This is completely accurate and something I agree with, no way is a manager going to tinker with CB's going into a tournament and certainly not Safegate
Im a Utd fan and totally aware of Maguires capabilities - he gets pelters left, right and centre and is an easy target in my eyes - the fee isnt his fault - he plays through injury, doesnt shy away from interviews after games etc etc and I think hes done ok for England in the main
We love to blame someone in this country and if you look back over Englands failings in tournaments its usually because one of ours
Beckham, Phil Neville, Rooney etc etc
Last edited by R0bertb00th; 17th April 2024 at 16:01.
Rooney the best player this countries ever produced in my opinion.
Genuinely outrageous player individually and also as a fantastic team player.
At 16-20 he was phenomenal in terms of the terror he brought to defenses when he was on the ball.
Arguably the most well rounded striker to ever play the game, could do everything.
Up there with the greats of global football for me.
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Hood when did you ever see Messi or Ronaldo putting a defensive shift in ?
Ever see them making 80 yards sprints to tackle wingers on the edge of their own 18 yards box.
Rooneys all round game was far superior to both Messi and Ronaldo.
Messi and Ronaldo have been the best “attacking” players.
Rooney in my opinion had everything you could want in a footballer.
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Rooney problems were mostly off the field, bit of a p155head and then his cock got him in trouble when boozed up. Not unusual for young men, but not the best for an elite athlete
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This is like watching Arsenal - just have a shot man!!
We are Refereed differently .
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I thought City looked spent today, leggy and slow. Hardly surprising really and not just because they played 120 minutes on Wednesday, rather last season and this catching up with them.
I believe he's referring to the alleged high incidence of asthma suffered by players of one particular Merseyside-based team. Asthma sufferers are allowed to take asthma medication which so happens to have performance enhancing properties in terms of oxygen transfer. One might argue that for a team that likes to press aggressively and play at an intense tempo that this could be an advantage.
Allegedly.
What a fascinating thought and one that's never occurred to me. Now it has I'm struggling to think of anyone better in that specific regard.
Each of the mega-greats had no inclination to do certain elements of the game (often defensively) but in Rooney you had someone capable of everything. Speak to any of the Man United squad who played with him and they all say he could have played in any position and been outstanding (he was even, apparently, an unbelievable goalkeeper).
He could score all types. Tap-ins, headers, left foot, right foot, piledrivers, lobs, dinks, passed-finishes etc. He could run. He could tackle. He had timing and positioning. He had awareness. He was unselfish but still put up huge numbers himself. Passing was outstanding too. He had physicality and dynamism but was also cute when needed. Set pieces were strong. Goodness he was good.
Even with Pele, Messi, CR7, R9 etc. you can find elements of those which they lacked or had little desire to do.
Maybe Maradona comes closest although his size would have precluded him from winning aerial duals in the way Rooney did.
From what I've been told - although he was well before most of our times - Alfredo Di Stefano might be close too?
Others I can think of who possibly could have done it but maybe weren't given the chance in the very advanced positions:
Steven Gerrard
Yaya Touré
Ruud Gullit
Clarence Seedorf
Franz Beckenbauer?
Lothar Matthäus
Sergio Ramos has defended outstandingly and scored in mad numbers, although I dunno if he's a great footballer?
I suspect one day we'll be talking about Eduardo Camavinga in this conversation.
I'm told Martin Peters was ludicrous in multiple positions.
Jude Bellingham?
As an aside, after writing the above I just googled it and this bit of interesting silliness came up...
https://medium.com/@strijdhagen/the-...l-5a11fdb9f51d
Class act this fella
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C55jE...l6N3k3Y2dlaTVk
Plenty of class acts purporting to be football supporters...
At least that fool wasn't throwing bottles at buses...
z
Great post Toby.
Rooney genuinely was the full package. As you say I can’t think of a single striker that comes anywhere near him for his all round game.
The people earlier in the thread definitely haven’t read the posts properly when they have said “ what about Messi, what about Ronaldo “.
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Much as it pains me , I’d agree on Rooney .
Petulant , bad tempered and arrogant, his football was pretty damn good . Obviously I couldn’t take to him because of who he played for but there was admiration for his on field performances.
It was telling that he missed the FACup semi final in 2011. I’m not sure City would’ve won that day if he was playing . Almost a sliding doors moment for the two teams .
Watching Arsenal last night, they are definitely running on empty too .
Liverpool could well stroll on from here if they keep their players fit.
After all the European crap and a second rate cup semi it’s back to the big time. The mighty blues look to bounce back after a sound thrashing by Chelsea, who had no trouble hitting the back of the net against us.
With Luton losing yesterday, this is a classic 6 pointer.
Come on you Blues.
The asthma thing is a load of nonsense. The article came from a chap in Russia who has never actually left Russia.
Exercise induced asthma actually is a real thing but to gain an advantage you’d have to take banned levels off the asthma medication ingredient.
The Russian article stated 70% of the Liverpool squad are asthmatic.
Professor John Dickenson said he screened the clubs players back in 2011 and 25% of the squad were suffering from exercise induced asthma. Which was below the league average of 27.8%.
To gain an advantage you’d need to be taking 40/50 times the allowed sporting amount and would fail doping tests.
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Aah , thanks for explaining Ivan .
So it’s an allegation then ? Something that’s never been proven, right ?
Imagine that eh ?
No it’s not an allegation.
It’s a made up story from a Russian bot on Twitter that’s been shown to be nonsense.
City cheating isn’t an allegation either that’s a fact.
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2-0 happy with that, 5 points above the drop now.
Shows how much Europe takes out of teams. Consequently I'm delighted with Arsenal's win vs Wolves last night.
Oops, Forest a bit upset. Everton got away with a few decisions there, but Forest accusing the VAR official of being a Luton fan is taking things a bit far.
Jose’s at the Fulham v Liverpool game. Guest of FSG perhaps?
Loving the FA Semi
I just hope United hold out . Coventry look dangerous .
Great result for Villa, 4th place starting to look a bit more certain.
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Coventry team talk on 70 minutes;
'Lads, it's Man United'