IslandExile Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 You may recall I started, then regretted starting, a thread a while back about whether Rooney's presence inhibited fast flowing football. The reason being that every move seemed to have to go through the great man. Age gets us all and he's not so mobile these days. However, his brain, composure and passing is as sharp as ever. Would you play him every week? With the midfield options we have available, would you push him further forward? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andicis Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Honestly - no. I don't care who he is, in terms of screening he's not amazing and by the end his passing was a detriment to the team. I'd much rather have Bird + (when fit Bielik) over Rooney. He's just too limited. He takes a good dead ball, but if the opposition presses him he's too error prone. I'd rather have him helping the academy players and playing rarely than all the time. I want to see high tempo football and movement and I feel he inhibits it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ted McMinn Football Genius Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Rooney and Marriott up front with Sibley running on from deep. Goals, Goals & more Goals Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anag Ram Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 TBH I think it depends on how fit he is when he returns. He has looked slow so far and his spacial awareness and experience will only get him so far. If he's a bit sharper he should play, certainly for the first part of the season. When Bielik returns and is fit, I think he will take Rooney's place and Rooney will start to focus on his coaching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jourdan Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 I would be looking to bring someone in to play in midfield with Bird. If we rely on Rooney to be first name on the teamsheet, it won’t take us very far. People compare Rooney to Hernandez and say if Hernandez can be so influential at his age, surely Rooney can too? The thing is, Hernandez looks as fit as a fiddle and moves as well as he always has. He doesn’t look like he has lost a step at all. And Bielsa has seemingly attempted to manage his playing time. With Rooney, we know he will play and he will start every game when possible and to be honest, he has looked spent as a result. For me, he should be playing as an impact sub if we need some X factor off the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archied Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 For me he takes the Chris Martin role given what we have in the squad at the moment, he has shown that playing deep he can be a problem giving the ball away in real dangerous positions every bit as much as he can pick a pass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srg Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Pre lockdown Rooney starts every game. Post lockdown Rooney is a coach and nothing more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammieib Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Play him in the league. Get some better attacking players around him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ram Bam Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Manage his game time. It's a truncated season and games will be coming thick and fast, he dipped massively after lockdown when the number of games caught up with him. The same applies to a lot of the squad though, we've lost 2 months and to keep everyone at optimum levels we'll need to rest and rotate players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCFC_Sloth Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 I think we might see Rooney appearing in all of the positions mentioned (those on the pitch, that is) at points through the season. We need to get Bird and Bielik established as a partnership going forward, so game time together is vital. Sibley is young and may benefit from being pulled out of the team from time to time and we also don’t have a huge number of options up top, so I expect to see Rooney filling in there at times too. Rooney will play a large number of games this season, but we saw that three games a week, every week was too much for him. We also know he was brought in to play as a 10 and we all know how influential he can be on guiding the players around him. He will be on the pitch in one of a number of positions and will help us to rotate players and keep them fit. By the end of the season I do expect to see him largely guiding from the bench, but earlier doors I’d expect him on the pitch a lot, especially until bielik comes back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taribo Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Knackered old carthorse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkle Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 If fit he plays and he plays where he is needed most on that particular day against that particular opponent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimRam Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Rest midweek I went for. Makes sense as his form dipped towards season end compared to when he first arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chester40 Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Surprised how many want him to be sitting fairly deep, quarterback style. Think we have other players who can do that who are more mobile too. His striking of a ball and picking a pass in the last third where there appeared to be nothing on, seemed to me to be his greatest skills. I would have him playing as center forward (in place of Martin) or playing just off Waghorn or Marriott, either as a 10 or at the tip of midfield. Sibley's continued development would eventually move him into retirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sage Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 2 minutes ago, Chester40 said: Surprised how many want him to be sitting fairly deep, quarterback style. Think we have other players who can do that who are more mobile too. His striking of a ball and picking a pass in the last third where there appeared to be nothing on, seemed to me to be his greatest skills. I would have him playing as center forward (in place of Martin) or playing just off Waghorn or Marriott, either as a 10 or at the tip of midfield. Sibley's continued development would eventually move him into retirement. Maybe because every single time he played further forward he was awful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srg Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 4 minutes ago, sage said: Maybe because every single time he played further forward he was awful. He was, but it is with the caveat that when he was further forward he was nearly always with Martin, thus creating the slowest professional strikeforce in footballing history. (Before the Martin Man Love Brigade start, this is in no way a comment on anyone's abilities, just 2 players being slower than slow up front simply would never ever work.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 5 minutes ago, sage said: Maybe because every single time he played further forward he was awful. Only because he wasn’t given the right service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srg Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Just now, David said: Only because he wasn’t given the right service. Didn't get runners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottingram Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Think he just looked knackered after lockdown, couldn’t say whether that was just a lack of match fitness or a longer term issue. From what I remember Fergie used to say it would take him 6-8 games after a break to get back to his best and as I remember his first few games for us after he joined we’re pretty underwhelming as well? We definitely need to not rely on him, it isn’t healthy having any player so important to a team, let alone a 35 year old in his last ever season, so rotating him in and out seems sensible. If we played him further forward he tended to struggle to get on the ball / we struggled to get him the ball. The trouble is I see Bird as almost undroppable and Bielik is also likely to play when he is fit again, so it may be that Rooney has to take a bit of a back seat, unless he can play Martin’s role up front. On paper there is no reason he couldn’t, similarly intelligent and immobile but with undoubtedly more quality, but just got a nagging feeling it wouldn’t work for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramsbottom Posted August 14, 2020 Share Posted August 14, 2020 Said in another thread I think he won't play as much this season, especially if we get another CB, so Bielik doesn't have to play there. His nouce will be invaluable in tough away games but I think Bird & Bielik can be progress and be more than good enough to carry us forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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