So there's a thread on RedCafe asking for opinions on Wayne Rooney from an opposition's perspective and I'd thought I'd create a thread here asking for your opinions since I already have an account.

So a few questions;

1) Do you see what the United fans are when looking at his performances? 
2) Do you think he's finished or simply in bad form? 
3) What, if anything would you do with him and why do you feel he's going the way he is? 
4) How would you feel about this situation if he was playing for your team and was in the same situation (undroppable despite playing very poorly)?

I haven't watched much of United this season so can't comment on much of what you've asked, but your final question is something we all can certainly relate with, from the Torres saga that saw him become undroppable for 4 years despite being hot garbage, and Ivanovic inheriting that mantle when he left.

The feeling is pure frustration. Particularly if you have very able deputies (Sturridge and Lukaku wasting away behind Torres, Bertrand and Felipe Luis behind Ivanovic). The situation I suppose is slightly different for you lot because Rooney is a club legend. In Lampard's final season, his influence was clearly waning, but he was used more sparingly accordingly.

He definitely shouldn't be a regular anymore, nobody who is as poor as he is should be a regular. It's really odd that coaches can't seem to drop certain players. it's like no matter how bad they have become, they just won't get dropped. It's like coaches hold on to the belief that the player will eventually snap out of it and regain form. In Rooney's case, it's not going to happen. He hasn't been very good for the last 4 years now, he isn't going to suddenly snap out of it at his age. He's in decline, every player goes through it, a coach should see this and act instead of being stubborn and thinking that things will come good.

It's the same situation with us with Ivanovic. Ivanovic was fading in our last title winning season, he then went on to have a disaster of a season last season, he was having more bad games than good. The same signs are there this season and he is still a regular starter. When someone is performing so bad for so long, you have to drop the player. It's no good for the team to keep playing the player, and the team is what is the most important thing.

Like Jonty says, it's pure frustration watching the same thing happen game after game.

He's sh*t, and has been for 6 or 7 years now. 

I think Utd were incredibly foolish to not sell him to us. As well as that, I think Jose was incredibly foolish to want to bring him to Chelsea, God knows how much money would be wasted on him. 

He is literally stealing his wages.

 

Glad we didn't buy him when Jose wanted him.

 

10 hours ago, 10th said:

So there's a thread on RedCafe asking for opinions on Wayne Rooney from an opposition's perspective and I'd thought I'd create a thread here asking for your opinions since I already have an account.

So a few questions;

1) Do you see what the United fans are when looking at his performances? 
2) Do you think he's finished or simply in bad form? 
3) What, if anything would you do with him and why do you feel he's going the way he is? 
4) How would you feel about this situation if he was playing for your team and was in the same situation (undroppable despite playing very poorly)?

1) It's probably important to note that I (and I assume most of us) don't see Rooney as often as Man Utd fans will (i.e. every game) so we won't be able to provide as thorough an opinion as you guys will. Certainly from what I have seen I can understand why there are concerns.

2) Fundamentally I think Rooney is an excellent player with a rare footballing intelligence for an Englishman, but I haven't seen him play as well as he once did regularly for quite a long time now. Ultimately I don't know; I can see why he might be physically finished - he's played between 37 and 55 games for 14 consecutive seasons. That is a very long career. On the other hand he was prone to spells of indifferent form even in his earlier career, but they weren't this long and usually ended in him going through a period of being unplayable.

3) I think there is cause to drop him. He seems like he would be a good player to have in the squad regardless, and he doesn't seem like the kind of character who would become a problem if he wasn't picked (compare that with Ibrahimovic for example). What I perceive to be your current best XI (and I could well be wrong) would probably line up as a 4-3-3 with two of Schneiderlin, Carrick and Herrera with Pogba in midfield as well as one of Martial or Ibrahimovic up front. I agree with him that his best position is behind the striker (during his Man Utd years at least) so there doesn't seem to be a natural role for him in your best starting XI. It's possible that José, who was openly a big fan of Rooney even when he was an opposition manager, thinks he can still get the best out of him, but I honestly don't know how that would be possible without jeopardising the first XI. On paper your squad is at absolute worst the second best in the league, there's no reason to persist with a system which doesn't work just to accommodate one player.

4) Well most Chelsea fans will tell you that we have been experiencing this exact scenario with Ivanovic for the past two seasons. Sadly our alternatives for Bran aren't nearly as appealing as yours for Rooney (in his various positions).

10 hours ago, 10th said:

So there's a thread on RedCafe asking for opinions on Wayne Rooney from an opposition's perspective and I'd thought I'd create a thread here asking for your opinions since I already have an account.

So a few questions;

1) Do you see what the United fans are when looking at his performances? 
2) Do you think he's finished or simply in bad form? 
3) What, if anything would you do with him and why do you feel he's going the way he is? 
4) How would you feel about this situation if he was playing for your team and was in the same situation (undroppable despite playing very poorly)?

1) Yes I can. If I am not wrong SAF almost threw Rooney out of his team in his last season at united, after which the board gave him an unumaginable contract. I refuse to believe that most people in the world can see how poor rooney is these days, but yet 3 independent managers (one of them the best in the world), dont drop him. Just feel that has got to be an order from the board.

2) Finished.

3) Nothing. I have learned my selling with Torres. Sometimes you just have to sell the player. I think injuries have played a massive part. Also the consistent changing of his position: Striker to winger to CAM to CM has made him lose his striker's instinct.

4) Frustrated. And as a Chelsea fan, I am way too familiar with it. Torres being the prime example.

Was class from 16-26/7

After that he's been on a downward spiral to where we are today

 

1) Do you see what the United fans are when looking at his performances? - Yes, he brings nothing to the side and only plays based on his previous with the club.

2) Do you think he's finished or simply in bad form? - Like many other players who break through at 15/16 he is done at the level he was at for more than a decade. It's taken it's toll on him and its not like he is the healthiest pro footballer. 

 

3) What, if anything would you do with him and why do you feel he's going the way he is?  The amount of football he's player and I'd sell him to the states or china.

 

4) How would you feel about this situation if he was playing for your team and was in the same situation (undroppable despite playing very poorly)? - We have had them before in the form of Torres.

 

Hes sh*t and stifles your game, I hope you keep playing him.

2nd best in the world behind Messi imo

For me Rooney lacks athleticism, pace and instinctive awareness needed to be a top CM, lacks mobility/guile needed to play at #10, and lacks the physicality and/or pace needed to play up front/out wide. Put another way I think Rooney has become a 'luxury player' who no longer excels in a fixed position (similar situation here at Chels with Fabregas and Loftus-Cheek imo). I think United would do well to replace him with Draxler in January, or give Depay a run of games at #10.

Edited September 22, 20168 yr by the special one

1) Yes. A shadow of the player he was. Slows the game down, can't hit an accurate pass these days.

2) Totally finished. It doesn't help that he's a smoker and doesn't take care of himself. He should join the MLS and pick up a big paycheck.

3) Sell him. Age. 

4) I'd be fuming. Thing is, I feel the same about Ivanovic, he has been toilet for a very long time now but for some reason is undroppable.