Kagawa only played the first half of the hannover game as part of a midfield 2 with Cleverley with Rooney playing behind Chicharito and if you watched it you would have seen that he was tidy in possession but not particularly effective in mounting any kind of offense, and hannover always seemed to have a free run at the utd defence with every breakdown of the utd offense which is usually the case when utd play a 442. But then in the second half when Anderson came on for Hernandez and Kagawa was moved in to Rooney's Position and Rooney went upfront, The whole offense which had been stagnant to that point came alive and the link up play between Kagawa, Rooney, Nani, Cleverley and Anderson seemed like they had been playing together for years and it was all instigated by Kagawa moving to the number 10 position. So playing him anywhere else would just be a waste because they might as well not have bought him
Actually if you watched last year's Community Shield you'd have seen Rooney, Nani, Cleverley and Anderson showing the same quality of link up play against City, with Welbeck partnering Rooney up front. So a bit of a stretch to claim it's all due to Kagawa imo.
What these games all have in common is that the are mostly high scoring and were played with a 442 formation, I have put in the names of the strikers that started these games. Man utd 8 Arsenal 2 (Rooney, Welbeck) Man utd 1 Man city 6 (Rooney, Welbeck) Man utd 1 Barcelona 3 (Rooney, Hernandez) man utd 4 everton 4 (Rooney, Welbeck Man utd 1 Ajax 2 (Hernandez, Berbatov) Man utd 2 Athletic Bilbao 3 (Rooney, Hernandez) Chelsea 3 vs Man utd 3 (Rooney,Welbeck) Wigan 1 Man utd 0 (Rooney, Hernandez) Man utd 2 Liverpool 1 (Rooney, Welbeck) Man utd 3 Chelsea 1 (Rooney, Hernandez) Man utd 2 Blackburn 3 (Berbatov Hernandez) Obviously in the majority of these games Rooney started as the number 10 but the problem with playing a striker as a number 10 is that he is more likely to score more goals than make them, as well as not making up the numbers in midfield when possession has been lost due to the habit of being a striker, but if a midfielder is the number 10 he is a lot more likely to create goals and get other players involved and when possession is lost he will instinctively drop back in to midfield to make up the numbers, thereby keeping things tight unlike last season when random teams were continuosly attacking the utd back four that had no protection whatsoever, resulting in the kind of high scoring games i have highlighted and when you run out of luck you will be on the receiving end of a result like the city loss at old trafford. My reasons for preferring rooney as the main striker is because sometimes when things are not going so well for him he gets very frustrated and tries to force the issue, resulting in a lot of wasted possessions, he takes a lot of needless long range shots, he is always trying to lob the goalie, he misplaces a lot of passes, breaking down the attack, he hardly ever plays one twos anymore and for a number 10 his ball control is sadly not as good as it should be, the things he does best nowadays are scoring prolifically and spreading the ball out wide to Valencia Preferably so he can then run in to the box to get on the end of the expected cross. For me this a pure centre forward and he should be played as such. This is the exact problem England have because by playing Rooney as the number 10, in international football, it means you will always be outnumbered in midfield because even if he drops back , he can not do the job of a conventional midfielder which is to keep it simple he is always looking to thread the needle and whilst people would always use excuses such as him not being fit or sharp enough in 2006 and 2010 world cup and euro 2012, the bottom line is that he has not done what was expected of him when he was rated higher than CR7 when they were growing up together, could it be that he is not really a playmaker but is just a prolific striker who can also be creative.
You missed the point. I was talking about the hannover game Obviously those four you mentioned along with berbatov and welbeck are the best link up players at the club but in the hannover game nothing was working until they took off chicharito and replaced him with anderson whilst moving kagawa forward and rooney further forward
(Long post, sorry...) If we do sign RVP I think it'll make our squad extremely strong. We all know that RVP has always had injury problems, and Rooney goes through barren patches nearly every season, so as long as they don't happen at exactly the same time we'll be fine (even in his barren spells Rooney still works hard for the team and contributes, so having RVP up front alongside him would relieve a lot of the pressure during those times). Fans must realise that unlike most other teams we fight for all competitions, and so it is imperative to rotate the squad and keep the players as fresh as possible since we play 2 matches a week for extended periods. We are fortunate that our players are versatile, and so most of them can play in multiple positions. If Fergie goes for 3 attacking midfielders behind a lone striker as follows we have a ridiculous amount of options: -----MC----MC----- AMR----AMC----AML ---------FC--------- In those 4 attacking positions, we have 6 players that would usually start most games (Rooney, RVP, Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, Young), and 2 players that are more likely to be on the bench or used less often (Hernandez, Welbeck). Even ignoring these last 2, the 6 players listed could line up in so many different combinations, depending on the opposition and how fresh the players are (and at least 2 of them could be rested): Rooney (AMC or FC) RVP (FC, and possibly AMC if Hernandez is up front) Kagawa (AMC, AML or AMR) Nani (AMR or AML) Valencia (AMR, or right back if we have injuries there) Young (AML, AMC or AMR) Obviously Hernandez would only play as FC, and Welbeck could do a job pretty much anywhere if required. Basically, my point is that we have all possibilities covered. In an ideal world we would be resting players and picking the right players depending on the opposition. But it also caters for any major injury crisis, as well as poor form in any particular player. I know people think that it's a waste of money and RVP's 29 years old etc. But If we win the league or Champions league it'll be due to our depth in these positions. Look at the 2010/11 season, many of our players hit form for only half the season, but as a whole it worked out perfectly as a squad performance. And as Arsenal and Liverpool have shown over the seasons, you can't rely on only one player to get all your goals for you. Yes it does work out occasionally, but it is very rare to last a whole season.
Because he's a quality option to have when rooney is not getting any joy which happens against qualty opposition sometimes
The same strikers that put 4 past chavsky, 2 in the cup final, erm 1.. and a bit i mean and beat you at the bridge did we not sure? Can't remember cant be bothered to look it up, sorry you were saying? Oh and what are you talking about anyways? this is about RvP
Oh wow LFC must have had a terrific season then the manager must be pleased. If this is about RVP why just WUM about Rooney?
Listen matey, you had a crap stab and it failed, just let it go ok. It was not wum about rooney its a fact that RvP will be an alternative if it does not work out or vice versa, wtf are you on about? And even then I was just speculating
I'm glad someone is lucid today I am not obviusly, thought it was Londons only EC winner SOZ its_not_just_a_game. FU Swarbs, look at all my posts, no wum you ****
