Wayne Rooney -

[Manc]

How good was he? YouTube just recommend his superb debut goal against The Arsenal, and it got me thinking about those early days and the huge promise.

[Ian]

The earlier, less predictable Rooney was genuinely brilliant and scored some brilliant goals (volleys, chips, etc.)

After that his career was... odd? I guess? He obviously had his 'finisher' period where he basically mucked about in the area waiting for Valencia to drop a cross onto his forehead and he went through a long period where he was at the same time absolutely dreadful, capable of occasional brilliance and crucial to United. Like even when he was at his worst of being seemingly unable to consistently do the basics (it was during this period he scored the goal against City) the United team was still always much better with him in it. Whether he was doing stuff my uneducated brain didn't pick out or whether it came down to "intangibles" I don't know. I thought at the point when there was all the will he/won't he leave business we should have let him go but I suppose Ferguson was seeing what I wasn't.

The Newcastle goal is still my favourite.

[Baz]

Him, Tevez and Ronaldo was the best counterattack on the planet.

I also enjoyed that season(?) where he suddenly got boss at scoring headers, out of nowhere.

[CJay]

You make a thread with a random footballer as the title and I’m disappointed there isn’t some big news to go along with it. Thought Baz was going to finally get the news he’s been waiting for, although Wazza seemed an unlikely candidate.

[Lewis]

Wayne Rooney was brilliant. He was merely world class until Ronaldo left, and then genuinely the third best player in the world in that 2009/10 season. The injury he got towards the end of that season cost them the league, and probably the Champions' League as well. After that he was a bit up and down, which, in hindsight was probably because all parties were slow to realise he was a number nine by this point. He was still the number ten in that weird 2010/11 season and pretty decent, he carried them with tap-ins in 2011/12, and then back to number ten and being a bit crap in 2012/13. He was one of the few people to pull their weight under David Moyes, and more important than people realised in the various systems 'LvG' tried. That game where they went to Arsenal and bummed them on the counter-attack was hilarious.

Alex Ferguson blowing him out in 2013 would have been an interesting counter-factual.

[Jimmy Floyd]

One of the best English players ever. His legacy is tarnished by four things:

a) When he started he looked like he could be anything at all, which in 95% of cases is going to lead to somebody not 'living up to expectations'.

b) He failed to lead England to anything whatsoever (not even a semi-final), which is far more powerful in the popular imagination than any club triumphs.

c) He is an Irish Catholic scouser who looks like a stray pugdog and most of England just doesn't get on with that in the way they would get on with a David Beckham type figure who, with working-class origins, also had the looks and the desire to become an elite media star (he also lacked Gazza's cheeky chappy likeability - Rooney was very sour-faced for most of his career, summed up in the infamous Algeria 'Nice to see your own fans booing you' comments).

d) the granny-shagging and other misdemeanours, which are linked to c).

[Lewis]

As far as United goes his contract/transfer disputes are the blot on his reputation, but he was probably right about the club first time round, and he's not going to turn down lol money under Moyes is he.

[Jimmy Floyd]

At United, I always felt his career wound down rather more rapidly than it might have done because everyone had decided (probably post-Ferguson) that he was going to end up playing much deeper, which he never actually had the game to do. I don't see why he couldn't have carried on as a 9 until the bitter end, especially in the modern setups.

[niko_cee]

Jimmy sums it up well, he probably gets unfairly remembered as a bit of a disappointment because Euro 2004 felt like it was the start of something potentially miraculous and it never got better than that with England.

[Ian]

It also doesn't help that post-2004 he only scored three tournament goals and two of those were in losing efforts. For England there's very little for fans to actually be attached to or find memorable other than stepping on Ronaldo's gonads, gobbing off in 2010, etc.

[Lewis]

It was Ricardo Carvalho he stumbled back into. Ronaldo merely GOT HIM SENT OFF.

[SvN]

He's a cunt, and I hate that he's our top goalscrorer of all time. I wish we'd binned him off in 2010.

[Kikó]

Can't add more than Lewis did really - obviously brilliant at his best and with Ronaldo + Tevez was outstanding. Should have sold him earlier when he decided to drink/smoke more than train.

[Lewis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dpY9AKUwhU

[Manc]

The third best player in the world in that 2009/10 season.

41 goal contributions in 44 games that season. He's no Bruno.

[randomlegend]

41 goal contributions in 44 games that season. He's no Bruno.

https://i.imgur.com/hlVJH3a.png

Did Rooney ever have more through balls than Chelsea?

Probably. Who knows.

[niko_cee]

Salah playing the same number tells you there's something wrong with that stat.

[Ian]

It was Ricardo Carvalho he stumbled back into. Ronaldo merely GOT HIM SENT OFF.

So it was, my brain has mulched all that into it being Ronaldo's groin.