Wayne Rooney

I don't think he's going anywhere.

 

Where was vs Barcelona in 2009? vs Chelsea in 2008? vs Germany in 2010? vs Portugal in 2006 (apart from being sent off)?

Where was he when they were being beaten 6-1 at Old Trafford, or when they were being beaten by Basel the get knocked out of the champions league or when they were drawing 4-4 vs Everton, losing 1-0 to Wigan and 1-0 to Man City. Those three games are when United completely lost the title and a world class play should have performed in one of those games.

That overhead kick is a rare moment, he doesn't do it often enough.

As for those attributes you've listed, listing attributes is no good, if he doesn't show them all in the very very big games.

Two World cup finals he's failed to produce, he rarely ever produces in the semi-finals or finals in champions league campaigns. Went missing in the big games last season when United needed him. And was considered good enough to start against Real Madrid.

It's obvious he has not come close to filling his early potential and that now Fergie is losing faith in him.


He's a very very good player, with a good scoring record and who work tremendously hard. But he's a level below being world class and when he retires he'll not be remembered as one.

 

Rooney is a world class striker. Not too long ago it would have been acceptable to suggest that he was the best striker in the world. Just because he's not on top form his season doesn't mean that he's not a great footballer.

 

Well it kind of depends on the definition of "world class", but I think he is.

He has won the EPL 4 times with Man Utd, won the champions league, got to 2 other champions league finals, and he was central in all those teams. He is Utds 4th top goal scorer of all time. He has won the PFA player of the year a couple of years back, and he has won the FWA footballer of the year. In 2011 he was in the FIFA pro world 11 and in the same season he 5th in the FIFA Ballon d'Or (behind only Messi, Ronaldo, Xavi, and Iniesta). And he is also the third higher earner in football behind Messi and Ronaldo

There are not many strikers in the world with a CV like that. Of course he is world class!

 

It's not only this season, Rooney has a record of going missing. He performs to a world class ability in rare spells.

I.e between November 2009 and March 2010.

It wasn't until April 2011 that he came anywhere close to regaining that form.

 

I wouldn't call him world class either. Top player but not world class imo.

 

I would say he is just below world class, maybe a wee turtle heed poking through to world class.

Far too inconsistent for my liking.

 

I think there's been an over-reaction to him being on the bench the other day. Didn't really see it as a big deal and don't particularly think he'll be leaving.

Personally I believe one of the things that has held Rooney back from being up there with the world greats is how much he's actually willing to be a team player. He's usually the one sacrificed to do the dirty work because Fergie knows he can actually rely on him.

As a result he's never really developed into the player I thought he would after seeing him early on in his career and at Euro2004.

 

Where was Messi in the two El Classicos? Vs Celtic? Vs Milan? In the World Cup? Vs... any team they've ever got beat off...

Can't just pick games he's not performed in. You see what I'm getting at here?

Jeezo man, he starts one game on the bench and people get their knickers n a twist.

 

Didn't he score the last classico? didn't he score vs Celtic? and there is a second leg to play vs Milan and he was amazing in Argentina's 4-1 win over South Korea at the world cup.

Anyways I understand what you were saying. But it doesn't make up for the fact that Rooney is not world nor does he perform in the big games.

 

Good point, rather than ever being the star player, he's always been the hardworking player to let the other players perform better. Kinda more like a defensive midfielder type of play Makelele, Keane, Lennon, Gattuso, Busquets only he does it higher up the pitch.

The only time he ever seemed to be the star man of the team was that short spell someone said from about November to March 2009-10 when Berbatov fell out of favour and he played as the lone striker being supplied by Valencia mostly and Nani.

 

This is what I'm trying to say, maybe it's because of that reason, but the fact still remains he's not fulfilled his potential. Maybe he did have world class potential and maybe he has world class ability, but in my opinion ability alone does not mean a player can be classed as world class.

You have to have the consistent big game performances to go along with it.

 

He's won 18 points this season with winning goals.

How you think that isn't 'big' or consistant is just strange.

 

I've already explained a million times, world cup tournaments, champions league latter stages, Manchester Derbies last season. He doesn't perform in on a consistent enough basis to regard him as world class. A very very good player yes, better than 70% of forwards in the EPL yes, but not world class.

 

I have to agree with Devlin. Rooney is an excellent player.

 

True, but not world class.

 

How would you define a "world-class" player then?

 

For a forward, in order to be defined as world class, he must be capable of extraordinary things, i.e creating chances out of nothing, creating goals out of nothing or seeing things that most ordinary players do not see.

That alone is not enough though, he must show his ability on a consistent basis and perform to a world class level in the huge games and not just when his team are in fine form either.

For a forward in particular he must average around 25-30 goals a season (depending on the amount of games played) at least and score or at least perform to a high level in the most of the very big games. (i.e world cups, champions league knockout stages, big premier league title deciders)




Rooney is the level directly below world class, he had the potential to be world class but has not fulfilled it.

 

Better than 70% of forwards but that isn't world class?

 

Better than 70% in the premier league, not the world.


That 70% accounts for forwards of Wigan, West Ham, Norwich, Stoke, Sunderland, Villa, Fulham, Everton, Wba, Newcastle, Reading, QPR, Southampton.


It isn't that impressive being better than all their forwards.