane and Bryan Robson, both of whom also captained their countries. Neither of them were shrinking violets and could be very vocal both on and off the field. (more…)

City Win, United Don’t

Posted: November 28, 2015 in Football, Manchester City, Manchester United, Opinion, Premier League
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

 

image

Manchester City were looking to avoid losing their third game in a row. With Sir Joe Aguero fit enough to start in a lesser game again and David Silva deemed benchworthy, the game not being important enough for him to start, Wilfried Bony was chosen to sit next to Silva and keep him amused with tales of what it is like to be an expensive substitute at the richest club in the world.

The result was only ever in doubt for about fifteen minutes in the second half when Southampton scored to make it 2-1 to City and there were a few nerves in the crowd. No worries though, normal service was resumed shortly afterwards when Kolarov, who spends nearly as much time in the opposition half as Aguero, scored with a good finish from a very good move.

Prior to all this, Kevin De Bruyne had scored a tap in and Delph had managed a deflected shot to register his first for the club. (more…)

Older Entries
Newer Entries