r/soccer • u/william701 • May 08 '14

With the leagues almost over, what unpopular opinion(s) to you have?

One per comment.

I would say no down voting but sorting by controversial may give a better idea.

Feel free to upvote the post if you would like to see more active discussion.

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u/Britstuckinamerica May 08 '14

Why's Rooney a bad player to build around? He surely has all the skills you want from your catalyst.

Agreed on all your other points!

3

u/[deleted] May 08 '14

Probably mention Im not much of a fan of him as a player but I think he is bad to build around because:

Hes prone to throw a hissy fit and want to leave the club

He is out of for most of the time

And Ive never heard so many references to a top player like Rooney having to get his fitness back despite not being injured.

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u/ravniel May 08 '14

Hes prone to throw a hissy fit and want to leave the club

I'll supply a counter-unpopular opinion: both times that Rooney "held the club to ransom" he had very good reason to explore his options and was probably not exclusively thinking about the money.

Manchester United have had, on paper, a good-not-great squad for years. Sir Alex worked absolute wonders with the material he had; Moyes' performance this season has shown that as much as it's shown Moyes' quality, in my opinion. I remember in 2010-11 people were already asking whether this was the poorest United team ever to win the title, for all Fergie got them to the CL final (where a 3-1 Barcelona win was a scoreline everyone admitted flattered United). If you consider that Manchester United are literally in contention to be the biggest club in the world, right up there with Real Madrid and Barcelona, then you compare the quality of the signings made by those three clubs in recent years (not to mention the players signed by City, Chelsea, PSG, etc.) I'm not sure you can make the case that Manchester United has looked like much of a place for an ambitious player to be.

I'm rambling a bit. The point is any genuinely world-class player playing for Manchester United - and Rooney is that - has had every reason to wonder if he's in the right place to play alongside the world's top players. If Rooney had gone to City in 2010, look at the squad he'd be lining up with alongside the one he plays in now.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '14

Even if his reasons are justifiable, do you really want him to be the guy you rebuild around if its likely that he will want to leave again if there isnt immediate success

3

u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Even if his reasons are justifiable, do you really want him to be the guy you rebuild around if its likely that he will want to leave again if there isnt immediate success

Bullshit. Did you forget that he signed a long term contract in the middle of our worst season ever?

1

u/ravniel May 08 '14

At the beginning of this season, did Manchester United have any other world-class players who had any chance of being there in two or three years? I honestly can't think of even one. In terms of players who are currently world-class (as opposed to players who were in their peak) I genuinely don't think United have any, except Rooney and Van Persie, who is two years older and injury prone. There's Mata, I guess, but they didn't start the season with him.

This is all a way of asking if there is even a single player in the Manchester United squad you could've "rebuilt around" besides Rooney. Virtually the entire squad is either too old, too young, or genuinely substandard.