The English Football Thread

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by Goofle11

Fluffy, you are jut wrong on this one. Simple really.

Maybe he is "overrated", let's move past that. Your actual judgement of the player is wide of the mark. I remember you were claiming things like Falcao being a better passer/dribbler than Rooney and having a higher work rate etc. That's just nonsense.

Rooney is the finest footballer of his generation, and only Paul Scholes surpasses him from any recent generation.

lol

Cool evidence provided.

I remember you saying Rooney was a better passer, then the next game was away vs Swansea where Rooney was spraying passes to nobody left, right and centre. He was taken off because it was that bad.

As for dribbling; Rooney was a good dribbler pre-2009, I've seen him tear Roma to shreds on the wing and run at defences when he was playing for Everton. He doesn't dribble anymore. He was pushed further forward in 2009 to fill the void of Ronnie and since then he's not been successful at all when he's running at players. His game isn't about that anymore. He is played in the trequartista role but doesn't have the touch or passing to do it. I believe Rooney's best position is as an out and out striker. That was where his best season was, and I believe despite my criticisms, he can be good there as he does offer goals. He is also good at heading, Tony V had a field day in 2009/10 dinking balls onto Rooney's head. Rooney is no good playing behind the striker. He's also one of the best free-kick takers in the league if not Europe.

I also believe he is mentally weak, hence Ferguson leaving him out of the squad vs scouse teams God knows how many times.

Nothing you've said is based on any real evidence. It's all opinions. "You're just wrong", "that is nonsense" etc.

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by right-track

Yeah I'm sure Rooney's legacy will never match Cole's. :O
Cole is only 2 years younger than Lampard btw. 5 years older than Rooney?

Who gives a sod about legacy? Ashley Cole has been consistently good for club and country for a decade and is probably the best in the world in his position; certainly the best over the past ten years at least. He's never the one to flop for England is he?

Remind me what Rooney did in the World Cup x 2? Don't worry, I'll wait.

As for age, well what is your point? Is Cole not the same generation as Rooney? He's played in all the same England teams at World Cups and Euros. Or do you mean best 27 year old player born in October?

[Face]

Rooney, the finest of his generation? Compared to who? ONLY scholes surpassing him???

He's an above average striker. He isn't that critical to his club and continually dissapoints (even more than most) on the international stage.

English players I would rate better than rooney, in no particular order

Ashley cole, lampard, gerrard, scholes, carragher, beckham, terry, baines, ferdinand, johnson (equal).

But, granted, if you're comparing him to downing, milner,cahill and hart then yeah.

I will say he is definately better than allen though! So maybe he IS the best afterall! Ha!

[Goofle]

Such utter nonsense.

[Face]

I agree. Nonsense.

Allen is fantastic, Gerrard is rubbish, and Rooney is the best of his generation.

Granted, he's kinda the best striker out of a poor bunch (excluding an uninjured owen)

[Goofle]

He's obviously a miles better footballer than Michael Owen.

[Face]

Miles better than the owen that came back post 2006 injury, he was out for an entire year and never really recovered.

[Goofle]

No, miles better than Owen at any point.

[Face]

Oh, how many times had rooney won the ballon d'or?

[Cuthbert]

Originally Posted by Face

Oh, how many times had rooney won the ballon d'or?

I agree with you that Owen was better than Rooney, however using the Ballon d'Or to strengthen your argument is poor. We saw from the list of votes that got published this year that it's not an accurate indication of a player's talent.

Thierry Henry was robbed in 2004. Robbed. The reason Ronaldinho won it that year was because he had a better brand, got votes from all the smaller countries, similar to how many people voted Balotelli this year even though he'd done nothing for City but had a good tournament with the Euros.

Mate that list of players you said were English and better than Rooney is really bad. Can't agree there.

Lampard, Gerrard, Scholes, Cole, Beckham, Rio. I agree with, Baines, Terry, Johnson and Carragher, no. Terry is an average defender btw, he's only rated so highly because he makes a mistake then throws himself in at the last minute to save the ball ala World Cup 2010 or the time Diaby nearly killed him. His poor reading of the game is the reason he ends up in so many of these last ditch tackles.