Manchester United Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread - 2013/14 mod warning post#7259

Too Tough To Die

I love Fergie but he really messed Rooney around last season. It was a bit petty of him to be honest.

Your Airbag

I really hope we tie Rooney down with a new contact, he is pure raw talent. Look at this footage of him aged 10. Its an absolute spectacular goal by anyones standard.

A beast at such a young age and he even looked like he was balding back then

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gyKVUwc2xE

IvySlayer

Didn't watch the game, how did Powell do tonight?

IamtheWalrus

Your Airbag wrote: »

I really hope we tie Rooney down with a new contact, he is pure raw talent. Look at this footage of him aged 10. Its an absolute spectacular goal by anyones standard.

A beast at such a young age and he even looked like he was balding back then

Talented but doesn't want to stay at the club. If only he was willing to join a European club, he'd be gone. Ronaldo was a better player and he was sold.

magnumbud

god the rags really are desperate. the star thinks we are gonna go after shaw for 25million. i wouldnt doubt that we would be interested, talented young and british, but at that fee sureeeee

homerjay2005

magnumbud wrote: »

god the rags really are desperate. the star thinks we are gonna go after shaw for 25million. i wouldnt doubt that we would be interested, talented young and british, but at that fee sureeeee

Moyes seems obsessed with a LB, i wonder will he go all out for one in January? Bained would be a cheaper option perhaps (on the basis that Southamption would look for crazy crazy money), but at that stage he will 30 and i cant see the board being too keen unless we can get him for about £10million.

Evra probably has two more years left in him before he becomes a squad player, id leave left back alone until then - with 4 or 5 of our first 11 now 30 or older, we have a nice bit of investing to do in the next 2 or 3 years, starting with a replacement for Rio i assume next summer which wont come cheap.

MagicMarker

We already have a replacement for Rio.

RasTa

We already have Rio's replacement in Smalling or Jones.

homerjay2005

MagicMarker wrote: »

We already have a replacement for Rio.

who?

Vidic wont be around for ever either, so that means at the moment we have 3 CHs and to be honest, Jones, Evans or Smalling are not in the same class as Rio or Vidic.

we will invest in a CH if not next summer, pretty soon after it. i have great faith in Smalling and Evans to be decent back up options to Rio and Vidic at the moment, but Jones is lacking alot of things to step up a level right now.

the_one_&_only

Just got a call from Easons there offering me the opportunity to purchase a 2nd ticket for the Alex Ferguson event in the Convention Centre

Pro. F

Vidic is only 31, unless he gets injured he has another few years yet. Smalling, Jones and Evans is an excellent collection of young CBs. If a replacement for Rio can't be found from them then Moyes isn't doing his job right.

MagicIRL

Does anyone have that .gif from the weekend of yer man with the Fellaini wig giving it loads sort of dancing?

Giggsy11

homerjay2005 wrote: »

who?

Vidic wont be around for ever either, so that means at the moment we have 3 CHs and to be honest, Jones, Evans or Smalling are not in the same class as Rio or Vidic.

we will invest in a CH if not next summer, pretty soon after it. i have great faith in Smalling and Evans to be decent back up options to Rio and Vidic at the moment, but Jones is lacking alot of things to step up a level right now.

They will never be in the same bracket if they don't get games. You have to either trust the players you have with massive potential or spend big. Would love to see Smalling, Evans getting their chances. They are good enough and with regular games they will become even better.

Giggsy11

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Talented but doesn't want to stay at the club. If only he was willing to join a European club, he'd be gone. Ronaldo was a better player and he was sold.

Not sure about that. Moyes wants to Rooney to stay so we might offer him new contract. Players change their minds all the time just like the fans do. So Rooney wanting to leave is not a big problem, at least not as big as Ronaldo's problem who was hell bent on leaving, giving interview every other day and even making Blatter to make that slave comment.

People have short term memories but what Ronaldo did was even more pathetic than what Rooney did, yes he was better player but saying few nice words after leaving the club won't change the fact about how he behaved after winning CL.

kryogen

We have Rio's long term successor at the club in the form of Chris Smalling, of that I have no doubt, he needs to be trusted and played, people forget how good he was before his injury problems. He looked like a key member of the team in a short space of time, I think he has everything needed to step into Rio's place and hope he is at least given the chance to fail at it.

MagicIRL

kryogen wrote: »

We have Rio's long term successor at the club in the form of Chris Smalling, of that I have no doubt, he needs to be trusted and played, people forget how good he was before his injury problems. He looked like a key member of the team in a short space of time, I think he has everything needed to step into Rio's place and hope he is at least given the chance to fail at it.

Plus he played an absolute blinder against Layverkusen

Cantona's Collars

What's the craic with Evans? He was showing excellent form last season.

Maximus Alexander

I think we can all agree that Chris Smalling is a tremendous player.

magnumbud

homerjay2005 wrote: »

Moyes seems obsessed with a LB, i wonder will he go all out for one in January? Bained would be a cheaper option perhaps (on the basis that Southamption would look for crazy crazy money), but at that stage he will 30 and i cant see the board being too keen unless we can get him for about £10million.

Evra probably has two more years left in him before he becomes a squad player, id leave left back alone until then - with 4 or 5 of our first 11 now 30 or older, we have a nice bit of investing to do in the next 2 or 3 years, starting with a replacement for Rio i assume next summer which wont come cheap.

i dont think he is obsessed. he wanted to sign baines and made a last minute attempt to sign coentrao. i dont think thats a sign of being obsessed.

on leaving it til evra is ready to step aside thats never really been the united way. we often have gone out and brought in replacements with the aim of building them up to step in and not have to settle into the club e.g. smalling and jones. also thats assuming evra stays fit and everything for the 2 years. at 32 one sloppy tackle on him and it could be an injury that he wont recover from. i would rather have a competitent replacement ready for that possibility. i wouldnt have faith in buttner being first choice left back but he could prove me wrong.

i realize you love Evra homer and i do too for that matter but its football you cant afford sentimentality when trying to stay at the top giving him true competition for his position could force Evra to stay in top form and if a player comes in who reaches better form then we benefit there too. Back when we first signed Evra i was against it cause i used to love heinze but evra came in and was better and replaced him and thats how football is.

magnumbud

zerks wrote: »

What's the craic with Evans? He was showing excellent form last season.

injured afaik

IamtheWalrus

Giggsy11 wrote: »

People have short term memories but what Ronaldo did was even more pathetic than what Rooney did, yes he was better player but saying few nice words after leaving the club won't change the fact about how he behaved after winning CL.

Relationships rarely end pretty, no matter what went on previously. Utd remember Ronaldo for the contribution he made over 8 seasons.

magnumbud

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Relationships rarely end pretty, no matter what went on previously. Utd remember Ronaldo for the contribution he made over 8 seasons.

6 seasons :-P the thing with ronaldo was yes he asked to leave and it was obvious he wanted to leave for the last 3 years but they were also his best form. the same could not be said about rooney last season

Giggsy11

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Relationships rarely end pretty, no matter what went on previously. Utd remember Ronaldo for the contribution he made over 8 seasons.

Rightly so just like United will remember Rooney for his contribution over 9 years and Ronaldo was at United for 6 years.

Ronaldo asked for transfer and got one. Got big pay check and now talks good about ManUtd with no intention of ever getting back. Just to get new contract he used the name well and got a big one.

Rooney asked for transfer but didn't get one. He signed contract and had beast of a second half of the season in 2010-11 and our top scorer in 2011-12 season.

Mitch Connor

magnumbud wrote: »

injured afaik

He picked up an injury in the summer, but he played an U21 game a couple of weeks back - would expect him to be involved vs Liverpool in the cup, at least.

Giggsy11

magnumbud wrote: »

6 seasons :-P the thing with ronaldo was yes he asked to leave and it was obvious he wanted to leave for the last 3 years but they were also his best form. the same could not be said about rooney last season

Same cannot be said about Rooney last season as he was played in every single position except his favored position. He was injured often and even played as CM.

He was out best player by country mile in the second half of 2010-11 season where he guided us to CL finals and he was our top scorer in 2011-12 season where we missed league on GD. RVP got so much praise in that season where he played every single game as CF and scored 37 goals in 48 games. Rooney played as winger, CM and AM but scored 34 goals in 44 games. In the league he scored 3 less goals than RVP but played 4 less games.

Last season was one off but still after playing in almost every position except CF his goal scoring record was not bad. 16 goals in 37 games and IIRC he had around 10 plus assists.

Edit: After asking for transfer, in his last season Ronaldo scored 18 goals in 33 games playing in his favored position and team abuilt around him, whereas Rooney scored 12 goals in 27 games playing in almost all positions.

magnumbud

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Same cannot be said about Rooney last season as he was played in every single position except his favored position. He was injured often and even played as CM.

He was out best player by country mile in the second half of 2010-11 season where he guided us to CL finals and he was our top scorer in 2011-12 season where we missed league on GD. RVP got so much praise in that season where he played every single game as CF and scored 37 goals in 48 games. Rooney played as winger, CM and AM but scored 34 goals in 44 games. In the league he scored 3 less goals than RVP but played 4 less games.

Last season was one off but still after playing in almost every position except CF his goal scoring record was not bad. 16 goals in 37 games and IIRC he had around 10 plus assists.

ok valid points. i wouldn't really say it about the second half of 2010-11 but i will accept the other point.

my only other point would be in the case of ronaldo he always said it was his dream to play for madrid. it was the only reason he gave for wanting to leave. people can say it was a mistake or whatever but what rooney said bout the players and the ambition of the club and manager at the time of his last contract talks and saying that was the reason he wanted to leave was unacceptable. roy keane made similar comments and was rightly turfed out. fine rooney apologized but he also said he would never request to leave again and yet here we are 3 years later and he had. i'm not saying i want him to leave merely saying why i would look back on ronaldo fondly and a whole lot more fondly to when rooney eventually leaves. at the time when ronaldo left i was angry but the way tevez left and rooney then acted about his contract i looked at it that ronaldo acted in a far more professional manner.

Blatter

What do you see as Rooney's best position? Would say as a centre forward just behind a main striker myself. He has played there the vast majority of the time over the last 2.5 years. The odd game he's been played out wide or in CM, but not that much at all imo. The notion that Rooney gets moved around the whole time over the last few years has been blown out proportion imo. I don't have stats but I'd guess that Rooney has easily played ~80% of games as a second striker when he's been fit over the last 2.5 years.

Even in 09/10, he played a lot of games there behind Berbatov although played all the big games as the main CF.

Giggsy11

magnumbud wrote: »

ok valid points. i wouldn't really say it about the second half of 2010-11 but i will accept the other point.

my only other point would be in the case of ronaldo he always said it was his dream to play for madrid. it was the only reason he gave for wanting to leave. people can say it was a mistake or whatever but what rooney said bout the players and the ambition of the club and manager at the time of his last contract talks and saying that was the reason he wanted to leave was unacceptable. roy keane made similar comments and was rightly turfed out. fine rooney apologized but he also said he would never request to leave again and yet here we are 3 years later and he had. i'm not saying i want him to leave merely saying why i would look back on ronaldo fondly and a whole lot more fondly to when rooney eventually leaves. at the time when ronaldo left i was angry but the way tevez left and rooney then acted about his contract i looked at it that ronaldo acted in a far more professional manner.

Ronaldo's dream club move is over blown. I remember him saying that he would love to move to either Madrid or Barcelona, not just Madrid.

Best also questioned ManUtd ambition and he is not seen as a lesser Legend. Over the time people forget these cheap tricks and will remember their contribution to the club, talking of which Rooney is up there with the best players for ManUtd.

Ronaldo acted in professional manner? I don't think you remember his interviews in 2008. If anything Rooney has never said public statements, everytime it was Fergie who made it and Rooney always had private conversation rather than crying to media.

lordgoat

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Ronaldo's dream club move is over blown. I remember him saying that he would love to move to either Madrid or Barcelona, not just Madrid.

Best also questioned ManUtd ambition and he is not seen as a lesser Legend. Over the time people forget these cheap tricks and will remember their contribution to the club, talking of which Rooney is up there with the best players for ManUtd.

Ronaldo acted in professional manner? I don't think you remember his interviews in 2008. If anything Rooney has never said public statements, everytime it was Fergie who made it and Rooney always had private conversation rather than crying to media.

Fair enough you stick with Rooney there. But for me Ronaldo is a class above him in every manner.

Giggsy11

Blatter wrote: »

What do you see as Rooney's best position? Would say as a centre forward just behind a main striker myself. He has played there the vast majority of the time over the last 2.5 years. The odd game he's been played out wide or in CM, but not that much at all imo. The notion that Rooney gets moved around the whole time over the last few years has been blown out proportion imo. I don't have stats but I'd guess that Rooney has easily played ~80% of games as a second striker when he's been fit over the last 2.5 years.

Even in 09/10, he played a lot of games there behind Berbatov although played all the big games as the main CF.

He was played as a winger few times in 2008-09 season.

In 2009-10 season he played as CF, and once he got injured Berbatov led the line. Before that most of the games Rooney played as lone striker or Berbatov playing in the hole with Rooney up top.

2010-11 season in the second half, he was played behind the striker and that was one of his best performances. Hernandez stretched the defense and Rooney was at his best.

2012-13 season he was played as winger, CM. He started with RVP only 16 times IIRC and that was because of the injury. But when he was fit there were games where he was deployed very deep to help out the midfiled like a 5th midfielder rather than 2nd striker.

Will I Amnt

Mitch Connor wrote: »

He picked up an injury in the summer, but he played an U21 game a couple of weeks back - would expect him to be involved vs Liverpool in the cup, at least.

Think he played for NI against Luxembourg the other week too?

Giggsy11

lordgoat wrote: »

Fair enough you stick with Rooney there. But for me Ronaldo is a class above him in every manner.

On the field? Yes.

The way they both behaved during transfer saga? Hell no. For a record Rooney didn't even talk to any media about wanting to move. He did with manager and it's not his mistake that manager made it public. I would take that behaviour over Ronaldo's any day of the week..

Who can forget his interview agreeing with "Slavery" comments by Blatter.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jul/11/manchesterunited.premierleague1

Mitch Connor

Giggsy11 wrote: »

On the field? Yes.

The way they both behaved during transfer saga? Hell no. For a record Rooney didn't even talk to any media about wanting to move. He did with manager and it's not his mistake that manager made it public. I would take that behaviour over Ronaldo's any day of the week..

Who can forget his interview agreeing with "Slavery" comments by Blatter.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jul/11/manchesterunited.premierleague1

Yep - Rooney had nothing to do with all the stories in the papers about him wanting out, and how he felt he was being demonised in the squad, or how he was 'angry and confused' at how United were treating him, or how he felt Fergie would still be an influence he couldn't live with at United. Nothing. Nor his agent.

Rooney was a quiet pro in the summer.

Yep.

magnumbud

Giggsy11 wrote: »

On the field? Yes.

The way they both behaved during transfer saga? Hell no. For a record Rooney didn't even talk to any media about wanting to move. He did with manager and it's not his mistake that manager made it public. I would take that behaviour over Ronaldo's any day of the week..

Who can forget his interview agreeing with "Slavery" comments by Blatter.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jul/11/manchesterunited.premierleague1

he didnt this time but did last time. also the slavery thing was stupid but that was blatter not ronnie

Blatter

Giggsy11 wrote: »

He was played as a winger few times in 2008-09 season.

In 2009-10 season he played as CF, and once he got injured Berbatov led the line. Before that most of the games Rooney played as lone striker or Berbatov playing in the hole with Rooney up top.

2010-11 season in the second half, he was played behind the striker and that was one of his best performances. Hernandez stretched the defense and Rooney was at his best.

2012-13 season he was played as winger, CM. He started with RVP only 16 times IIRC and that was because of the injury. But when he was fit there were games where he was deployed very deep to help out the midfiled like a 5th midfielder rather than 2nd striker.

Agree on 08/09.

09/10 I remember he and Berbatov switched a lot, I wouldn't say Rooney played furthest forward all the time at all.

10/11, I agree. He played as a second striker and put in some of his best performances, so you would agree that it's his best position?

11/12, played virtually all of the time as a second striker.

12/13, as I said, majority of the time he played as a second striker when fit. The games where I recall he didn't were Madrid away, Stoke away, Villa at home and a couple of times during other games when Hernandez was brought on. If you want to count a couple of games early in the season when he played at the tip of the diamond but that wasn't too far away from his best position as he was excellent in those games.

I think the amount of time that Rooney has missed through injury has blurred peoples perception of where he has played the vast majority of the time when he's been fit. For me he has been played in his best position the overwhelming amount of time he's been available for selection. I can't really accept he's been messed around position wise all that much.

lordgoat

Giggsy11 wrote: »

On the field? Yes.

The way they both behaved during transfer saga? Hell no. For a record Rooney didn't even talk to any media about wanting to move. He did with manager and it's not his mistake that manager made it public. I would take that behaviour over Ronaldo's any day of the week..

Who can forget his interview agreeing with "Slavery" comments by Blatter.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2008/jul/11/manchesterunited.premierleague1

Ya that's right. Those angry and confused comments came from the manager.

Ronaldo pretty much from day 1 said he would like to play for Madrid. And seeing where he grew up I can understand why.

I wish Rooney had half the drive and determination he has. You might not like how ronaldo did things but while he was vague he didn't pussy around behind his agent.

R019912

Hopefully the same midfield on Sunday as Wednesday with Kagawa maybe being dropped for Welbeck. Although most of Rooneys good performances last season coincided with Kagawa starting. Good vibes about this match, I think Moyes can make a statement by going out to win instead of trying to avoid defeat. Fortune favours the brave etc etc

Giggsy11

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Yep - Rooney had nothing to do with all the stories in the papers about him wanting out, and how he felt he was being demonised in the squad, or how he was 'angry and confused' at how United were treating him, or how he felt Fergie would still be an influence he couldn't live with at United. Nothing. Nor his agent.

Rooney was a quiet pro in the summer.

Yep.

Going by that route you can find article every day in 2008 about Ronaldo wanting out. I'm not even going with what the papers guess, I'm going with the actual quotes from player and I know who did the worse.

Giggsy11

lordgoat wrote: »

Ya that's right. Those angry and confused comments came from the manager.

Ronaldo pretty much from day 1 said he would like to play for Madrid. And seeing where he grew up I can understand why.

I wish Rooney had half the drive and determination he has. You might not like how ronaldo did things but while he was vague he didn't pussy around behind his agent.

Ronaldo saying he wants out - Understandable as he grew up dreaming about Madrid even though he said he wants to join Madrid Or Barca (yeah that's some dream) and he played for 6 years. He gave interview which means he didn't pussy out.

Ronaldo wants out and said that to manager who made it public. He never dreamed of playing for United, he was a blue since childhood and has as much desire to play for United as Ronaldo. He didn't utter a word to press so he was a pussy.

By your logic, Tevez is also a hero for spouting so much **** to the media and not pussing out?

kryogen

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Ronaldo saying he wants out - Understandable as he grew up dreaming about Madrid even though he said he wants to join Madrid Or Barca (yeah that's some dream) and he played for 6 years. He gave interview which means he didn't pussy out.

When did he say he wanted to join Barca?

Giggsy11

Blatter wrote: »

Agree on 08/09.

09/10 I remember he and Berbatov switched a lot, I wouldn't say Rooney played furthest forward all the time at all.

10/11, I agree. He played as a second striker and put in some of his best performances, so you would agree that it's his best position?

11/12, played virtually all of the time as a second striker.

12/13, as I said, majority of the time he played as a second striker when fit. The games where I recall he didn't were Madrid away, Stoke away, Villa at home and a couple of times during other games when Hernandez was brought on. If you want to count a couple of games early in the season when he played at the tip of the diamond but that wasn't too far away from his best position as he was excellent in those games.

I think the amount of time that Rooney has missed through injury has blurred peoples perception of where he has played the vast majority of the time when he's been fit. For me he has been played in his best position the overwhelming amount of time he's been available for selection. I can't really accept he's been messed around position wise all that much.

2009-10 - Berbatov was benched for many games. He stated only 24 league games and in total only 29 games. I remember many saying Rooney's best position is not as a CF but he played well playing as lone striker for many games.

I agree with the 2012-13 part, yes he played most of the games in his natural position on paper but IMO he was pushed lot deeper to help the midfield than say in 2010-11 season. Point is not many star players position was messed up as many times. He missed games because of fitness and not able to play regularly in a position had impact on his performance. Considering all that his output was not bad at all. Almost 27 goals or assists in 37 games.

keane2097

Does it really matter if someone agitates for a move because they claim it was their childhood club or someone agitating for a move because they've become unhappy in their life?

To my mind, forcing your way out of a job you're in all other ways happy with because of a childhood fantasy is no better than trying to force your way out of a job because your relationship with your boss has become toxic.

People seem to lack empathy a lot when it comes to talking about soccer playing humans.

super_furry

Too good not to share.

Giggsy11

kryogen wrote: »

When did he say he wanted to join Barca?

I'm not able to find that quote but it was posted in redcafe that Ronaldo would love to join either Madrid or Barca. I'll post it once I find but I'm sure it was posted in Redcafe..

Vic Vinegar

So do people here now think Rooney will extend his contract?

I'm not entirely sure, he could agitate for a move again next year and our position would be considerably weaker then.

kryogen

Giggsy11 wrote: »

I'm not able to find that quote but it was posted in redcafe that Ronaldo would love to join either Madrid or Barca. I'll post it once I find but I'm sure it was posted in Redcafe..

A poster in recafe saying it doesn't exactly make it any more real tbh, no offence intended, but unless you can actually prove he said that then Im gonna take it with a huge grain of salt with kinda shoots holes in your mocking his dream thing.......

Giggsy11

kryogen wrote: »

A poster in recafe saying it doesn't exactly make it any more real tbh, no offence intended, but unless you can actually prove he said that then Im gonna take it with a huge grain of salt with kinda shoots holes in your mocking his dream thing.......

Finally found it.

It was either Madrid or Barca in 2006.

Ronaldo wants transfer to Spain

Ronaldo has been at Old Trafford for three years

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo says he will join Real Madrid or Barcelona after making it clear he wants to leave Old Trafford.
The 21-year-old has been criticised in England for his role in the sending off of United team-mate Wayne Rooney when Portugal beat England in the World Cup.
"I should get out of Manchester as the circumstances are not right," he said.
"Nobody stood up for me and my desire is to play in Spain. Will it be Real or Barcelona? It will be one of them."
Ronaldo claimed: "For some time I haven't had any support from my chief executive (David Gill) or my coach (Sir Alex Ferguson). They should have come out in my defence but no-one did.
"I am calm, I know I have done a good job and I've grown a lot in this World Cup, from a physical point of view and a mental one. In the next few seasons I will be even better."
Ronaldo is under contract at Old Trafford until 2010 and boss Sir Alex Ferguson said last week he expected the player to report for pre-season training.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/5120332.stm

kryogen

Giggsy11 wrote: »

Finally found it.

It was either Madrid or Barca in 2006.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/5120332.stm

Eh, pretty sure he denied those comments...

(You remember it was after the whole winking thing, awful lot of **** got spouted then)

"The things that have been said regarding me and my team-mate and friend Rooney are incredible,"

ignore the things written in the English press on this subject, they only want to stir things up. That’s normal… That’s how they are and we are used to it. Statements have appeared as if they were from him, saying that he didn’t want to play with me in Manchester. That’s not what he wants! Of course he wants to! This is absolutely false, he said so himself when asked. So, just typical things in the English papers, which we’re all used to. The remedy… well, I guarantee it’s not this that sends me off to sleep

Giggsy11

kryogen wrote: »

Eh, pretty sure he denied those comments...

(You remember it was after the whole winking thing, awful lot of **** got spouted then)

"The things that have been said regarding me and my team-mate and friend Rooney are incredible,"

Not sure sport sites like BBC will make up the whole interview.

Those quotes looks like about fight between Ronaldo and Rooney and not about wanting to playing for Barca or Madrid.

onemorechance

:pac: