[Chezzie Owl]

Exactly Thurny

Rooney had all the potential in the world and could have been one of the greats of the game but ultimately didn't live up to it! Rooney for me is past it now and reached his peak ability wise at 25-26, the last 2-3 seasons he's been a shadow of the player that spent his first 5-6 seasons as a pro.

[consilio]

He's got 56 league goals in 90 games over the last three years.

An excellent record.

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

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I also like the fact that Rooney has called player meetings to bring the hotshots together    i think he his becoming responable for his actions on and off the field    not like that Twat JT who stabbed his own teamates in the back on and off the field and caused a xxxx rebellion in South africa    he spoke to much and so did gerrard Johson cole  lampard  etc  

Rooney is becoming a quite likeable young chap   and we havnt had a nice captain since Bobby moore  

Dunno about that, certainly stabbed a few of their girlfriends though

[Chezzie Owl]

Obviously you've not seen Sterling play over the last season or so then Imre, he tore the Man City defence inside out last season and baring in mind they have Zabaletta, Kompany, Clichy & Demichellis...deary me <doh>

Since his transition from a winger into a no.10 he has shown that he isn't yet another headless chicken of a winger. He has shown a hell of a lot of intelligent passes and runs since moving into the no.10, I saw a lot of Liverpool games (via Sky) last season and his potential is massive, yes he may make one or two errors but that is through his age, lets not forget that he is only a boy still (apparently with 8 kids ) and is bound to make some silly errors, but in BR he has a terrific young manager who can help get the very best out of him.

[St Charles Owl]

Sterling definitely represents the future of the England team, just like most of the team Roy put out the other night. Whether they develop into anything remains to be seen and we have talked about golden generations before!!! But to defend Rooney, his scoring record speaks for itself and in the words of that wise old Owl Pei, strikers are paid to score goals!! When you consider he has that record while playing out wide or in the midfield says even more about his ability for me. As for his work rate, I remember the days when forums like this used to be full of hate for Beckham and his attitude, work rate etc, but I don't think anyone would question his passion and abilities now with hindsight!! Sometimes the best players simply don't have the quality around them for them to be able to shine as they maybe could, and you only have to look at Portugal and Ronaldo to see that happen time and time again!!

[consilio]

Me and Imre are right and you're wrong Chez.

Argument over

[Thurnscoe_OWL]

Me and Imre are right and you're wrong Chez.

Argument over  

never thought I'd see the day that you 2 agreed on something, even though you're both wrong

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Sterling definitely represents the future of the England team, just like most of the team Roy put out the other night.  Whether they develop into anything remains to be seen and we have talked about golden generations before!!!  But to defend Rooney, his scoring record speaks for itself and in the words of that wise old Owl Pei, strikers are paid to score goals!!  When you consider he has that record while playing out wide or in the midfield says even more about his ability for me.  As for his work rate, I remember the days when forums like this used to be full of hate for Beckham and his attitude, work rate etc, but I don't think anyone would question his passion and abilities now with hindsight!!  Sometimes the best players simply don't have the quality around them for them to be able to shine as they maybe could, and you only have to look at Portugal and Ronaldo to see that happen time and time again!!

Sometimes you have to drop the "best" players for the good of the team though.

[madsteve]

He's got 56 league goals in 90 games over the last three years.

An excellent record.

Rooney's record looks good on paper because he punishes weak teams but his record against the best teams in Championship Finals, falls short and has done many times. I feel that players like Sterling, Sturridge, Barkley, AOC might be able to do it at that highest level but we might not find out if Rooney continues to have an automatic starting role for the next six years.

[Chezzie Owl]

SCO, disagree with you on the "best" players not having quality players around him. Assuming you mean Rooney then Sturridge, Sterling, Delph, Henderson, Wishere ARE quality players...otherwise they wouldn't be playing for their country would they! Also, Bale the other night had to "bale" Wales out (sorry couldn't help that one) and whilst the opposition were hardly of Germany's standard, the Wales team were poor but Bale stepped up and shown his WORLD CLASS qualities and has done so on more than one occasion in the past when Wales have been poor. Rooney plays for Man Utd and England...both with top quality players around him so there's no excuses!! With Ronaldo not performing for Portugal I think that is down to his attitude more than anything, fully knowing that the players around him are not as good as him and a team that hasn't done well recently, so basically Ronaldo is spitting his dummy out & isn't enjoying playing for Portugal at the moment and it's showing in his performances at International level.

The simple matter of fact is that Rooney is not at his best and hasn't been for a long time. His work rate whilst still there it isn't there all the time like it used to be, as for his goal scoring in what 5 games this season he has two of them in all competitions and one was a penalty at that. Sorry but Rooney can do better than that and simply isn't showing the kind of form that World Class players consistently show.

[consilio]

You're still wrong Chezzie

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He's got 56 league goals in 90 games over the last three years.

An excellent record.

Rooney's record looks good on paper because he punishes weak teams but his record against the best teams in Championship Finals, falls short and has done many times. I feel that players like Sterling, Sturridge, Barkley, AOC might be able to do it at that highest level but we might not find out if Rooney continues to have an automatic starting role for the next six years.

All those players you mention can play in the side with Rooney, so there's no problem