Posts Tagged ‘Wayne Rooney’

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(Chris Smalling signs a contract handing his naming rights to Louis van Gaal)

Well, not quite rename United, but he is looking at improving individual performances with a surprising move.

Louis van Gaal, or as he is affectionately known, Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal, had every reason to change his name, but didn’t. He decided, quite wisely, to drop the Maria bit, not advertise too much the Paulus bit and shorten the Aloysius bit to Louis.

So, in much the same way that the other James Stewart became Stewart Granger, by just tweaking his name, Aloysius became Louis.

Wholesale changes weren’t required here. This was not a case of being christened Marion, for example. Any male christened Marion should immediately, (or as soon as they are old enough, at least), change his name to John. Why he should then feel the need to change his surname from Morrison to Wayne is beyond me, but it worked out OK for him. (more…)

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Well, that was better! United actually attacked at Old Trafford and won a game by scoring one more than the opposition. They also managed to win by scoring one more than zero so no need to get too carried away. Being quietly optimistic I would say that the garden has one more rose than it did before.

Louis van Gaal’s theory was proved to be spot on. No one really believed him when he said that, to win a football match, you just had to score one more than the team you were playing against, but tonight his genius was demonstrated emphatically.

His decision to replace Martial with Fellaini was also inspired. Mere mortals, at this stage, thought that if a forward was to be taken off it should be Rooney, who had done very little, rather than Martial who had caused one or two problems to the CSKA defence. In fact, mere mortals wondered why, when a goal was needed, a striker was taken off for a midfielder at all! Worry not, King Louis had everything under control. (more…)

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So Wayne Rooney has equalled Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring record for England in, coincidentally, the same amount of games. If only he was half as good a player as Sir Bobby was.

It’s a pity that the record equalling goal was scored from the penalty spot against lowly San Marino, in a game where England’s main striker managed ONE goal in a 6-0 win.

People say that Rooney would have scored more goals for Manchester United had he not been played in midfield for a short while, firstly by Sir Alex Ferguson and then by Louis van Gaal. What they forget is that Bobby Charlton was never a striker and played all his games in midfield, for England and United. Charlton was not the main penalty taker for either Manchester United or England, so only 3 of his England goals were from penalties. Rooney has scored 18 goals for United and 5 for England from the penalty spot, although he also hasn’t always been the first choice taker. (more…)

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Shortly before the transfer window officially opened Louis van Gaal told everyone who would listen that he wanted ALL his transfer business concluding before the pre-season tour to the US of A.

This makes sense in many ways. It gives any new signings the chance to get to know their new team mates on and off the pitch. It gives them the chance to get to know the club and the way it works. It also gives them the opportunity to play some games where the result doesn’t really matter. All of this culminating, hopefully, in a harmonious and reenergised team returning to the UK raring to go. (more…)