Filling a slightly Rooney shaped midfield hole with a Rooney peg.
Let me have a go…no me..bagsy me…
If you were asked to pick a player from the current United squad to duplicate eleven times, and then field in the next fixture, I think you’d be hard pushed not to choose Rooney. Vidic might get a few votes, but the referee would have a job keeping up with play, with the extra luggage he’d need for his notebooks; one finishing a game is an achievement in itself, let alone a teamsworth. Evra might not be a bad shout and having to be everywhere might negate his pending onset of (not so) latent positional indifference. Anyway, before I hit my word count in the first paragraph, let’s just say for arguments sake it’s Rooney. Besides, if Hargreaves gets wind of this cloning analogy he might start harping on about our maniacal experiments again. *muffles deranged laughter*
Even Rooney’s most demonstrative of critics would find it hard to deny his ‘all round game’ is second to none amongst his current team mates and although likely born of self-efficacy as opposed to a genuine ‘passion’ for the club (without suggesting he has none) he has the drive and determination to match. It’s no surprise when the midfield conundrum reaches the de-de-de-de-de-de-dededededede-dooo, that the nine letter answer revealed, Richard (Jeff, Des, whoever it is now) … is WayneRoon(ey). *close enough*
Mind in the gutter them lot…
After starting up front and making a name for himself as one of the best strikers around, and becoming an international along the way … it will be as a midfielder that Scholesy is remembered. No doubt had Scholesy not been shifted back he would still have been regarded as one of the best. The parallels between Rooney’s and Scholesy’s playing styles would suggest it’s no real stretch to see Rooney making the shift a successful one too. End of article, you’re welcome…?
Stop tackling Vieira or we’ll give you a wedgie!
Filling a slightly Rooney-shaped midfield hole with a Rooney-shaped peg will work, but the Rooney-shaped hole left up front will need to be filled and what of the other midfield berth. If Fergie were to trust Berbatov again, then we would still need to find an adequate partner for Rooney in midfield. We do have players in the squad who are capable and such is Fergie’s ability to shape his squad through the season and inspire confidence, that Phil Neville became one of the few midfielders to tame Patrick Vieira. Patching up positions might possibly see us limping over the Premiership winning line again but it will not lead to us seeing the Champions League trophy shoved skywards by any one in a red shirt.
Whether Rooney can or can’t, will or won’t, become a midfield player is for Fergis and, of course, Rooney himself to decide. There should be no doubt he is more than able. The issue, this rotation within the squad is papering over, remains. United need to find at least one, if not two, maybe even three, top if not top, top, if not the toppest of the top quality players to keep up. Whether we really have these players in the first team squad is another question. If the answer is a ‘yes’ that we do, then at this moment in time they are doing a very good impression of a squad where the answer would be a ‘no’, and it’s getting predictable.
You take responsibility…no you…
