Everton v Arsenal

[Evertonian in NC]

Rooney has been racking up 5s since the opening couple matches of the season, and has been wrecking team shape.  He's surely not the sole culprit, but he's hardly a shining beacon amongst the darkness, either.

You have to move him to midfield, and he has to become more of a team player.  As has been noted before, this why Ferguson started to phase him out.

[Jimmywhack]

Rooney has been racking up 5s since the opening couple matches of the season, and has been wrecking team shape.  He's surely not the sole culprit, but he's hardly a shining beacon amongst the darkness, either.

You have to move him to midfield, and he has to become more of a team player.  As has been noted before, this why Ferguson started to phase him out.

Ferguson played him every week. Built a team around him
Played him wherever he could.

You dont like or rate rooney, we all get that. He's been decent for us this season tho

He's a better cf than dcl, in a different way
He's cleverer than sigurdsson in the no ten role
He's a better pass of the ball than schneiderlin, gueye and Davies from deep

[piggypop]

Rooney has been racking up 5s since the opening couple matches of the season, and has been wrecking team shape.  He's surely not the sole culprit, but he's hardly a shining beacon amongst the darkness, either.

You have to move him to midfield, and he has to become more of a team player.  As has been noted before, this why Ferguson started to phase him out.

I don't understand this myth of Rooney in midfield. He was shit when he played there for United. He was shit when he played there for England.

He should be on the bench at best. He was done at United and he's still done here. Romance counts for nothing in football. A shame, but there it is.

[Evertonian in NC]

It's not just me, everyone scoring matches (here and in the media) have been giving out the 5s.  He no longer has the pace to roam all over the pitch and still be effective, but he wants to play like he's still 25.  He can't.  He could still be a very effective player (likely in midfield, I agree with your 3rd sentence/assertion) if he would accept the role and be disciplined.  But he wants to play "hero ball" and just do whatever the hell he wants.  It's doing nobody any good.

Sigurdsson with space to operate (and no Rooney on the pitch) was much more effective creating for others than Rooney has been all season.  Still not convinced the two can play together, but we haven't really tried Rooney playing in midfield behind Sigurdsson.

So...we should try that before we give up completely.  But Sigurdsson is part of the near-medium future of Everton, and it's more important to get him settled than it is to play out sentimental fantasies.  If Rooney can't play with Sigurdsson, it's clear who needs to be dropped (from a footballing standpoint).

[Evertonian in NC]

I don't understand this myth of Rooney in midfield. He was shit when he played there for United. He was shit when he played there for England.

He should be on the bench at best. He was done at United and he's still done here. Romance counts for nothing in football. A shame, but there it is.

Was he shit because he couldn't do it, or shit because he didn't want to do it?  That's where being a strong manager has to come into play.  Because he can't be a lone striker anymore, and it would be madness for him to displace Sigurdsson.

[Macca77]

McCarthy fit, worth a start?

[Evertonian in NC]

McCarthy fit, worth a start?

we're pretty desperate, I wouldn't be surprised (I also wouldn't do it)

[piggypop]

Was he shit because he couldn't do it, or shit because he didn't want to do it?  That's where being a strong manager has to come into play.  Because he can't be a lone striker anymore, and it would be madness for him to displace Sigurdsson.

At the time he was saying it was where he saw himself playing to continue his career at the top, so I'd guess it's safe to say that he couldn't do it to a high enough level.
If we insist on shoe-Horning him into the side with Sigurdsson, then hasn't Sigurdsson played centre mid quite successfully for Iceland?

Personally, I'd much rather have Davies in there with his movement and forward running. Even when he's not in top form he gives us something different than any other player we have.

[gizzblue]

Ferguson played him every week. Built a team around him
Played him wherever he could.

You dont like or rate rooney, we all get that. He's been decent for us this season tho

He's a better cf than dcl, in a different way
He's cleverer than sigurdsson in the no ten role
He's a better pass of the ball than schneiderlin, gueye and Davies from deep

He may well be better than all those you mentioned, but he's old enough to know he can't play all over the pitch to the detriment of the team ....yet he does it every game without fail ....and it's cost us a few times already .

[Evertonian in NC]

At the time he was saying it was where he saw himself playing to continue his career at the top, so I'd guess it's safe to say that he couldn't do it to a high enough level.
If we insist on shoe-Horning him into the side with Sigurdsson, then hasn't Sigurdsson played centre mid quite successfully for Iceland?

Personally, I'd much rather have Davies in there with his movement and forward running. Even when he's not in top form he gives us something different than any other player we have.

I'd start Davies beside Schneiderlin for sure, might give Rooney a shot when Gana starts.  If it doesn't work, go with Davies full time with Klaassen backing Davies up.  Rooney as a reserve for Sigurdsson or to give us a 2nd striker late.

But Sigurdsson is the future, and needs space to operate (as we saw mid-week).  Need to build around that, see what we have.  At least give him a solid 2-month run.

[Jimmywhack]

He may well be better than all those you mentioned, but he's old enough to know he can't play all over the pitch to the detriment of the team ....yet he does it every game without fail ....and it's cost us a few times already .

Cos he wants to be on the ball
How many other players do we have that want it?

[gizzblue]

Cos he wants to be on the ball
How many other players do we have that want it?

Yes but again it's to the detriment of the team ....lookman Mirra DCL Sig as well as others all want the ball but a nomad Rooney stops them getting it when he plays with no discipline on the toes of other players imho.

[Jimmywhack]

Yes but again it's to the detriment of the team ....lookman Mirra DCL Sig as well as others all want the ball but a nomad Rooney stops them getting it when he plays with no discipline on the toes of other players imho.

Really don't get the lookman love in
He does well for five mins then disappears
Mirallas plays in fits and starts
Dcl isn't the answer, he Should be brought through over time rather than every game
Does sigurdsson want the ball? He want set pieces but he's hardly showing all game

[Simon Paul]

Lookman is more likely to grow into a game than Mirallas. We've watched Mirallas do this for five years or so now. Lookman is younger and adapting to what is a huge step up from charlton.

The rest is bob on though

[Martip]

Koeman really needs ro win this....lost points should have gained so needs to try and redress the balance a bit.