Better than Ked's against Shrewsbury. Whatever happened to placement? Whacking it straight down the middle hoping that the keeper dives out of the way is a no hoper. I know it's a long time ago, but check out Dave Peach's penalty record.
Superb penalty? Anything but! He hit the post and the ball crossed the line...just. One millimetre to the right and the ball would have been rebounding back to the half way line. Even the brainless Rooney would not have aimed to hit the post so, technically, it was a miscue but he did at least hit the ball cleanly and, to his credit he wanted to take it. So where does all this leave the verdict on Rooney? He has admirers and he shows flashes of skill and when he comes on as sub he has more goal attempts than when he plays 90 mins. Saturday was one of his quietest games after the previous week when he was bright for the first 30 mins before fading. The jury remains out. Playing 90 mins just highlights his lack of pace and his truncated legs are never going to allow him to cover ground quickly. On the other hand he clearly has an eye for goal and powerful shot which suggest he might yet develop into a goal poacher alongside a "big man" up front. What seems plain is that he does not have the running power to play midfield and unless someone injects some some common sense into him and stops the whingeing at refs and teammates as well as the bizarre goal celebrations then he will just be a liability. As for penalties, I reckon Kedwell will take the next one.
To answer the thread title; A goal was scored (thankfully.) It may be easy to say that Rooney got lucky with which bit of the post was struck - but he would argue that placement close to the post was intended. Without involving other footballing matters relating to Rooney - at least he showed the desire to take the penalty - and perhaps just about deserved any good fortune involved. Have you seen the appalling penalty scored ratio in the Premiership. Whilst watching the Norwich v WBA game ( another missed pen ) I think it was something like only 6 scored from 15 awarded. So, perhaps Rooney may not deserve any criticism. UTG.
I agree with Bristol, it was a shocking penalty. He sliced it big time, had it gone wide people would of said its one of the worst penalties ever seen. Im still unsure on Rooney, he's definitely a good impact sub but becomes a bit predictable when he starts.
In my opinion, I thought Rooney did well to step up to take the penalty. Took some bottle I thought, Gills not having won for two games, now 0-1 down in the dying minutes of a possible third defeat. A previous penalty had already been missed in the Shrewsbury game by Kedwell, so if Rooney missed this, he would have got absolutely slaughtered by the fans. The ball went in, we snatched a point and despite is sometimes questionable attitude, he is now our joint top goal scorer with two league goals, well done Rooney I say. I think Rooney has had more stick for putting the ball away, then Kedwell did for missing his.
yeh,Roon gets slaughtered when things are not going to plan but for some reason the older players such as lee,whelps,weston,montrose etc never get a mention. hes only a young lad who is full of confidence.Could do with more of his type if you ask me.
I cannot see any evidence that Rooney gets less favourable treatment than the more established players....quite the opposite. Someone who manages 2 yellows and a red in 2 starts and 3 substitute appearances really does deserve to be slaughtered But he gets away with it. Nor should the myth of youth be allowed as an excuse. He is almost 21. To put it into perspective 7 of the Man U first team squad are 21 or younger and none of them show the immaturity of the Gillingham Rooney. The reason he divides opinion is because he exhibits extremes of ability and incompetence. Really he desrves a huge boot up his backside and an order to grow up immediately or book his ticket down to Dover. He might just make it if he can exploit his eye for goal. He wont make it if people keep allowing him excuses for underperformance.
I think Rooney is starting to get better, he is still a bit off, but he has a good future in the game.
Spot on Bristol. GrumpyGill - I do support him, just being realistic. If he has a bad game then I'm not going to pretend he had a blinder. Just because he's 20, doesn't mean he gets different treatment from the rest of the team. He's playing with the big boys now and has been in the first team squad for three years. I don't believe all the hype around him but I still support him.
Lawrence (imho) has cost us 2 goals this season, whilst also picking up 4 yellow cards, I'm not knocking him but as he's a favourite it hardly gets mentioned. certain players will always get the negative comments, as for Rooney and attitude try his namesake at united.