Comments on: We Need A Quick Fix – Why Rooney MUST Be Captain

By: franky

franky — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:44:09 +0000

*warrior spirit is not enough

Addendum: ManUtd is a squad maintaining a high Fair Play level, few cards (at least 3 cards this year were unjustified (the only red card we got was unjustified). Rooney is one of our main card collectors.

By: franky

franky — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:42:25 +0000

Wayne can become captain the day he doesn’t take stupid cards anymore. He never should have dived, having the City game in mind, and today’s yellow was another stupidity.

Get over it, Rio is the perfect person to be our next skipper. And when Rio ends his career, it will be Rooney.

Like it or not but Rooney’s warrior spirit, no matter how many times he has saved us (thinking of the Villa game as most present remembrance) he is too young and too impulsive. We need no Terry-alike behaviour, give the lad some time to grow.

By: denton davey

denton davey — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:34:47 +0000

Last year, ACRoma lost it’s s rikers to injury and Spalletti went with a six-man midfield – a change that led to their best run of play of the season until they came to OT and were demolished 7-1.

I still want an out-and-out central striker to complement our six-man midfield;

On the issue of captain – I can’t see SAF “stripping” Giggs; I can see RedNev coming back to reclaim the armband before the end of the season. And, in the summer ? a new dawn will arise – possibly Rio for a few years since he certainly has the on-field presence and who really knows any more about him ?

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 14:08:42 +0000

tinzweishe, erm, Anderson is fantastic, granted, but captain?!

I don’t even know if he speaks the language yet..

By: tinzweishe

tinzweishe — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:04:41 +0000

What about Anderson our best player at the moment(play maker) just judge the youngster’s abilities

By: spiritof1983

spiritof1983 — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 02:41:09 +0000

I am a Ferdinand next for captaincy advocate. Barring Sunday’s shocker, he has been one of the most consistent performers in the team this season. However he is already a leader in defense, even when Neville was present and even more so now. So the armband change to him isn’t going to do anything much to improve his game nor send a strong message to the rest of the team, other than to Giggs.

A message should be sent as the team, who despite many good results isn’t achieving the fluency as before. They have performed in other ways to compensate, yet are found out in high intensity and tempo games typically. This is especially so in the case of Giggs (and Ronaldo). One of them has to be dropped as we can’t afford both on the pitch in these sorts of games with the fullback cover we have. Even Evra hasn’t been as good as last season. In other matches Giggs still brings better composure to the attack and sees the opening better than anyone else.

I would remove the armband from Giggs to send this message to him and the team.

Rooney had done fairly well as captain of the team against Roma away and I think he will behave better and mature more with the armband. In fact it will invigorate him more to get back to playing better. I don’t think it is too much of an addition of pressure. He probably had and has that from Capello observing him constantly and making changing in the England squad. More importantly he is the right candidate to send a message that we need more Rooney-like effort throughout the team, not just in work rate but also in teamwork. This message would also be well received by the fans that are starting to cast doubts and we will need it as we step into the business end of the season.

I agree with picking a settled central midfield. I would also think with shortage of striking options, we utilize 5-man midfield in whatever form at some stages in games to conserve the two we have.

By: yip

yip — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:53:25 +0000

totallly agree ! rooney is only man be captain our club and england ,you can miss ronlado ,you can miss gerrard but you can’t miss rooney on the ground.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:55:35 +0000

I wrote a post this morning that, in part, discussed the similarities between the problems that SAF and Wenger have faced this season. Both have a plethora of talent in midfield and both have had captaincy issues. In both cases Wenger has made the difficult decision, doing what’s best for the side and egos be damned. Gilberto Silva has been the victim of both decisions, losing out on playing time and the captaincy. One of Arsenal’s best players last year and the heir apparent to the Captaincy, going in other directions on both accounts was bold by Wenger. One can’t question the positive effects of those decisions, as Arsenal stand five points clear. SAF and the team must now make similar decisions, decide on a first team midfield pairing and make Rooney the captain.

By: pet

pet — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:49:12 +0000

Yes he can be our captain, but he should learn to play as man and be more responsible bear in mind that he is our match maker, I just wonder whether making him a captain will make him stay out of bookings and send offs

By: Sid P

Sid P — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 15:41:07 +0000

Rooney will now doubt be given the armband in a few years, but currently he isn’t mature enough to be given that type of responsibility. We don’t want another Terry leading the team do we? Rooney’s always going to give 110%, that’s just the way he plays. Captain or no captain, Rooney will always be Rooney. The captain has to be more then just a hardworker…he has to lead by example, not just in terms of how he plays on the pitch but also how he interacts with the media and teammates.

Right now we need Rooney to rediscover his goalscoring form. A striker has more pressure then any other player on the pitch, so to saddle the young man with the burdens of leading the team isn’t prudent in my opinion. I wish we had a leader in the midfield, but we don’t (except perhaps Scholes who doesn’t have the personality to lead). For the time being, the captaincy should be given to either Rio or Giggs…it’s not ideal, but experimenting with the young Rooney isn’t the solution either.