Town_Fan, on Feb 1 2008, 02:01 PM, said:
What are you on about? I'm not saying we should play an extra attacker I'm saying we should play the right ones.
Fletcher + Ward = 7 goals
Rooney = 7 goals in alot less performances and having to be stuck on the wing.
Maybe Ward is the assist master? Nope a grand total of 4 compared to Rooney's 3.
Its not rocket science is it?
As for Richardson "making a mistake" well he compounded it by continuing to play Rooney on the wing and then by dropping him altogether. How many more mistakes do we have to put up with?
You seem to think that Rooney is a direct replacement for Ward, so far as you think at all. He isn't and wasn't. He was a big - but not big enough - raw youngster with lots of enthusiasm but very little pace who only played in the penalty box. We already have the ultimate box player in Lester, who can play just as well outside - no place there for Rooney.
We have a target man in Fletch who can provide an aerial threat and hold the ball up - not very well, but Rooney can't do it at all, as he showed whenever he played. No place there for him.
And we have Jamie Ward, probably the most exciting player of all, but struggling to score at the moment. The woodwork, by the way, has robbed him of at least three brilliant goals which would all have qualified for Goal of the Season. Ward can play in the Lester role, but is usually under orders to drift wide and pull the defence about. He has lightning pace, excellent control, strength on the ball, delivers excellent dead balls and can play as a conventional winger if required. Rooney can't do any of those things. No place there for him.
Personally, if I were in charge I would have given Rooney a run, but only in place of Fletcher, who's fairly marginal anyway. Our best line-up at the moment is the one that beat Hereford, and there certainly wouldn't be a place for Rooney in that. It's a shame he's gone 'cos he would have been very useful as cover for injuries, but if the lad wants football every week it's his decision.
That Rico made a mistake by dropping him is simply your opinion. He made a mistake by playing him on the wing against MK Dons, but on that occasion a brilliant goal by, who else, Jamie Ward won us the match and we got away with it. If he played on the wing again it was only because Rico didn't want to change a winning team, but I can't remember him doing so, and leaving him out was a perfectly reasonable decision for the reasons I've given you.