on Rooney: "The gash was deep enough to cut all the way to the thigh bone and required surgery under general anesthetic." some papers stating up to 2 months out, others the 4 weeks.
Man alive. I remember seeing the injury and seeing at least deep into the muscle, but the bone? Jesus...Rolladega must have had knives on his cleats. Hope Wazza comes back quick, but that's his cannon there, the thigh muscle. Needs to fully reconnect before we try to get him out there. Fortunately, RvP and Swagawa got this.
apparently no blades - just the regular studs like Rooney was wearing. "The wound was an inch deep, scything through Rooney’s thigh muscle almost to the bone and required cleaning before the muscle was stitched up. It is likely to be four or five weeks before he can return to light training and will then be forced to build up from there, essentially going through pre-season routines all over again. Sports physician, Dr Mike Loosemore, told the Daily Telegraph: 'Any torn muscle takes a while to repair so it had to be sewn up directly. If the muscle has been torn then it could take a minimum of six weeks to heal. 'Likewise with a cut muscle, as both injuries are treated in the same way. 'It is a very awkward place to injure yourself, with the tear just above the knee, an area that is constantly moving.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2194211/Wayne-Rooney--latest-injury-awkward.html#ixzz24mO5wFe5
And Henriquez. Lest we forget, he played in the semis (or was it the finals) of the south American CL just weeks back.
Rooney at his best is on par with RVP and Kagawa. Which is why maybe, just maybe, if we sort out of midfield and the defense gets healthy, we could make a run in the CL.
Our defense gets healthy and Carrick stays fit, Rooney or not, we will have a very good chance in Europe. Still, in a perverse way, Wayne not getting burnt out in the first half of the season maybe bodes well for the second half.
No he is not Amdrag. At least not for the way Kagawa plays the position. He doesnt have the smarts, guile or subtleness that Kagawa does. And put it this way, Rooney would probably score the goal RVP did 2 or 3 out of 10 tries. RVP would score it 8 or 9 out of 10. Thats a big difference. Rooney has never really been a half chance, or difficult chance taker. He's never really been a real playmaker either, at least not to the level of his counterparts. Our midfield is not to blame for inconsistent touches.
Rooney is certainly on par with RVP at his best, if not better. And Obv, Rooney and RVP won't score same type of goals all the time.
As both a striker and a support striker he is at least on par with RVP at his best(Wing forward too). The stats of the last 5 years will bear that out too, since you were so keen on them. Also, he may have become inconsistent but when he goes on his run of form Rooney is still absolute top notch. And as far as the Kagawa comparison is concerned it's a bit tougher to compare those 2 as both are different kind of players, who have different strenghts in different kind of systems.
Its the touch, technique, and ingenuity that set them apart. Rooney, at some point seemed to lose some of that. Its also the fact that RVP has put together 18 straight injury free months of player of the year type stuff. Rooney hasnt put together a stretch like that. His most productive stretch, these last 3 years have been blighted by injury, drama [ho's and money] and inconsistent play outside of goals.
RVP was poor at the end of last season. His goals dried up and he wasn't doing much else. I was talking more on overall talent, skill and importance to the team. I don't care about the position, Rooney on form is as effective as either of them. He has proved that here for years. He has done it for us. Whether it was on the left, in the hole or up front. The irrational hate doesn't change that. As to being a half chance/difficult chance taker, I'd say that is obviously wrong. Rooney has scored some ridiculous goals for us. RVP is just a far more complete finisher inside of the box, except when it comes to heading.
We can't afford any other injury to a striker, but we should be ok as long as Rooney's back by end of October. Cheech would get some major minutes, hopefully recaptures his magic.
I'm with those who think we've got enough to sustain us. Like rossi said and like I said as soon as Wayne got injured, time out now, means he'll be fresh for the busy period and fresher for the run in. As things stand, it is actually better for us to play with 2 wingers/attackers out wide, Kagawa and then a front man. With both Rooney and RvP fit, we'd most likely have seen less balance. Now we've got clear roles for most of our attackers. CF RvP Cheech (sub if down) Welbeck (better to start if RvP not available) LW Nani Young Welbeck RW Valencia Nani (if not on left) AM Kagawa Ando/Cleverley With a nice tight rotation, we'll see our guys enough minutes to stay sharp and enough time for our core players to get used to playing with each other.
We have got enough to sustain us at a good level, even if we didn't have RVP but still losing Rooney is a blow if it is indeed 2 months. I'd rather play Rooney over the others anyway and now he will have to go through pre season and regain his fitness again.
I'd rather play Welbeck on the left than Rooney (if we're playing RvP up top) and I'd rather play Danny at CF if we're playing Nani-Kagawa-Valencia behind him if we're playing against opposition that will be hard to break down. Against lower half teams (defensively) I'd go with Wazza.
Would take Rooney at his best over anyone in our team but Nani at his best and MAYBE Rvp at his best. Unfortunately we rarely ever see that "at his best".