Rival Watch Thread Watch

Yeh I agree about the Mata vs Rooney comment. Mata for me wins as the number 10. He's younger and holds possession and can open a defence better with his passing through the middle. Rooney should just play further forward. I'm thinking about the here and now tbh. IF we develop Januzaj as that RW or buy one that looks the bollocks, and Falcao steps up, then fair enough, we have the luxury of getting rid of one. Until then we need Mata and (sadly) Rooney.

 

I am undecided on Mata but I'm fairly certain you had a hard on for him when he was voted Chelsea's player of the season.

 

RVP is known all around the world. He is a brand and is a first XI player for one of the world's top sides.
Rooney is captain of England and up there with Messi and Ronaldo in terms of marketing worth. Also captain of England which means he is big big business.
Angel Di Maria is similar to RVP as in a first XI player for one of the best teams in the world.

Mata is not a first XI international for his country. Doesn't always make the squad. He is nowhere near the brand name that the 3 above are.

I would suspect that Valencia has more marketing potential from Ecuador than Mata has.

Gerrard is on a par with Rooney in terms of his 'worth' to the club off the pitch. He is a massive brand name. If he decides to leave Liverpool at teh end of the season there would be a price war between the US, Dubai and Russian teams because of his name and history.

As a crude example. Which game has Mata been on the cover of?

 

Rooney is the best england have got but sadly no where near the top foreign players that are about. this reflects the dramatic slide down the world rankings.

 

Have you ever watched England?

Rooney's first touch is absolutely shocking, less than Sunday league standard. Not even joking.

The only goals he scores are tap in (i.e. miscontrolling the ball into the net).

Sturridge is so far ahead of Rooney. As is Sterling. Even Walcott would do better.

 

This is your theorising. I can do the same, Mata is considered a prominent name in world football and combined with having played for a World Cup winning Spanish side and being integral to Chelsea's Champions League winning side as well as currently playing for one of arguably two top clubs in the world and being a world class player, he will sell shirts.

But putting all that to one side, the sales figures speak for themselves. The ONLY thing that can affect/reduce/increase his shirt sales/merchandising is how much he plays for United. The irony is that it's a case of how much he plays impacts merchandising, not merchandising impacts how much he plays.

 

Astro, you really are a plank when it comes to football, probably know a fair bit about Pool but beyond that nothing.
Rooney is on course to become Englands all time top scorer, if the goals he gets are that easy why do others not do nearly as well with them/
Sturridge is not even on Welbecks level when it comes to international football and at the moment Walcott would lose them both. Sterling may be a good international in the future.

 

Not until he is first choice for Spain he won't.

RVP is a brand, Rooney is a brand, Di Maria not as big. Mata is nowhere. Fabregas is somewhere similar to Mata........ATM but will get there.

Gerrard is a brand. Terry is a brand.

These guys sell shirts with their names on them because they are world stars. International and club. It is one reason I think Brendan is blind to Gerrard's failings. He seems to be doe eyed at the iconic status and oblivious to the fact that he is on his last legs.

I think Mata is a great player. I think Fabregas is even better but until they are first choice for the country then they just don't have that iconic status which turns merchandising opportunities into the stratosphere.

 

I think you have the whole shirt sale thing slightly skewed. Players sell shirts due to their ability, excitement they provide and most importantly club they play for. Messi probably sells many shirts in Brazil but i would bet that they are all Barcelona shirts and not Argentina.

 

And not one of them meant a ****ing thing.

Obviously exaggerated, but the truth is his record is to do with
1. modern sports science and medicine which means careers are longer than ever
2. his young age of starting (I'm not denying he was a talent back in 2006 or whenever)
3. 90% of games he's played have been against nobodies (money fixtures) and the 10% that actually mattered he's done **** all

he has ONE ****ING GOAL in world cup finals FFS

and the same number of red cards

 

Bit harsh and No way is Sturridge THAT far ahead

 

His goals have been important in qualifiers and its not rooneys fault that fifa have so many friendlies.

Hes still scored the goals he has though so chances are he will go down as englands top scorer. You and youre bitterness will have to live with that and in years to come, nobody will care who he scored against. Stats, that thing you love so much, will show him as the record goalscorer.

 

the way Welbeck is going he could top the lot!

 

FFs a real utd legend hold the record

This is an era where Michael Owen got 40 goals and never bothered his bollox playing for his clubs and Capella right told him to F off

Robbie Keane has god know how many goals I dunno but he's an atrociously average player

Rooney? Meh.... One he gets that record he will fall apart

 

Rooney's no Robbie Fowler. Now that fat lad set international football alight.

 

I don't doubt that you're not joking but in that one sentence you sum up how far detached you are from the actual game of football. When it comes to stats you hoover them up and regurgitate them like a pro, I don't doubt that you're the fattest stat kid with the best laptop around, but your empathy with and experience of the game are non-existent. If you ever got your fat arse to a PL game you'd see in the warm up alone that the very worst player on the pitch had a first touch that any Sunday League player would sell your granny for.

 

Absolutely spot on, take a bow son

 

Rooney is obviously a very good player, but he was much better 4 years ago or so and has been on a slide since. England great? Nowhere near it, can't think of a single moment in memory that he has done something good for England.
Sadly, just as with the last England captain, Rooney will continue to play long beyond when he should and it will hinder England.

 

You may have been watching the Rooney show (complete with golden cap awarded before he even made his 100th appearance FFS) but what I saw was an absolutely dire game with England embarrassed at home for two thirds.

Finally there were a handful of good football moves (I don't count throwing yourself down to knock in a penalty) based on some nice 1 touch passing, especially Welbeck and Sterling. The key point was Rooney not being involved in any of these moves.

Please find me a single clip of Rooney playing a 1 touch pass in the final 3rd that was accurate

 

I didn't watch the England game as my lad's team were playing. We played a side who've been together for 3 years and who spanked us 6-1 in our second game as a new team 6 weeks ago. We won 7-0 today #tacticalgenius

I assume Rooney was the worst player on the pitch and Lallana looked like a cross between Puskas and Cruyff?