One of the most promising talents in the Premiership today, it’s hard to remember that Rooney is just 21 and already carries the striking burden for Manchester United and England.
Has been criticised for his form but that has always been because a lot has been expected of him.
Can he have a breakthrough season in 2007/2008 like Ronaldo did in 2006/2007?
Here’s a list of the top scorers in this year’s Champions League (so far), plus their career stats for the Champions League:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
Before this game (and indeed, before any away game Manchester United have played in the last couple of seasons) the media trotted out figures to suggest that United were abysmal away in Europe - and few United fans would have argued against it after 4 away defeats last season (Celtic, Copenhagen, Roma and Milan) in the Champions League.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. Leave a response
Manchester United’s fearsome four have established their reputation not only for their brilliant football but also for their sexual exploits, the likes of which have never been revealed to the mass media before.
Sources close to Wayne Rooney have revealed the grand exploits of this foursome with their conquests ranging from the top of Hollywood to the slushpile of non-humanity (and beyond).
Their most famous escapade involves an amazing sex-filled romp on a booze-filled night with two famous sisters, a baby, a Marilyn Monroe wannabe and a goat. All this happened in late 2007, when the four Manchester United stars jetted off to a secret bonding session to Miami, where they met with their *friends* in a 8-person orgy.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 6 comments
In an ambitious and somewhat desperate attempt to wipe off their debt, Manchester United have struck a stunning 40m deal with Liverpool, taking Scouser and former Everton star Wayne Rooney to Anfield.
Reports suggest that Manchester United’s need to sell, coupled with the lack of quality strikers at Liverpool and Steven Gerrard’s desire to win titles meant that Liverpool were left with no choice but to pay Manchester United’s asking price.
Of course, the deal will not be finalised till July but the work has already started, with Coleen Mclaughlin spotted in Liverpool shopping for a house with Alex Curran. The £40m will be paid to Manchester United up front and will be funded by Liverpool using the money from the sales of Kuyt, Voronin, Riise, and Carson. Of course, this probably won’t even cover Rooney’s one-year wages, so in reality Hicks and Gillett will need to borrow £40m from Roman Abramovich (or perhaps sell a share of Liverpool to DIC) to fund the purchase.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 3 comments
In this week’s WagSnatch roundup, Beckham plays for his England and Hollywood future (what, you think Indiana Jones is just about the money?), Rooney is getting bald, Coleen does not want his name and Danielle Lloyd, famous for stripping in front of a lens, is in a titz over some ‘personal’ saucy photos…
Written by Roberta Striga. 3 comments
In today’s WagSnatch Roundup – is the Cole soap opera FINALLY over, Goldenballs gets chummy on LA Galaxy tour, Posh in a deal for a new reality show, Goldenballs sister celebrates her birthday (without a cat fight this time), Danielle Lloyd says no to footballers, new craze among the WAGs, Rooney likes to float and a bit of a sad news to wrap it all up.
Written by Roberta Striga. 3 comments
In this week’s WagSnatch Roundup is Gazza finally on the mend, the Spurs boys are still celebrating, not one but two WAGs get into a catfight, Beckhams exposed and moving on up, Cheryl Cole goes back to her roots and the strangest pulling technique ever.
Written by Roberta Striga. One comment
I won’t mention anything about what happened to Arsenal’s Eduardo over the weekend, since it’s been talked about plenty already, but I send my get well wishes towards him, and hope he’s back scoring goals (but not against Manchester United) again as soon as possible.
It was a pretty important weekend of football in the Premier League, with the race for the title and for European places getting ever tighter as we edge towards the home stretch.
At the other end, the relegation battle is ongoing, and though it’s almost a given that Derby will be playing Championship football next term, several other sides are fighting to not join the Rams in the second level.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 2 comments
So, where to start?
Do I lead in with Liverpool’s crushing defeat at home, or do I kickoff things with Manchester United’s demolition of Arsenal?
Written by Eddie Griffin. One comment
Since Manchester United’s unforgettable, treble-clinching Champions League triumph over Bayern Munich in 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson has added several more memories - and trophies - in a tenure at the club that has now surpassed the two-decade mark.
But, the one thing that has eluded Fergie since that night in Barcelona is another trip to that promised land.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 12 comments
In today’s WAGSnatch Roundup - times are changing for the England squad with a new WAG ban imposed, Ronaldo becomes the highest paid footballer in the Premier League, Chelsea’s Anelka is the latest footballer exposed for his cheating ways while Rooney’s little brother has an unusual pulling technique. And lets not forget Loaded’s poll and Prawn awards - who are England’s crappiest football fans?
Written by Roberta Striga. 4 comments
In this week’s WagSnatch roundup Ronaldo’s mum begs his son to come and play for Real Madrid, Wayne Rooney is voted the ugliest footballer (but that would not stop women from dating him), Gunners lose to Spurs and get into a tussle at the pitch, Becks brings attention to Sierra Leone and Slaven Bilic put rumors to rest once and for all – he is not in it for the money.
Written by Roberta Striga. 6 comments
Wayne Rooney has just been elected the ugliest player in the world, at least according to 33% of the 2,500 women polled by www.thepeoplesclub.com. “Shrek” (as the Man Utd striker is affectionately, or not-so-affectionately rather, nicknamed) is however judged to be the perfect mate for girlfriend (and soon-to-be wife) Coleen McLoughlin, the latter indeed not being typical smokin’ hot WAG material (à la à la Abbey Clancy or Danielle Lloyd), even though her business skills are largely superior to her much sexier colleagues.
But going back to our “Ugly Top 20″ ranking, Wayne Rooney is indeed topping the list and beating footy champions of the caliber of Ronaldinho and Carlos Tevez. While the footballing skills of the top trio certainly aren’t being questioned, the feminine population that was sampled might have very different things to say about their looks. I guess the “cartoonish face and bunny smile” of the Barcelona playmaker, and the rough facial expression of the Man Utd striker (nicknamed “Apache”) aren’t appreciated at their just value?
Written by Marco Pantanella. 47 comments
“Soccer is a world made of numbers”. A phrase which would make any mathematician proud, with the eternal claim that you can find mathematics anywhere.
And where better to find numbers than Goal Totals: the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), the famous (and often criticized) organization that chronicles the history of football, has just published its World’s Top Goal Scorer of 2007 ranking.
No, the results are further from probably anything you may expect.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 13 comments
Towards the end of 2006, certain pundits and magazines were proclaiming the birth of Sir Alex Ferguson’s third (for some, fourth) great team stemming from his 20-year tenure at Manchester United.
Written by Eugene Quinn. 28 comments
Anytime two of England’s biggest clubs face off, it makes for a must-see occasion.
But, today’s match at Anfield between north-west rivals Liverpool and Manchester United isn’t the only big ticket in England this weekend, as on Sunday, London rivals Arsenal and Chelsea battle it out at the Emirates Stadium.
Both clashes shape up to be pivotal in affecting the early-season standings, as the EPL’s ‘Big Four” are currently 1-4 in the current league table.
Arsenal - 37 points
Manchester United - 36 points
Chelsea - 34 points
Liverpool - 30 points
Aside from their excellence domestically, all four sides have qualified for the round of 16 in the Champions League for the third time in four years, with Manchester United and Chelsea topping their respective groups.
First billing goes to the showdown between the Reds and the Red Devils, and so without further ado, let’s kick off the preview of the match.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 11 comments
Either Wayne Rooney stepped on the crack of a sidewalk and crossed paths with a black cat at the same time he was trying to pick up a penny on its tails side, or he hasn’t been drinking his milk.
Whatever the case may be, for the second time in three months, and for the fourth time in the last three years, the ever-rising Manchester United and England star is shelved for an extended period of time for a bad break.
Written by Eddie Griffin. 7 comments
Yes, I’ve said it before: it’s ‘Top 100 Ranking’ time. Fresh from publishing their Top 100 footballers list last month, English magazine FourFourTwo just released their a list of the Richest players and club owners of the English Premiership, sort of a “2007’s Billionaire’s club” if you will. As the editors eloquently put it, the key message of this year is that “British football is getting richer, and the rich are getting richer“.
Written by Marco Pantanella. 25 comments
Will he or won’t he?
With wonderkid Wayne Rooney itching to get back to first-team action there were rumours that he could be brought back, in some role, for the Manchester United v Everton game. Highly unlikely that something like this would happen, what with World Cup 2006 still fresh in SAF’s mind.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 7 comments
Over at Red Rants, K9 talks about Manchester United’s need for a goal poacher.
In my view, Manchester United are not going to find the next Ruud, or Beckham, or Giggs, or Scholes or Keane or Cantona. Those players were/are unique in their ability to win games for United. What Manchester United ‘can’ do is find and groom players who can win games through sheer will - stars who do more than just impress critics with their work-rate or arm-chair pundits with their ‘reputation’.
And Manchester United already have two such players - Rooney and Ronaldo.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 12 comments
This is an article I’ve wanted to write for a while now, and am unfortunately slightly late on.
I missed the window on Kaka, who would clearly be in the lineup. However I am writing it now because I don’t want to miss the window on perhaps the most important member of this team, Petr Cech, who turns 25 in less than a week.
Written by Igor. 33 comments
I’ve always found Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney to be similar characters - tremendously gifted, central to their respective teams, highly regarded by their peers and irresistible to watch on the pitch.
But are they really that similar?
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 32 comments
He hasn’t scored for Manchester United in the Champions League since September 2004. He hasn’t scored for England in a competitive match since Euro 2004.
The tongues are wagging - what’s wrong with Wayne Rooney?
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 22 comments
As I write this, Chelsea are 2-0 up at Stamford Bridge, firmly placed to reduce the gap between themselves and Manchester United back to 6 points (and maybe improve their goal-difference ‘difference’ as well).
Manchester United won’t mind though - 6 points, 8 games to go, and with every game Manchester United’s trip to Chelsea becomes more and more academic.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 8 comments
Last week, Rooney’s goal against Portsmouth - that crazy chip that secured Manchester United’s spot in the 5th round of the FA Cup - was taken by many as a sign that Wayne Rooney was back in form for Manchester United.
Last night, Rooney gave us a hint of things to come with another moment of training ground craziness as he controlled a Ronaldo lob and then lobbed the keeper without so much so as breaking his stride.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 2 comments
Wayne Rooney has agreed a new £100,000-a-week contract with Manchester United that will keep him at Old Trafford until 2012.
Written by Guest Authors. 5 comments
….by playing like United, of course!
While my fellow Manchester United fans celebrate Rooney’s return to form and United’s return to the top of the table (that goal difference (+18 right now) is going to come in handy one day), I want to take this moment to focus on the lessons we can all learn from today’s match at The Reebok.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 16 comments
The spectre of diving in football reared its ugly head again this Premiership weekend with Zokora being the latest of foreign imports to take a theatrical tumble and win his side an unfair advantage.
However, as much as Steven Gerrard would like to think that diving is a ‘foreign’ phenomenon, the sad truth is that English players dive as well.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. One comment
I was away for the weekend, so excuse the late, late review of the game.
Apart from the obvious (Chelsea drew and Manchester United won so we’re back on the top of the Premiership table), there are 2 or 3 talking points from the game that I’d like to address.
Mainly, the form of Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney.
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 6 comments
After our new author JAFL inadvertently sparked off the customary Friday controversy by telling Liverpool fans that they won’t win the Premiership this season, one of the threads talked about “who had the better players” between Manchester United and Liverpool.
As a result of that discussion, here is my pick of a starting 11, a manager and 7 (1 keeper, 2 defenders, 2 midfielders, 2 strikers) bench players for a combined team from the two clubs. I’m a Manchester United fan, but I will do my best to be objective.
Criteria for picking the team:
Written by Ahmed Bilal. 42 comments
