Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 13, 2016 18:51:49 GMT
OK, you win. Now where's the evidence that Wilshere isn't injury-prone? Sorry to drag this one up again, but was just looking around a transfer gossip website and found this and thought you would like it; |
|
Deleted
Joined: January 1970
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 14, 2016 20:17:37 GMT
OK, you win. Now where's the evidence that Wilshere isn't injury-prone? Oh, should have mentioned, Danny Welbeck out for another 9 months. Unlucky Arsenal, again? It really is incredible that anyone is prepared to play for that club, signing for Wenger is playing Russian roulette with your career. |
|
Peter Parker
Global Moderator
Richard Walker
You have been sentenced to DELETION!
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 4,920 
|
Post by Peter Parker on May 16, 2016 9:43:27 GMT
Wayne Rooney
“I have a lot of options,” said Louis van Gaal in August. “I have chosen Chicharito [Hernandez], because he is another type from Rooney, and we have also Fellaini, who is another type, then I have Wilson and Januzaj, so I don’t think we need a striker.”
In the end Manchester United did buy a new forward, but that quote from Van Gaal indicated the trust he had in Rooney as his No. 1 striker. Given that Adnan Januzaj and Javier Hernandez were permitted to leave the club, even the arrival of Anthony Martial did not alter Van Gaal’s intention to make Rooney his first-choice goalscorer.
“He knows my standards and he knows what I want from a striker,” Van Gaal said later that month. He thinks he can perform [in that position] and I think that also, otherwise I would not be playing him there. I think that his best position is the striker’s position and he agreed with that conclusion.”
Fast forward nine months, and the difference in Rooney’s role at Old Trafford is notable. Not only is he now used predominantly as a midfielder, but both Van Gaal and Rooney himself have described it as his best position. United’s manager even detailed how Rooney was upset to be deployed as a striker against Norwich.
It’s impossible to shake the feeling that Rooney is being used a midfielder not because of his excellence in the role, but because he no longer commands a regular starting berth as a striker. The rise of Martial and emergence of Marcus Rashford have both comfortably overshadowed Rooney’s efforts in leading the line.
This season, Rooney has scored a league goal for every 331.4 minutes played; that’s exactly the same as Rudy Gestede. It’s also worse than the following list of players eligible for Roy Hodgson’s England squad: Duncan Watmore, Raheem Sterling, Aaron Lennon, Andros Townsend, Theo Walcott, Glenn Murray, Connor Wickham, Dwight Gayle, Troy Deeney, Dele Alli, Nathan Dyer, Benik Afobe, Rashford, Jermain Defoe, Andy Carroll, Danny Welbeck, Callum Wilson, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and Daniel Sturridge. Eesh.
|
|
