Has He Really Lost It That Much.

Normally Wayne Rooney is one of the top 3 strikers in the world in my FM saves but in my current save he's no more than a bit part player at most who hasn't scored a league goal in over 2 years!

There current manger Carlo Ancelotti who's been there since Sir Alex retired 2014 (when Rooney suddenly stopped getting games) plays a small 4-3-2-1 formation with Chicharito as the main striker, who's scored near on 30 league goals in both the last 2 seasons.

Updated Screenshot

I was wondering if anyone had seen star players like Wazza fall from grace after a new manager had come in and changed formation.

I sold a star striker of mine to Valencia for $52m, because he was all of 27.5, and there were at least two youngsters I wanted to get more first team playing time. Well, the striker had done well for me, 20 goal seasons when he got 30 or so games. But for Valencia he became the best striker in the world, for pretty much the next 4 or 5 years! Yeah, I haven't sold any (star) players younger than 30 since!

the strange thing is, Rooney can play in at least 4 places in that formation, a strange one that.

Man Utd sold him in my save, I've never seen that happen before.

Man Utd sold him in my save, I've never seen that happen before.

United sold him when he was about 29 wow, never seen that is any of my games. Players like Rooney tend to stay and get tons of games with the clubs they start of with.

I usually sell him when he's 29/30.

In my last save, he went on to start for Real Madrid for 4 years.

Just got into February and he's started 3 games and made 11 sub appearances scoring 1 goal. I'm amazed he still isn't complaining about first team football and with his contract set to expire in a year and a half maybe there's a chance of getting him to move to Wales.

My guess is, based on Man Utd formation, that Rooney fell behind the pecking order because:

- Hernandez is a beast... in my save with a finsihing of 17 he can score for fun (easily 40 goals in a season)

- Ganso and Neymar are far more technical players then Rooney (dribble, flair)

- ...so I'm guessing that the midfield trio's (Fletcher, Mikel, Jones) role is to hold up play, pass, hunt down the ball/ the AMC role is to get clear cut chances for Hernandez. Now in my experience when I play Rooney as a deep laying striker and Hernandez as a Advanced striker, Rooney tends to create loada of chances for the little mexican.

As he lost his place to the two young guns, maybe he's role at the club is AMC to create chances. (In my save he hase as a PPM comes deep to get the ball, and switches ball to other flank both indicating that as a striker he really likes to work hard, and give assists)

* In the worst case scenario he is used as an MC because of his physique.

On my save Man United changed to a 4-2-3-1 formation which meant Neymar and Hernandez were the 1st 2 choices for striker and Rooney rotted away in the reserves playing in the odd easier cup game or coming off the bench if one of the other 2 were not available.

In the end he was released at 31 on a free transfer and Sunderland have just picked him up on 35k a week.

Hernandez always overshadows Rooney in my games due to his high finishing and pace. If my club didn't win the league every year then Hernandez would pretty much win it by himself. Rooney does still get a few games for Utd but if they play one up top its always Hernandez that gets the nod, probably due to the overpowered weighting of pace in the engine.

I still remember the good ole days when Agbonlahor would score 25+ a season for fun.

on my save, rooney shoves neymar out onto the wings.

I think in RL pace and power truly do dominate, though. Look at Inter at their peak, with Maicon and Samuel Eto'o offering tremendous pace, and the likes of Samuel and Lucio with their powerful play. My teams are built around pace, it puts the fear of God in the opposition, because they know if they send too many men forward my team will counter them at pace, and likely get an odd man break.

Hernandez always overshadows Rooney in my games due to his high finishing and pace. If my club didn't win the league every year then Hernandez would pretty much win it by himself. Rooney does still get a few games for Utd but if they play one up top its always Hernandez that gets the nod, probably due to the overpowered weighting of pace in the engine.

I think in RL pace and power truly do dominate, though. Look at Inter at their peak, with Maicon and Samuel Eto'o offering tremendous pace, and the likes of Samuel and Lucio with their powerful play. My teams are built around pace, it puts the fear of God in the opposition, because they know if they send too many men forward my team will counter them at pace, and likely get an odd man break.

Maicon and Eto'o were also very skillful players. Samuel and Lucio were top quality CBs.

Maicon and Eto'o are top players though. Hernandez is a good player too, might be a very good player one day, but he's not as good as Rooney. The game treats him as such because of his pace though.

You just need to look at how well players like Agbonlahor and Jamil Adam (in lower leagues) do to see how a player that has only pace and very average stats elsewhere shows how weighted physical stats are.

But look at how Maicon's game has changed now that he has lost a step of pace (and a lot less determination too). A shadow of his former self. Look at Inter w/o Eto'o. They lack pace in attack. So yeah, Eto'o was great in many ways, but his pace was the weapon in the arsenal most difficult to stop.

It will be interesting to see Hernandez over the next couple years. I remember a few years back, maybe 08 or so, I had this kid named Sergio Aguero on my FM team. Got him when he was quite young, and he scored goals for fun. I thought, no way will this kid actually be this good! Well, it goes to show you, doesn't it

Really, though, there aren't as many physical attributes as technical and mental, so it would make sense for each one to be weighted more. What I mean is, if you consider football to be an equal measure of technical, mental and physical ability, then that there are fewer physical attributes means each will respectively play a bigger role.

My favorite type of player is the determined, well-rounded physical specimen. Jumping and natural fitness not that important, except for CB (jump) and aging players (natural fitness). They make great role players on a team, great fullbacks and midfielders in particular.

Maicon and Eto'o are top players though. Hernandez is a good player too, might be a very good player one day, but he's not as good as Rooney. The game treats him as such because of his pace though.

You just need to look at how well players like Agbonlahor and Jamil Adam (in lower leagues) do to see how a player that has only pace and very average stats elsewhere shows how weighted physical stats are.

But look at how Maicon's game has changed now that he has lost a step of pace (and a lot less determination too). A shadow of his former self. Look at Inter w/o Eto'o. They lack pace in attack. So yeah, Eto'o was great in many ways, but his pace was the weapon in the arsenal most difficult to stop.

It will be interesting to see Hernandez over the next couple years. I remember a few years back, maybe 08 or so, I had this kid named Sergio Aguero on my FM team. Got him when he was quite young, and he scored goals for fun. I thought, no way will this kid actually be this good! Well, it goes to show you, doesn't it

Really, though, there aren't as many physical attributes as technical and mental, so it would make sense for each one to be weighted more. What I mean is, if you consider football to be an equal measure of technical, mental and physical ability, then that there are fewer physical attributes means each will respectively play a bigger role.

My favorite type of player is the determined, well-rounded physical specimen. Jumping and natural fitness not that important, except for CB (jump) and aging players (natural fitness). They make great role players on a team, great fullbacks and midfielders in particular.

Yeah sure Maicon has been different now that he's older but that happens to most players. Sure Eto'o is pacy but he has other skill that make him a top player. Skills that the like of Agbonlahor doesn't have and yet in FM, Gabby can score just as many goals as his Cameroonian counterpart which should never be the case.

Man I remember how mad Ivica Olic would make me every time he'd dribble through my defense. Just because you've got 20ish accel/pace doesn't mean you are an amazing dribbler . Heck, logically, shouldn't immense pace be more detrimental to poor dribblers?

In the end he was released at 31 on a free transfer and Sunderland have just picked him up on 35k a week.

If they got him then surely I have a chance next season.

I usually play Rooney until he retires and hes always great for me. In my current game he got injured at the half way part in season 2 while on international duty and was out for almost 8 months with a viral infection. First time that happened to any of my players. I had to rethink my strategy and ended up playing Chicarito alone up front and he scored 50 goals for me. The next season I started Rooney and played him regularly and he was the crappiest I have ever seen him before. In my 3rd season Rooney has become a bit better, but he still seems to be a shadow of his former self.

on My save Rooney left Utd at 35, signed for me (Gillingham) and played about 14 games (mostly as sub) scoring 1 goal.

Theo Walcott always struggles in my saves.

Wayne Rooney does okay, but he leaves at the age of 32/33. Went to Wolves on a free and got relegated.

At the age of 33 Rooney is still first choice for both United and England, and he's still a beast! Hernandez plays on the right-wing, and is also averaging a goal every other game.

i bought rooney for real madrid in FM handheld lol

On my previous save, he stayed at Man Utd until 36, then retired.

I was Barcelona, and tried to sign him on multiple occasions, but he never wanted to play for me

In my current save I am Everton, and I signed Rooney from Man Utd after their new manager pretty much never played him and he sat in the reserves for two seasons. Still had to pay a fair amount to get him, but he was happy to sign and has been awesome for my everton team helping win the premier league and champions league as well as a few other cups...

I've never seen Rooney leave Man Utd in any of my saves he always stays at Utd and then retired.

In my save Rooney got repeat major injuries (2x anterior cruciate, 1x metatarsal?) and never really recovered. He became a 18-30 appearances per season player and struggled to get into double figures on the goals front.

Man Utd have just released him at the age of 33 and no-one wants to pay the wages he's demanding. I'm biding my time to see if he fancies signing for my very rich Ludogorets side.

EDIT: ****! Newcastle (unrecognizable after two prior relegations) are gunning for him.

EDIT2: Seems I slightly underestimated his recent injury record...

http://imageshack.us/f/705/rooneyks.png/

What are those strange Grade one etc injuries? I don't have those?

Anyway, Wazza is still amazing at 34 on my save. 26 in 37 and 12 in 33 at United last two seasons, with 88 goals in 167 England appearances.