Inconsistent Rooney retires a polarising figure despite Man Utd record

Keep your mails coming to theeditor@football365.com…

VVD impact on Liverpool’s attack
Good email from Ed Ern on the knock-on impact of VVD and Gomez being missing for Liverpool, although it mostly focussed on Liverpool without the ball. I don’t have the stats to back it up (maybe someone else does), but it seems like TAA’s position when CBs have the ball is deeper than usual this season, perhaps because they are nervous about getting caught on the break without VVD and Gomez’s pace as Ed Ern says. But also one of VVD’s strengths is the flat long pass out to the wing, which for some reason Fabinho seems less willing to try so TAA makes himself available for a simple pass. I reckon this change might be one reason for TAA’s apparent poor form – he is more often receiving the ball with two banks of defenders in front of him, rather than a scrambling midfielder trying to get across to him after a switch of play. It also makes it easier for teams to defend deep and narrower against the front three, which is obviously what West Brom, Newcastle and Southampton all did to great effect, giving a sense of ‘sterile domination’.

But a key difference now is the return of Thiago. Although a lot of people seem to be taking great joy in the fact that he hasn’t done anything for the highlights reel in his 242 minutes on the pitch, what he has done is play 36 accurate long balls in that time.

That’s 13 per 90 minutes! Fabinho is averaging 4 per 90. At City, De Bruyne averages 2.5 and Rodrigo 5. Other players you might think of as playing a lot of accurate long balls: Alderweireld (4 per 90); Xhaka (5); Coady (6.5); Ruben Neves (7.5). Maybe he can’t sustain that rate, but even so, with him in the team Liverpool can probably stretch teams more effectively and with less risk of a turnover and – just as important – he is capable of threading passes to the front three (are we supposed to call those vertical?) to take advantage of the extra yard of space created. Assuming United won’t defend with 10 behind the ball, maybe they are not tailor-made to expose Liverpool, as long as Thiago plays.

Maybe he won’t play at the weekend so this is all moot for that game, but while missing both VVD and Gomez has obviously been a nightmare defensively, the impact with the ball might have been less if Thiago had remained fit (even more reason for Everton fans to idolise Richarlison).
Shappo

Rooney retires a polarising figure
For someone with such an illustrious career, Rooney sure is a polarising figure.

On one hand, you can point to the stats that make him a United and England legend. The goals. The moments of brilliance. The trophies. He burst onto the scene (a la Micah Richards) and never looked back. He drove England to Euro 2004 and they might’ve gone quite far if not for his injury. He scored a hat-trick on his United debut and won countless awards. The list goes on.

Alas, there is a lingering feeling that he could have done more. The other hand, if you will.

This feeling manifests as a result of his selflessness. He didn’t play as a number nine or 10 during United’s best seasons (07-09), instead doing the tracking back and dog work that Ronaldo wouldn’t do. That made the team better, of course, but he didn’t score as much as he potentially might have, were he to have played as the number nine or ten in those years.

He did take centre stage from 09-12 and reaped the rewards in terms of goals in those years (scoring 34 in 09/10 and 11/2). They won one league and got to another Champions League final in that time. The sad part of Rooney being centre stage then is that they didn’t have enough fire power or talent elsewhere. But he was brilliant.

Rooney’s form (whisper it) fell off a cliff around the 13/14 season and beyond. When Ferguson retired, Moyes backed the wrong horse as Rooney was on the back nine of his career. Maybe it was all the dog work he did early on in his career, or maybe it was the sheer volume of games he had under his belt, but he wasn’t the same. His touch got worse, he lost a yard of pace, and probably stayed at United a year or two too long.

Rooney retires as a polarising figure because he wasn’t consistent for over 15 years, which seems insane, but that’s football. At his peak, he was a selfless team player who, on his day, could take on anyone. A United legend and one who should be looked back on for being a team-first player, when so many aren’t. The white Pele.
Matthew Carolan

Penalties, Hippos and Harry
I can’t be arsed to check the stats either but I think James Outram (Wirral) may have forgotten to take off all the other teams’ penalties when calculating penalty-less points. Unless he’s trying to establish what a league table would look like if every team except MU could be awarded penalties.

On a lighter note (and I’m not citing this as empirical evidence or claiming to believe it), this is taken directly from Axel Tuanzebe’s Wikipedia page:

– In July 2018, he broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to individually clear a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, while in Los Angeles on Manchester United’s pre-season tour.

Therefore, if true, MU do have the world’s best to call into their back line.

I think I’d fancy Maguire’s chances in any eating competition too. Big lad – I bet he can really put it away just like a hungry hippopotamus. Similar turning circle as well although the hippo would win a race every time. And probably get more headers on target. Harry’s passing and footwork would be better, though. Leadership, not sure. Hippos are pretty scary. I reckon they’d be good at charging out of defence too.

When I started writing this I had no idea it would turn into a skills comparison between Harry Maguire and a hippopotamus. Funny old game.

Anyway, have a good weekend, fellow 365ers.
Bennett, Val Verde (if Matrix was here, he’d laugh too)

The entire “woulda, coulda shoulda” penalty debate is nonsense. Putting that aside, James Outram, Wirral, the difference between 2 wins and 2 draws is 4 points not 6. Which would put United in 2nd place alongside City. Scouse maffs.
Ryan, (Not Australia )Ireland 

ABUs go back
There is a narrative building already that if Manchester United are to somehow manage a title win this year it won’t mean much in a Covid affected season.

On the contrary, the nature of the season has hurt United more than most. Arguably our poorest performances of the season were in the first three games when the team really wasn’t upto speed.

Barely a month after a Europa League semi final United were playing a Crystal Palace team that had had two competitive matches.

All United had was one pre season friendly under their belt. After that they somehow managed to edge out a win against Brighton and were then annihilated by Spurs.

The Spurs match gives us a minus ten goal difference but they are certainly not guaranteed 3 points. However, I’d back United if they were to go up against Crystal Palace now.

I get that every team plays every other team twice but any player will testify that it takes a couple of Premier League matches for players to get back upto speed.

Playing teams that had more competitive matches under their belt certainly gave United a disadvantage.

We might end up finishing fourth 20 points off the time but if we do manage to win it, or lose it by 3 points or goal difference, it will still be a monumental achievement.

Let’s enjoy this while it lasts. Being top does feel less of an Elephant ontop of a tree this time.
Shehzad Ghias,mufc, Karachi 

Cuddling/Hugging
Professional rugby is carrying on.  They get a lot closer to each other than footballers.  And when the ref blows the whistle, half of each team get together and get as close as physically possible to each other in one group.

So please lets get realistic about the odd goal scoring celebration.
Ben (MUFC – not looking forward to Sunday)

Eberechi Eze
Naz the Gooner, I just want to correct your assumption on Eze’s name.. It is Eberechi Eze.. So it’s not just full of E’s..

If you include his middle name, Oluchi.. Your conclusion doesn’t hold water at all
Cheesom( Correcting wrong usage of names since the 90s)