Subject: Rooney

Has Rooney really got rubbish? There appears to be a groundswell in the media that is starting to portray Rooney as a couldn't-hit-a-barn-door striker and that he hasn't developed as well as he could. Whilst the latter half of that sentence is nearer the truth, should we still be looking at Rooney as a striker? Should we be viewing him more as a Totti type attacking mid or withdrawn striker depending on how you want to phrase it?

Also, if the England manager and his club manager want him to score more, be more selfish, why aren't they bollocking him more for it? I saw an interview with Rooney before the Andorra match and he was asked about his recent lack of goals for England and replied with some platitude about goal scoring not being the only part of his game. Perhaps when your country is blessed with oft-crocked Owen, perpetually-given-no-help-from-continental-refs Crouch, midget Defoe and Heskey as their next few options he should be doing more in terms of goals.

rooney has never been a goal scorer but always scored alot of goals (stick with me here)

most of Rooneys goals come from hard work or are spectacular long range goals. not many poaching going on, not many from good box work from crosses etc.

where the media got the idea that rooney must score goals is beyond me but it's simply not the case nor was it ever the case and now that berbatov is there who'll link up with Rooney alot better than any other striker manure have had in recent years you'll see more goals from him, berbs with his back to goal holding up the ball and rooney running off him.

as for international, i dont know what to do with him there, you'd expect crouch or heskey to be the link man for him but then we are losing a place for a traditional striker to facilitate rooney dropping deep. as daft as it sounds but this england team would do well under a total football system because their long/cross field passes are appaling.

it is that special brand of england manager genius to take a natural goal scorer - something england desperately need - and turn him into a playmaker / decoy for the hopeless fool in front of him. man utd have a plethora of goal scoring options, and therefore can afford to use the pie-eating granny grabber in this way; england don't and therefore can't.

man utd have a plethora of goal scoring options.... england don't and therefore can't.

hang on, sorry i forgot we have hesky, and possibly sheringham, and what about that linekar chappy? jumpers for goal posts? sounds a bit avant garde to me!

My brother reckons we should revert to the 4-4-2 diamond to get the most out of Rooney, with him at the top of the diamond behind two strikers. I kind of like the idea. Maybe Gerrard, Barry, Lampard as the others.

so no width then?

to be honest it's not a bad shout because we've not had a striker that can head the ball since shearer.

all i want is no more Neville and no more bloody beckham!! i'd rather give milner a chance with bentley the first choice.

Working all over the field off mid. I remember him making important tackles near the penalty area, making great cross field passes, having really decent through passes like the one when Cole scored for 2:0 in last NT game. Really great player, just not a striker that's why he is not scoring. He is drawing the attention of the defs a lot and that's one of the reasons Sisstiano can score that much.

To be frank, I couldn't care less about his role at Man U other than the impact it has on him at NT level. And do we really need him to making important tackles near the penalty area? I would like to think that the next 8 players behind him would be in a better position to do it and have a better skill set, too, what with Rooney being a typical ginge and all.

Then blame the old Scot for making Rooney what he is right now :p I wouldn't suspect The Ogre changing a lot since now, especially that lately club footie is more important than national. Better find a new finisher, especially that Owen is going to spend more and more time in the hospital...

That's your lot's fault.

Anyway, the new axis will be Ashton and Gabby. Who needs Rooney?

doubt it'll be ashton, every time england comes knocking with a call up he gets injured. poor bugger because he's fantastic.

He's looking leaner this season so far. I'm excited at the prospect of him getting a full season under his belt.

As a West Ham fan I can only say so am I....but its unlikely to happen if I am honest. Great player potentially though.

As for Rooney I have said for a long time now he is not a natural striker and will never get a consistent 20 goals a season. As a nation we really are light on good strikers.......

the only things roony wants to do in a match is moan, pick a fight with a center back and abuse the refferee without even a warning, i think he thinks he is above everyone if you know what i mean. so he shows up, plays very poorly and gets sacks of money for it.

it's not just recently that he can't score. he's always needed 4 or 5 chances to score 1 goal. you'd think fergie would just make him practice his 1 on 1's, and in box shooting for a while until he can actually finish.

Rooney's been played a lot on the wing my Man U too hasn't he? That's going to wreck most people's goalscoring record. Like fujor said: he's more a scorer of spectacular goals than a spectacular goalscorer.