*Official* English Football Season 2015-16

[flibbertyjibber]

Apologies for the source, but I was curious as to what everyone thought about this:

Wayne Rooney is 30 but has mileage of a 35-year-old, says Jamie Carragher | Daily Mail Online



I'd never really given this sort of thing a lot of thought, but now it's been brought to my attention, it has really made me wonder. Could provide some explanation for his...less than electric displays that have been the norm for a while now.

Owen was an early starter and he was shot to pieces even earlier. Makes you appreciate Giggs even more as he started young and hardly dropped off and kept going.

Rooney looks done, can see him being dropped by England after the Euros, no doubt we will take him though even if we shouldn't.

 

[Agent TBY]

Weren't people talking about it in this very thread? fwiw I think it's a pretty solid argument.

Very similar case to Ronaldinho who was shot by thirty, too.

 

[sledger]

Weren't people talking about it in this very thread? fwiw I think it's a pretty solid argument.

Very similar case to Ronaldinho who was shot by thirty, too.

Maybe, apologies if so.

RE: Ronaldinho though, his decline is arguably more attributable to him being leaving a fair bit to be desired in terms of his professionalism and attitude rather than anything else. Talent-wise the bloke is still ridiculously good. He just really let himself go around the time he was at Milan, and that was that.

 

[sledger]

Owen was an early starter and he was shot to pieces even earlier. Makes you appreciate Giggs even more as he started young and hardly dropped off and kept going.

Rooney looks done, can see him being dropped by England after the Euros, no doubt we will take him though even if we shouldn't.

Yeah, should be dropped already. He's basically Hulk-Hoganing/Tendulkaring the whole setup.

 

[Agent TBY]

Rooney isn't exactly known for taking care of himself either, but I guess I get what you mean.

 

[sledger]

Rooney isn't exactly known for taking care of himself either, but I guess I get what you mean.

Yeah true. I guess what I was getting at is that Rooney's decline might more obviously be attributed to a "too many miles put on the clock in too short a space of time" type thing, where as 'dinho's decline can apparently be accredited to him deciding "nah, cbf, I'm going to party like there's no tomorrow, training and keeping fit be damned" shortly after he left Barcelona. A horrible waste of talent tbh; bloke was just so great. And still is, in a way.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah you hear a lot about Rooney's professionalism lately but I seriously doubt his lifestyle has ever been anything like Ronaldinho's. Although neither has his talent.

I hate to get all broken-record about this, but I don't think a striker being well past his best at the age of 30 should even warrant any further reasoning. It's just what happens almost all of the time. Usually Fergie would have sold our strikers just before they reached this age, so him and Van Persie are the first time it's really been a problem for us. His ruthless culling of past-it players at the first sign of decline is one of the things I miss most.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Rooney smokes, basically had nothing in his life about 10-15 years ago other than playing football. That sort of individual basically is just going to play and work at it until his feet bleed. There's probably some nicer way to put it, but he obviously has a knack for the game and he was hardly going to go out and write a few novels, compose a few masterpieces and study at college & uni. Football was his life.

A few years later he had starred for England, won stuff with Manure, got his end away and was having a family. Probably helped a bit when Ronaldo was there because he had someone to compete with - but other than that I would wager he doesn't work as hard as he used to because he has other things going on, as well as not looking after himself.

 

[GIMH]

Yeah you hear a lot about Rooney's professionalism lately but I seriously doubt his lifestyle has ever been anything like Ronaldinho's. Although neither has his talent.

I hate to get all broken-record about this, but I don't think a striker being well past his best at the age of 30 should even warrant any further reasoning. It's just what happens almost all of the time. Usually Fergie would have sold our strikers just before they reached this age, so him and Van Persie are the first time it's really been a problem for us. His ruthless culling of past-it players at the first sign of decline is one of the things I miss most.

Who could ever forget the outrage when he sold Kanchelskis, Ince and Hughes in the summer of 95. And proceeded to win back to back titles, and four in the next five.

 

[Tangles]

Yeah you hear a lot about Rooney's professionalism lately but I seriously doubt his lifestyle has ever been anything like Ronaldinho's. Although neither has his talent.

I hate to get all broken-record about this, but I don't think a striker being well past his best at the age of 30 should even warrant any further reasoning. It's just what happens almost all of the time. Usually Fergie would have sold our strikers just before they reached this age, so him and Van Persie are the first time it's really been a problem for us. His ruthless culling of past-it players at the first sign of decline is one of the things I miss most.

I saw an interview Rebecca Lowe did with him in the US recently and that came up. He basically said that as the manager at a club like United its your job to notice when a player (great or otherwise) has dropped a level because they are past their peak. Thought it interesting he said they may not have even noticed but the manager has to.

 

[Ikki]

Owen was an early starter and he was shot to pieces even earlier. Makes you appreciate Giggs even more as he started young and hardly dropped off and kept going.

Rooney looks done, can see him being dropped by England after the Euros, no doubt we will take him though even if we shouldn't.

At the same time, Giggs accepted a reduced role. Rooney still thinks he's the man.

 

[Niall]

Owen was an early starter and he was shot to pieces even earlier. Makes you appreciate Giggs even more as he started young and hardly dropped off and kept going.

Rooney looks done, can see him being dropped by England after the Euros, no doubt we will take him though even if we shouldn't.

The thing about Giggs was from all account he was a yoga ans fitness freak for many of his latter years in soccer unlike Rooney who I be shocked looked after himself as well as he should have in his peak years.

Rooney will play all games at the euros which sadly for England will hurt them, he is done, you may get a moment of inspiration now and then but nowhere near enough for either United or England to carry him past the Euros.

 

[Ikki]

So Rafa about to get the sack. It was destined from the moment he didn't automatically proclaim Ronaldo as the greatest player ever, basically.

 

[Niall]

So Rafa about to get the sack. It was destined from the moment he didn't automatically proclaim Ronaldo as the greatest player ever, basically.

4 points off the top and qualified very easily for next round of champions league, only watched now and then but has the football been that ugly? Free flowing enough when I seen them, heck they put 10 past someone the other week!

 

[Furball]

Once he retires Rooney will rival Neil Ruddock in the 'I can't believe that fat **** used to be a footballer' stakes.

 

[Furball]

4 points off the top and qualified very easily for next round of champions league, only watched now and then but has the football been that ugly? Free flowing enough when I seen them, heck they put 10 past someone the other week!

They got utterly smashed by Barcelona. 4-0 flattered Madrid and Messi started on the bench.

4 points is a pretty enormous margin In Spain, particularly when you're behind in the head to head stakes as well.

 

[Cabinet96]

Whole club is a joke. Desperately hope they finish 3rd again.

 

[Uppercut]

The Malcolm Tucker line is relevant here: 'we sack you after a year it looks like you ****ed up, we sack you after a week it looks like we ****ed up'.

 

[Ikki]

4 points off the top and qualified very easily for next round of champions league, only watched now and then but has the football been that ugly? Free flowing enough when I seen them, heck they put 10 past someone the other week!

I don't think it's anything to do with the onfield stuff because the irony is that they've had a ****load of injuries and they did well inspite of it. Benitez himself made a poor choice in going to Madrid as they did in hiring him. He just isn't the kind of manager that can give up control and let egos get in the way. And in Madrid, what they lack in sense they make up for in ego. 1 league title in the last 7 years and it's clear to see why.

He is better for clubs like Liverpool or, yes, United where they throw support behind the manager and let him dictate as he wants - as long as they're doing well. At Real, the players and the President/Perez have the power.

 

[Cabinet96]

Madrid are slightly stuffed because most of the best coaches often succumb to the political nonsense at the club. Ancelotti was probably the best fit but his inability to win league titles was always going to catch up with him.