i think he is not a pure out and out forward, and also, SAF needs him to track back so his energy is shared between his defensive and attacking duties.
obviously he isnt that good after all.
better than dirk kuyt
Originally posted by marcteng:haha. dun compare Rooney w that fellow lar, who is so much older. Rooney at 18, was already very famous liao.
maybe the pressure came at too young an age?
His genius comes in flashes.
but when his "genius" comes, his "injury" is bound to follow.
I don't think we can compare it this way... Putting Rooney along with Ronaldo is not right as different individual develop differently...
Rooney has been great for United all along... And I belief he has develop very well over these last 4 yrs... If we take him away from the squad then we can see how much difference he makes to it... Ronaldo on the other hand has developed into a very good or we should say into the best player in the world winning the Fifa and European awards together in the same year... Nobody expected him to turn into what he is today 5 years ago... but he has and full credit to him.
If we want to compare, We should look at how much Ronaldo has improve as a player on his own rather than just compare Rooney to him... If we think carefully, when Ronaldo first arrived, Robben was far more establish and a better player than him too... But today he has surpass him...
Arsenal's Rvp was mentioned to be their most potential player 4, 5 yrs ago, He is probably one year older than Ronaldo and 2 on Rooney... He was said to be more potential or at least level with Ronaldo and Rooney during those days... Today, he has, well... done ok I guess. But not everyone reach the very top... Some don't even make it like Rafa once said Mark Gonzalez would be the new Ryan Giggs or something then what happen to him?
There are so many potential players that may not make it to the very top, some don't even make it very far... What has happened to Jose Antonio Reyes, another during those days along with Ron, Roon and Rvp? Has Mohamed Sissoko turn out to be another Patrick Vieira like what Rafa said he could be? Will Bojan Krkic turns out to be another Messi? Or Samir Nasri into Zizu? Or Nicklas Bendtner into another Dennis Bergkamp?
So we have to take into account all these... Players who have reach Rvp or Rooney's level we should consider them having fulfil their potential... Whether they can take it one step further its not easy... Just like Gerrard who was a young potential at Pool, today we can say he has fulfiled his potential but has he take it into the next level? I guess the answer is no as he have yet to be crown World and Europe's best, but has he fulfilled his potential, I would say definitely.
Either Rooney becomes unreined, therefore turning into Gazza
or he let himself reined in by SAF, therefore sparing him from fate of Gazza now.