My opinion on Wayne Rooney

rubberduck

rubberduck

rubberduck

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Just wanted to share this with the wise people on OC UK... It's a belief I have had for a long long time now but not one I have ever seen raised by a pundits or people 'in the know'.

OK, so Wayne Rooney... he is a bloody good player... A real class act, who (almost) any team would want in their squad of 22 players... But how good is he really? Is he world class or just overhyped? Let me try to answer that question.

What is world class? The question comes up often among pundits yet I have yet to hear a definition I agree with. To my mind, 'World Class' should mean that if a squad of the best 22 players in the world were to be picked, then the player in question would make that squad... So... Assuming 4 strikers/center forwards would Rooney be one of them? No. Not at present... In the past he would have been (2004 & 2008/09, probably he was) but at the moment no... He is not World Class... and unlikely to ever be again currently how many other good strikers there are in world football. Lets say at the moment Suraez, Costa, Neyma Aguero, (prob at least 10) are all ahead of Rooney.

So we have established Rooney is not world class... (he has been in the past) but not for a while now... In my opinion there are 2 strikers who I think Rooney is comparable to in terms of ability... And they are Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Keane... Check them out if you don't agree... I suspect each of them at times were close to being 'world class' and no one can dispute they have been bloody-good/top-draw players etc... No shame in that etc etc.

So I guess the point I am trying to make is that Rooney is a fine, fine player but not great (so, slightly over-hyped, but not massively)... But if you put the English media aside and stop thinking about him as being on the same level as Ron/Messi... and start to think about his as being more like a Jimmie or a Robbie then the boy done good.

Catch my drift?
 
Rooney compared to Robbie Keane, Man Utd fans incoming... 3... 2... 1...
:p

FWIW, I agree that he isn't world class. He is good yeah, but not world class.
 
He's far too over hyped. He's a good player, but is so inconsistent. I think he got lucky when he broke onto the scene with Everton and quickly grabbed by Man U. Most of his success has been down to the team he was in, rather than himself doing anything about it
 
rossk26 said:
He's far too over hyped. He's a good player, but is so inconsistent. I think he got lucky when he broke onto the scene with Everton and quickly grabbed by Man U. Most of his success has been down to the team he was in, rather than himself doing anything about it
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Re watch rooneys debut for utd and report back pls.
 
A month ago i saw stats comparing Rooney to Aguero. Over 96 games he had more assists and more goals yet people don't see him in the same class.

I think when you talk world class, there are only really two players in the current game..
 
I think because he is expected to be on a par with Ronaldo and Messi in terms of goals scored, he's seen as a failure. There is massive hype about him because he's an attacker and England's only real superstar player. He sets up a lot of goals which people tend to forget but many people think 'Rooney, Centre Forward, not scoring as prolifically as some therefore he's a flop'.
 
Generally he's an excellent player and has performed consistently well, but has had plenty of problems too. I don't think he's one of the very best but he's not far off.

I do think he could have turned out better though, he had his explosive play coached out of him (or maybe he just lost it), which has made him more ponderous and not as dangerous.

I haven't agreed with his behaviour around contracts although I do think most of that was down to his agent.

He certainly divides opinion, that's for sure (though it's hard for people to argue against his stats), but I'd rather have him than not.
 
He's probably going to be Englands all-time top goal scorer.

He's also probably going to be Man Utds all-time top goal scorer.

But he's average, you know.
 
Bucket said:
He's probably going to be Englands all-time top goal scorer.

He's also probably going to be Man Utds all-time top goal scorer.

But he's average, you know.
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If a striker is at a club for a decade then they should be the leading goal scorer for you.

Additionally, considering who England have played in his 11 years playing for them he should have scored a ton of goals, its more to do with his abysmal tournament goal scoring record.
 
Sweden
Trinidad & Tobago
Paraguay
USA
Slovenia
Algeria
France


Those are the teams between 2006 and 2012 that England faced in the group stages - a 'world class' striker should have at least managed one goal or more against them.

I think he has been over hyped by both the English media and the man u fanbase, he has usually been a tier or 2 below the best players in the world in any given year for me.
 
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pull2808 said:
A month ago i saw stats comparing Rooney to Aguero. Over 96 games he had more assists and more goals yet people don't see him in the same class.

I think when you talk world class, there are only really two players in the current game..
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Castiel said:
Rooney is statistically better than Aguero for example, so if Aguero is world class, logically so is Rooney.
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I personally don't think Aguero is world class either. If you were world class you would have been starting every game in the world cup for your country. Aguero did not.

World Class Players (off the top of my head)

Nuer
Ramos
Hummels
Pique
Kroos
Bale
Messi
Ronaldo
 
By your definition, how many players would be considered to be 'world class' for more than one or two years of their career?

There are very few I can think of who could realistically claim that they have regularly been in the top 4 or 5 players for their position.

Hardly anyone would put Rooney up with Ronaldo and Messi. But your comparison to R Keane and JFH is pretty arbitrary - they are all good premier league players, but Rooney has played at a higher level for longer than either of them and still has time to achieve more.

I think the biggest criticism I have of Rooney is that for some time now he hasn't brought the same level of excitement to a game. He doesn't regularly do things which get people up out of their seat - not to the degree that people might have expected based on his younger showings.
 
The Running Man said:
Yeah id like to see whether he thinks that was all down to the team or the individual. ..
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You want me to watch 1 game in his entire Man U career? Sums it up for me really. He's never delivered on the big stage, maybe that was the pressure he was under or something else. But he's never gone on to be the player he could and maybe should have been
 
rossk26 said:
You want me to watch 1 game in his entire Man U career? Sums it up for me really. He's never delivered on the big stage, maybe that was the pressure he was under or something else. But he's never gone on to be the player he could and maybe should have been
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But Pique has?! :eek:
 
rossk26 said:
I personally don't think Aguero is world class either. If you were world class you would have been starting every game in the world cup for your country. Aguero did not.

World Class Players (off the top of my head)

Nuer
Ramos
Hummels
Pique
Kroos
Bale
Messi
Ronaldo
Click to expand...

I'd say three of them players are WC.
 
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