So, Wayne Rooney scores a wonder goal and the whole world goes absolutely bat-sh*t crazy. Every back page is talking about it, every sport columnist wanted to write about it and every news station top loaded their sports section with video replays from every angle.
It was a great goal, that’s for sure. Spectacular visually, technically perfect and it came as a complete surprise.
A great goal yes, but was it reflective of Rooney’s form for the rest of the match? I would say almost certainly not. His touch wasn’t great, his positional play still seems a bit off and most importantly, his ability to strike a deadly ball into the far corner past a stretching keeper, hasn’t yet returned to anything like the level it was at last season. Isn’t this more important for both United and England that a stupid, lucky goal?
United fans have determined this goal over their ‘local rivals’ (I don’t know any United fans from Manchester) signifies Wayne’s return to top form and a confirmation that they will kick on from here to win the league. The bullying money out of a club with “no ambition” seems to have been forgotten, as have the months of terrible form and tangible contempt for the club and manager.
You may be wondering if I’ve any intention of stopping these aimless paragraphs of moaning anytime soon and making a point. Well here goes.
If this were any other player at any other club would the reaction have been anything like as significant?
It saddens me that our national football media is so relentlessly thick that they honestly believe this goal to be anything more than a goal. A great goal sure, but why are so few pundits talking about the larger points surrounding this?
What does this loss mean for City? How good did City look playing a more attacking style, I mean, I think it would be far more worthwhile to give a detailed analysis of how City, a defensively minded team outplayed Manchester United for long periods of the game and presented many genuine attacking threats.
Should United be more concerned at their reliance on certain key players to score wonderful goals? Wouldn’t they be happier to dominate possession and score goals off the back of free flowing one touch football?
Why is so much attention paid to isolated incidents in the game, and so much speculated as to what these completely insignificant incidents mean? Who wants to read an entire article about one goal?
The answer is simple; Thick people. Thick people who support United because they once owned a Sharp television set or something equally as absurd. Thick people who don’t want to understand the intricacies of the game, and would rather lap up the ‘dynamite’ opinions of pundits who talk endlessly in finite terms; a team is terrible or league contenders. Pundits who spout out the same, recycled, moronic opinions of precisely zero consequence every week.
We need to mature as a football loving public. Our basic lack of understanding is dangerous and will ultimately hinder the progression of the English game.
Rant over. Thanks for reading.
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