United limped to a 2-2 draw with relative minnows Aalborg, an unremarkable match with the remarkable landmarks of a record equalling unbeaten run by the current European Champions and “the best result in Aalborg’s history”.I missed the post match analysis but I could not miss the media backlash that has singled out Wayne Rooney for supposed violent behaviour.
Neil Custis of the Sun writes:
“..saw him kick, stamp and even elbow the opposition”, and that “whether he meant it or not, if you fling your arm back like that you are asking for trouble”.
On Football365.com Pete Gill declares Rooney can no longer “be excused as having spent too long hanging around the wrong crowd. Wayne Rooney has become the wrong crowd.”
His opinion of the incidents are that (of the stamp):
“Viewed as a single moment, it can be regarded as accidental. But view the incident as a whole, with Rooney sprinting 25 yards to make a wild swipe at Risgard before planting his studs in the midfielder’s chest, and a different and darker conclusion must be reached. It becomes darker still when his second-half lunge is replayed, a vicious and dangerous studs-up stab in which the ball is irrelevant. Once UEFA have reviewed the incidents, a three-match ban would be lenient.”
I won’t attempt to defend the indefensible. As a Manchester United fan it is probably inevitable I will defend Rooney though I don’t exactly see myself (as Pete Gill states) as a “misguided apologist”. Of the three incidents, having watched them all again several times, I have to say – anyone who considers the alleged “stamp” as intentional has obviously either not seen the incident or has never tried to maintain some kind of balance when you’re the subject of that kind of tackle. Rooney’s eyes are clearly nowhere near the individual, his body language clearly indicates that he is trying to stay upright.
The alleged “elbow” is such a non-starter that it doesn’t even bear discussion. Custis even concedes that Rooney probably didn’t mean to do it. The two incidents were so meaningless that by the end of the game they had been consigned, much like the game itself, into the memory bank.
In all honesty I thought, at the time, Rooney was lucky to not be sent off for the lunge on the defender on the edge of the area. But I saw that as an isolated incident rather than Rooney’s red mist descending.
See for yourself at http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/1848476/ . The more I watch it the more I get to thinking, well, was Rooney shoved when he made the lunge? The question is there to be made as it is not a natural movement that he makes, but without any kind of evidence either way, I’d have to say it was an incredibly reckless tackle.
You can judge for yourself but do those three incidents, as displayed in the video above, really show an uncontrollable monster, and more importantly still, should he be given a lengthy retrospective ban and fine as has been called for?
The over reaction and the hammering Rooney is taking has now led to UEFA saying they will study video footage, and will probably lead to a lengthy ban for the striker. I sincerely will not be surprised if they ban him for the remainder of the competition, such is our history for such things.
It’s not the first time we will have been hung out to dry by a media witchhunt, though I am a little confused how they can justify the simultaneous haranguing of both Ronaldo AND Rooney for the 2006 World Cup “incident”, shifting the blame onto whoever they want to paint as the villain that day.
In conclusion, do I think Rooney should have been sent off? Yes, for the lunge, but the other two incidents have been blown up out of nothing. He should cut the rashness out of his game, of course he should, but these are heat of the moment incidents rather than inherent thuggery.
Soapboxers such as Gill will continue to have their say when the smell of persecution is in the air. Bloggers such as me will probably continue to defend our players.
Yet I predict the air of eerie silence that will descend upon the media, the lack of public outcry, the lack of any player receiving punishment the next time we see one of our players walking off the pitch with visible scars from where they have been assaulted by an opponent.
A persecution complex amongst Manchester United fans? Perhaps. I have often stated how frustrating it can be playing such fantastic football, winning so many top prizes and yet having other teams referred to as better.
And although this is not a dig at Arsenal, perhaps the persecution complex can best be illustrated by a simple stat. Since Wenger’s arrival he has been hailed as a re-inventor of football, creating a team of beautiful footballers in the way it should be played.
Since Wenger’s arrival United have had players such as Cantona, Keane and now Rooney (and, bizarrely, a recent media boom at Ronaldo?!) depicted as dirty, thuggish players. Arsenal have had over 70 red cards (with a healthy average) over the Frenchman’s tenure. United haven’t had anywhere near that many under the entire stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Maybe it is a complex. Or maybe, the next time we see Cristiano Ronaldo limp off a pitch with red stud marks down his leg from another unpunished assault, it might, just MIGHT, start becoming “uncool” for these jobworths to single out Manchester United players as the villains of the modern game.
Source:(Yolkie)
United players may be more susceptible to being branded villains of the modern game because of the media. Like it or not, every bit and pieces that of what we read becomes imprinted in our subconcious and voila – it becomes the norm. Rooney’s offence will be widely publicized no doubt and this will further aggravate the situation. All is not lost though for the boy can set things right by keeping a clean enough record for a longer period. Time works wonders.
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