Mails on Rooney, Jose, Wenger and South American football

Matt Stead

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A mail on Rooney
So after watching United beat Burnley comfortably, I was particularly happy that Rooney got himself a goal. Despite it probably being the scrappiest goal of his life, a goal is a goal and the strikers job.

People have come to criticize Rooney a lot lately and I can see why as his touch against Burnley was shocking, as his first touch hasn’t been the best for 2-3 years, and despite there being questions about his fitness, you have to remember he has pretty much been playing at the top for 15 years now in a league where the fitness levels are probably the best in the world. That is much harder than you think people. If Rooney should look at an example of how to regain that fitness and pace, he should be looking up to players like Lampard or Giggs.

Also, for people who think Rooney isn’t that good anymore, fair enough the fact that a 35 year old and a 19 year old are ahead of him in the pecking order for striker does say a lot, but shows a lot of courage from Mourinho. I will back up Rooney and say this though, the two times he scored 34 goals a season in both the 2009/10 and 2011/2012 season, he was simply superb, he was a deadly finisher, a big game player and could make goals out of nothing. You would think United would of won the league in both those seasons, but they finished second respectively to Chelsea and City (How that Aguero goal haunts me to this day, f***ing great finish though to be fair). Now if United had won either of those leagues, he would probably have that bit more respect and praise since he would of been the main man in those successes, as buying Rvp in 2012, was essentially the end of being the main man upfront.

As a United fan I do realize I am probably being slightly biased here, I mean the guy is the all time goal scorer of the club and managed to do that in 12 or 13 seasons. However the one big criticism that I have for Rooney is the fact he was so good when he first came to the United team that I actually thought he was better than Cristiano Ronaldo for the first two seasons he was at United. When Rooney was younger, his passion, running and energy all surpassed Ronaldo in my opinion, and when you look at players like Ronaldo, Robben and Ribery who are all similar ages to Rooney, you have to say all of there physical conditions are MUCH better than Rooney.

I think if Rooney took care of that body a bit more, he would of gotten 300 goals for United by now. He was an unreal teenager when he first came to the scene and one of the most exciting players to watch back in the day. Perhaps it was just a case of him running before walking, as perhaps he flourished too early in his career.
Rami, MUFC, Manchester
(Going to miss Zlatan’s banter so much)

 

United and buying success
After reading Hall of Shame I’ve decided to write in about something that I’ve always found odd.

As a Chelsea fan buying success is an argument that’s always used to beat us down. Which brings me to Man United.
A quick look will see that United have broke the British transfer record more than 10 times, Denis Law, Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, Andy Cole to name but a few.

It could be argued that Utd bought success in the 80’s and 90’s, another way of looking at this is that they needed to spend in order to compete with a dominant Liverpool side. Both Chelsea and City were some way short of every mounting a title challenge unless similar investment was made. I don’t see it as buying titles I see it as raising a club to a level playing field.

The role of the manager can’t be downplayed either, Chelsea didn’t look convincing until Jose took over, same with Mancini at City. The post Ferguson show year showing that throwing money at a problem doesn’t always solve it.
Steve, Limerick.

 

Jose’s right
Bit late off the mark with this one, but I have to say I completely agree with Jose on how winning the Europa League is more important than finishing fourth.

This is especially true these days where we’ve had Leicester win the league without the distraction of European football, while Chelsea could repeat the trick.

Would I take finishing seventh if meant winning the FA Cup? You betcha I would.

Arsenal only use the tournament as a cash cow to inflate the wages of bench botherers like Theo Walcott in any case.

I also think if Champions League qualification became the exception rather than the norm in Arsenal’s case, we would actually have a pop at winning the thing rather than prioritising qualification for the last 16 and that’s it.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

 

Be careful what you wish for
This (sorry to use one of yours, but it was close to hand and you might get a few more clicks 😉 )

It’s not really news is it? Is anyone else completely sick and tired of journalists constantly asking the same questions to Wenger? The very last line too. UUUUUrgh.

What is it again that they say is the definition of madness?

And I don’t even have a vested interest, other than (as a fan of another top four rival) just hoping he stays forever.

Just remember Folks – there’s only one League that can be won each season. One FA Cup, one League Cup, Two European Cups, Charity Shield, Supercup and World Club Championship. That’s it I think. Oh, EFL, sorry.

That’s the absolute maximum that can be won at the highest club level in this country (I say that categorically safe in the knowledge that I’ll soon be corrected if wrong!).

I think Wenger’s done an admirable job, all the while serving up an attractive style of football. I genuinely hope that he’s on some sort of colossal wind-up, I really do.

Be careful what you wish for.
JuniorBalls.

 

Kante
Still laughing at Michael, MUFC mail on What has Kante done? as immediately the scene from ‘Life of Brian’ started replaying in my mind

“All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? ”
Dave, Cork

 

Kante may not lead the league in any of the stats mentioned by Michael, MUFC, but according to the premier league website he is (leader in brackets)…

Tackles: 2nd (Idrissa Gueye)
Interceptions: 7th (Curtis Davies)
Passing: 5th (Paul Pogba)
Clean Sheets: Joint 2nd (A couple of his Chelsea teammates are joint leaders having played in one more)
Touches: 6th (James Milner)

The rest are not particularly relevant to his position, and examining the charts suggests that leading is less important than being consistently well placed in the statistics that matter to your role (aerial duels and blocks are more a centre back’s job, and also he’s like 5’5″). He isn’t dragging his team down with turnovers or other negatives etc. – decent amount of yellows and fouls, as might be expected, but no reds or serious gaffes. More importantly, both Chelsea and Leicester clearly benefitted from his performances. I’m not saying there isn’t room for debate, but stats are not the be all end all of which player has done the most for their side, or who is the best.
Mark, Newcastle

 

I think people that regularly attend games will agree that watching certain players live is completely different than on the tele. The best example i can think of is Sergio Busquets. I saw him play in 2012 for that “best ever” Barca team. What you don’t see on TV is how incredible his positioning is and what an intelligent footballer he is. He was the Tick to their Tiki taka and all those attacking players would not have been able to play without him.

Watching Kante live every week still blows my mind. Its his sheer presence everywhere on the pitch thats most important. Its not about the amount he runs but how and when he does it. I know its a cliché but it genuinely feels like having an extra man. Just look at how Leicester plummeted after they lost him, the rest of their squad was pretty much the same.

My point is that stats don’t mean everything. For me Sergio Busquets is still the best CM in the world but i can never find the stats to back that up.

If you went only by stats, Frank Lampard would be the undisputed best midfielder the Premier League has ever seen and I’m sure most people won’t agree with that!
Niki, London (Congrats and well deserved N’golo!)

 

Resources = expectations?
The letter from Gary, Ipswich
on Manchester United’s failure to meet expectations got me thinking more generally about the correlation between a club’s financial strength and expectations of success.  Just last week the accounts were published for my team for the year to June 2016 (little old Brentford, currently a very respectable 9th in the Championship).  They made interesting reading, for me at least, and what struck me most was how we are somehow able to compete on the pitch at that level when our annual revenues are little more than £10m.  Bearing in mind the first year parachute payment for a relegated PL club is £40m alone, it really is a very uneven playing field.

Now admittedly Brentford are kept afloat by our very generous owner, Matthew Benham, but even taking that into consideration (and remember the FFP rules limits the extent to which a club can benefit from a wealthy benefactor), I feel that our league position relative to annual revenue must be up there with the best in the country.  I’ve no idea if such a “league table” exists, and it would only really make sense comparing clubs in the same division, but it would make interesting reading and provide an eye-opening insight into how a club is actually run and how successful they really are.

It would be a pretty dull sport if spending could guarantee success, but viewing a club’s success in this light might provide some perspective for supporters who think the likes of Mourinho and Guardiola are actually doing well with the resources at their disposal (and for some bizarre reason there appear to be more in the camp of the former than the latter).  To throw some more numbers into the mix, Spurs’ annual revenues in 2016 were a little over £200m.  Manchester United’s were £515m.  Something is not quite right if a club with that much of a resource advantage is not at least challenging in every competition it enters.
Rob,  Brentford FC (not Brentwood)

 

A lovely mail on South American football
A few years ago I was travelling around South America with my girlfriend and managed to convince her that going to football was a cultural experience as much as anything. Our first game was a World Cup qualifier between Argentina and Brazil, on the way to which I managed to get myself within inches of having a police baton round the head. They were letting people through a police line, and having motioned for my girlfriend to go I duly followed, only to realise a little bit too late that it was only the women they were letting through. A confused face rather than an aggressive one probably helped the policeman decide that in front of him was an idiot rather than a hooligan and he lowered his baton.

Having made it in to the Argentinian crowd we spent a good deal of our time trying not to give the game away that we were English, having had a couple of friendly locals motion for us to be quiet when they heard us talking. One of their favourite songs being something along the lines of ‘he who is not jumping is English’. I don’t think I’ve ever jumped with as much enthusiasm. Brazil won the game and we escaped with our cover intact having directed a few ‘putas’ at the appropriate time.

Next up was Boca. We’d met a couple at the top of a hill in a remote part of the country who lived 5 mins walk from the ground in Buenos Aires and they managed to get us tickets in the section where all the locals go. The first 15 minutes were spent underneath a giant flag and passing it back and forth. This was followed by the die-hard fans linking arms across several rows and running side to side at you, the whole stand moving back and forth with them and quite often you’d find yourself nowhere near where you’d previously been standing.

One of the strangest things though is the speed that the whole crowd sit down en masse at the referee’s half time whistle. Having spent 45 minutes running around like lunatics, they treated their allocated sit down time extremely seriously. So much so that I literally had someone sitting on one of my shoulders with the seating space being at a premium. I’m fairly sure Boca won the game and that Palermo scored but other than that I could not tell you any detail about the actual game.

Amazingly, I still managed to drag my girlfriend to one last game in South America. This one was in the old Maracana. We’d visited earlier in the day and had a tour, concluding with a kick about near the dugouts in a little fenced off area. We had a good rapport going with the guide so I ‘accidentally’ mis-controlled the ball over the fence and duly hopped over on to the pitch to get it, where I ‘accidentally’ slipped and lay on the pitch for about half a second before deciding I’d better not push my luck.

We asked when the next game was and were told there was a second division clash that evening so we paid the £5 for a ticket and came back later not expecting a great deal but still excited to see a live game in this stadium. We definitely weren’t expecting a nearly full Maracana to be absolutely rocking. Turns out we’d got tickets to the game that would see Vasco Da Gama promoted if they won, which they did 2-1, the atmosphere was incredible, the whole place filled with drums, horns, banners and flares. I count myself very lucky to have seen that famous place in close to full swing.

Thanks to the previous mailboxers who have brought on this reminiscing and reduced my productivity at work to basically zero. Needless to say that my girlfriend is now my wife. My next task is to convert my 5 year old daughter, starting with her first ever game in a few weeks against Hull.
Ant, CPFC

 

Gayle force
Dear Football365,

Congratulations to Newcastle United on returning to the top flight at the first time of asking.  This is bad news for Liverpool, however, for in addition to the games they inevitably stuff up every year against Crystal Palace, they will have to play their former nemesis Dwight Gayle twice.

Happy Tuesday, everyone.
Ed Quoththeraven

 

Someone defends The Sun
Mediawatch
is my favourite F365 article, I read it every day, and have actively defended it when occasionally criticized…

…and as a Liverpool fan, I thoroughly despise The Sun…

…but I have to side with The Sun over Mediawatch when they make the mannequin challenge reference. The guy was literally standing in the shop window. The photo is indeed quite bizarre.
Oliver Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland

 

The big issue
Jeremy Aves, we really didn’t notice Matteo Darmian’s tri-burns. That’s because we all froze in horror, mouth opened, scratching our heads wondering how on earth Hector Bellerin thought THAT hairstyle is a good idea.
Franklin, CFC, Lagos

 

Funny commentators
Thank you Adway Biniwale. You had me laughing hysterically there!

If anyone reading that grew up in Zambia during the 80s/90s you had to have been thinking of the legendary Dennis Liwewe.

Google “Dennis Liwewe funny” if you didn’t happen to grow up in Zambia. May Mr Liwewe’s glorious passionate football soul rest in peace.
Mukund Kannan (LFC) Manila, Philippines

 

How much do you earn from home?
Guys, next time you read an article on f365 and find those Make Money At Home spammers, simply mark the comment as spam. The comment will be hidden from view and readers can go on with their banter without those annoying scammers. Be your brother’s keeper.
Johniecum

PS-Chelsea 1-2 Southampton?