10 Dec 2012

*Vomit* - Hansen hails 'magnificent' Man Utd star; hints he's better than Suarez. Agree?

If there's one thing I personally hate to see it's Liverpool players (current or former) lavishing praise on Manchester United. Steven Gerrard has been guilty of this in the past with his regular Wayne Rooney love-ins, and today, Reds legend Alan Hansen dedicated his entire column to eulogising the United striker. Additionally; he appeared to indirectly suggest that Rooney is a better player than Luis Suarez. Is he right?

In his column for The Telegraph, Hansen nauseatingly gushed over 'magnificent' Rooney, and basically claimed that the 26-year old is the best player in the Premier League. He raved:

"I have never been one of those who believed that Rooney was on the wane or that he was no longer the most important player at Old Trafford. If you offered me all of the top players in the Premier League, all of the top foreign imports, I would still put Rooney ahead of them".

Suarez is a 'top foreign import', so by extension, Hansen is saying that Rooney is 'ahead' of the Uruguayan.

As regular visitors will attest, I am not Suarez's biggest fan, but if there's one player who gets my goat more than him it's Rooney, who has proved time and time again that he has no concept of sportsmanship, class, humility or fair play.

In my view, Rooney - who has repeatedly failed to perform on the international stage - is the living embodiment of everything that is wrong with modern football, and when it comes to cheating/diving, Suarez is not even in the same league.

Hansen justifies his view by using the 'Steven Gerrard defence', i.e. Rooney is the best because he can play in lots of different positions. He observed:

"I would say it is Rooney every time because he offers as much at right back as he does at right wing and as a centre forward. There are players in the Premier League with better technique, players who score more goals and players who can match him for talent, but none of them provide the full package like Rooney".

What is this obsession is versatility? Since when does being able to play in several different positions mean that a player is the best in the league (or the world) ?

It's a particularly British way to look at football; only in the UK are attacking players deified for being able to play in defence, and like Gerrard, Rooney is lionised because he is an able defender as well as an attacker.

Why is this a measure of a player's 'greatness'? Why does this make versatile players better than positional specialists?

How many positions could Thierry Henry play? Denis Bergkamp? Robbie Fowler? Maradona?Ronaldo? Did John Barnes or Zinedine Zidane ever play at left back? Does Lionel Messi ever play at right back for Barcelona? Did Baresi or Maldini ever play up front? Could they? WHO CARES?

These players are/were specialists in one particular position, but does that make them inferior to the likes of Gerrard and Rooney, who also play well in other positions?

Of course not. The fact that Rooney can play at right back or in midfield doesn't make him a better player than Luis Suarez, who only really plays in one position (i.e. striker/off the striker).

Rooney may be able to play in several different positions, but positional specialists are the rule; versatile utility players are the exception, and throughout history, it's the specialists like Zidane, Maradona, Cruyff, Dalglish et al who've been the driving force behind the success of their respective teams.

How has Rooney/Gerrard's versatility helped England? Despite their alleged greatness, both players have repeatedly failed to inspire England across several different tournaments, whereas the positional specialists like Zidane, Xavi, Pirlo et al have made the difference at international level time and time again.

In my view, a player's greatness should be judged by their ability in ONE position, i.e. their main, preferred position, not the ability to perform in several different roles within the team.

Using that criterion, Suarez is arguably a superior striker to Rooney, and the Uruguayan has proved that in the league, and on the international stage.

REMINDER: All views are welcome here (including those of Man Utd fans), but please stick to the comment policy. If you disagree, make your point in a civil manner. Any posts containing any kind of insult against Rooney, Suarez, or other posters, will be deleted.

Jaimie Kanwar


72 comments:

  1. Van Persie, Tevez and Aguero are my three best strikers in the league.

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  2. jaimie, man utd are touring my city sydney next year, and i have to go and watch them play. is this an act of treason?

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  3. of course he's right...players come and go but rooney will be remembered as giggs - the one that stays and performes constantly over the years

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  4. I don't doubt he's a good player, but the fact that he is versatile shouldn't mean he's the best.

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  5. I'm With You On This One Jaimie!

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  6. i will pick suarez any time, any day fuck british flops.

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  7. Gerrad and Rooney are great club players, are they world class specialists? history has proved them not to be, although Rooney still has time to reach the next level, i doubt he probably will.

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  8. Who's the scouser in the wig.

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  9. what a load of rubbish. i really dont know where to start to put you right, so i wont bother.....laughable!

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  10. Rooney, a long time ago, was shown to be a good Premier League player but thats it. Outside of the prem he is time and again shown up as a fat clodhopper with a bad attitude. Put him up against Messi, Iniesta, Falcao, Reus and he is a long way short.

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  11. It would be a good experience but I just can't see myself going. Just think of all the mancs in the crowd. *Shivers*

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  12. He is English and we love the hyperbole when it comes to English players. Simple as that!
    Suarez is better IMO, because he replicates his form for country on a regular basis.
    But Rooney is still a very good player (on his day). I think the main thing with Rooney is his consistancy. He seems to go through phases where he doesnt do anything.
    Also Rooney is a striker, so who cares if he can defend etc... Its like Benetiez saying Torres is contributing with defending lol.

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  13. When in top form, yes, he is the best striker. And he always seems to get goals and great performance in important games (execpt in England shirt, but they are bad as a team...if he was spanish he would be central striker number one)

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  14. Agree with Messi and Iniesta obviously but Reus? what has Reus done? Talented young player that is playing well for the last two seasons and may well become a top player but he hasn't really done anything substantial yet.

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  15. Ditto about his consistency or the lack of it. Funny how his touch seems to go missing totally in some games.

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  16. I'm a die-hard LFC fan hailing from Durban South Africa. I have to say that Rooney does have talent. BUT he is highly overrated and he shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as Ryan Giggs who is a true legend.

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  17. but huge football clubs never come here! would you pay me to run on the pitch in my liverpool shirt?

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  18. This nonsense really doesn`t deserve a response, Hansen played for Liverpool many years ago he is now paid to give his opinion. If Messi was signed by Man U would Hansen not be able to say he is better than any Liverpool player ever...or do we have to pretend. Rooney is right up there because he`s done it for 10 years, we can`t take that away. We may not like it but it`s true. And lets get this straight, Luis is right up there when it comes to cheating, if he played for anyone else we would say so and I love him as a player. Stop trying to whip up cheap anti-Man U rubbish..if you have nothing useful or thought-provoking to say don`t post. Great win yesterday against the odds, come on you redmen!

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  19. when pep took over at barca he told the hole team to watch rooney play. Then he said that he wanted his team to see that no matter how big a star you are you need to work hard and be a team player.
    Also i dont think rooney is the best player in the league but 11 rooneys would be better than 11 suarez as a team is better than individuals.

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  20. I think after the Spat with Fergie now hansen praising manure's players to win over Fergie.

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  21. true vomit, Rooney plays in other positions when he is at the lower ebb of striking role and excelling in other positions makes him no superior. am with u Jaime the English boy can't be the best in that league Mario Ballotelli does beat him by far

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  22. I'll pay you a pound if you did that. Guess others would join in so in the end you could afford to travel to Liverpool and watch us instead of the Mancs.

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  23. Suarez hasn't even completed one season of good form in PL yet. So very very early days to say he has 'proved that in the league', obviously he hasn't proved that.

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  24. You're a fucking cunt Kanwar. You run this site like you're own little wank club in you're bedroom. Anyone who disagrees gets a warning, anyone who's name is Steve Nicholl gets a blow job. All you do is re-gurgitate bollocks from the press. Fuck off. You know fuck all. You cunt.

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  25. And is even a full PL season of good form enough? Surely got to be two or three at least before he 'has proved that'.

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  26. Wow what a load of green eyed rubbish...the amount of hypocritical ironies in one piece of writing is beyond belief..."Rooney has no sportsmanship class humility or fair play" ha and this coming from someone who watched lfc as a club disgrace themselves last season over the Suarez racist accusations...and my favourite blinded statement is "when it comes to diving/cheating Suarez is not even in the same league" well I have seen deluded scousers in my time but you son take the biscuit....Hilarious.

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  27. Please don't! Running on a pitch is never a good idea and idiotic acts like that ruin football. Especially don't do it in a Liverpool shirt, we don't want to be associated with stupid behavior.

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  28. i'd do it. i'd probably receive a long ban from ANZ stadium though, not good considering i go there a lot and the british and irish lions tour next year aswell. however, i'd be idolised by liverpool fans...

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  29. I feel Suarez still isn't a finished article and can still massively improve on his finishing, if can do that then he can take his game to a another level and would be considered among the likes of Messi and Ronaldo. As far as Rooney is concerned, he is a finished article and has already reached his peak and only way ahead for his him is downwards.

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  30. my brain agrees with you but my heart doesn't

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  31. Proving his worth on the international stage? U mean that "famous" hand ball clearance off the line against Ghana at the 2010 World Cup?

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  32. Let's not get this twisted, Rooney is, IMO, a good player, but I defensibly would not consider him world class. Bias aside, I do think Suarez is better than Rooney as an attacker. But Rooney has been doing it for a lot longer than him in the PL, however that does not sway my decision.

    Also, I agree with Jamie regarding this whole versatility motion. I find that from school up, football coaches here in Britain always try to instill this tough mentality in the players and not enough emphasis on technique.

    Rooney has good technique in my opinion and he does score goals, but out of Suarez and Rooney, Suarez IMO is more feared in the world of football. Just my opinion anyway!

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  33. This is such a stupid article, I love Suarez as a football (not a the scumbag person he is) but he isn't as good as Rooney. He has brilliant vision (see RVP goal champions league), and has better accuracy that Suarez. His versatility does make him an all round better player, did you see him tracking back every time City got the ball. He closed down all there options, covered for both Rafael and Evra on more than one occasion and that definitely prevented a goal. Suarez is wasteful with his chances, Rooney has proved he is one of the top in the PL with over 30 goals a season now the norm. I expect him to get at least 20-25 this year when Kagawa gets back. Before you all talk about his goals this year, he was out for a month and has been playing in midfield the whole season. I do love Suarez but he is wasteful, and to say that Rooney dives more than Suarez has to be the most stupid comment I'll hear for months, almost as bad as 'the white pele', lets face it Suarez is the worst for diving in the league, but if he won the CL final through a dive(when we get back there) none of us would care.

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  34. Hansen is now a TV pundit and newspaper columnist and accordingly he is protecting his own interests, i.e. wages, by trying to appear to be impartial in his comments and articles. I personally find it very difficult to accept what he is saying whilst at the same time he professes to be a committed fan of LFC. But then the words 'money-grabbing' and hypocrisy spring to mind.

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  35. Rooney will be remembered as Giggs, both are severely lacking in morals, clearly shown by their off field behaviour. I also agree with jaimie, when i look for a doctor i don't care whether hes a good receptionist, tea lady and cleaner as well

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  36. In terms of their ability on the pitch, what they do off it has got nothing to do with how good a football player they are, which is what this article and that post your replying to is about, their ability as football players. When I look for a doctor, I don't care what he is like outside of his profession.

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  37. As the saying goes: Jack of all trades, master of none. Nuff said!

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  38. 150 goals scored in EPL and is only 26...master of none eh ????
    how many has Suarez ??

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  39. I think chubby little Wayne much better than Luis. Wayne pay me good money lie on him, tell him stories, and let him pull down my socks to rub my tiddies.
    Luis is a good footballer, but no matter how much I ask, he no interested in any "dentures-in-or-out? fun".

    I love Wayne longtime.

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  40. His lack of consistency ??? you must his 32 Epl goals last season or the 25 the year before plus 9 UCl goals or the 32 Epl goals before that and so on and so on....unreal how ye will post such stuff !!!

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  41. That's a very lopsided argument considering Rooney has spent almost a decade in the EPL and Suarez is barely into his 2nd season.

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  42. Lopsided ?? how can you say master of none with a record like that ???

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  43. Does he or does he not have good and bad patches of form? Even Ferguson states that Rooney scores in patches and has dry spells.

    Seeing as you brought up last season, lets have a look at that. Combining PL, FA Cup and CL games, from 14/09/2011 til 22/01/2012, he started 20 games. He scored in those games, 9 goals. In 3 of those games, he scored 2 goals in each. Which takes down the figure of how many separate games he has scored goals in. I'll leave to work it out.

    It is common knowledge that he scores in patches. What is 'unreal', is that you don't seem to know that and especially if you are a Man United fan.

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  44. To be honest I think he's mainly full of shit.

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  45. The original statement was that he goes through patches where he doesnt do anything now if you knew anything you would know that Rooney sacrifices scoring for helping out in midfield and gets played on the wing like he did in some of those games you just highlighted even when he does not score he offers so much to the team....he started 32 Epl games last season and scored 27 and you question his consistency !!

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  46. hypocritical delusion springs to mind :)

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  47. 'doesn't do anything' - do you take everything absolutely literally? In relation to my reply. I agreed with the poster above that he is inconsistent, I didn't specify how he is inconsistent.

    So every game he doesn't score, you going to excuse that with 'oh our Wayne wasn't looking to score, as he was doing other bits' waffle, despite him playing up front in quite a lot of those games? Your own bloody manager has been record that he plays in patches.

    He was playing as a forward for most of last season, I don't know what your on about. But ok, you say he was playing on the wing in those games he didn't score in.....how convenient an excuse. So in those games where he didn't score in that period I gave, name me the games where he was playing in midfield?

    This season and when Ronaldo was at your club is when Rooney has been played all over midfield as well as up front. He has rarely been played in midfield in those seasons in between, especially in PL.

    He often has 4/5 games on the trot in his career where he doesn't score, so yes, I'm going to question his consistency. He has games where his touch is absolutely woeful, so yes I'm going to question his consistency. When his own manager acknowledges his player scores in patches, than yes, I'm going to question his consistency.

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  48. Name me more consistent strikers than him in EPL ??? RVP is prob the only 1 you can name

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  49. Cant think of any can ya ???? ha ha ha Boom and the winner is........

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  50. Hansen is normally very partisan to liverpool, its lawrensin i cant stand for his man u bumsuckin, completely agree about the granny lover, good player but world class? Behave!!

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  51. And why is luis a scumbag? Checkout some of rooneys antics, no true fan of lfc calls one of their current players a scumbag while defending rooney of all people!!

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  52. one question....why?

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  53. if you run on and plant a big lfc flag in the centre spot ( a la sourpuss did for galatasaray) i would pay a huge sum to a charity of your choice.

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  54. you lost that one yourself, by answering your own question... rvp...you didn't think that through very well did you!?!?!?!?

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  55. good god this gets better! how many seasons has the granny botherer played, to enable him to reach that total? and how many seasons has suarez played? mmmmm? take your time in working this little puzzle out..................

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  56. rooney is only the best payer when they leave their teeth out.... oh sorry, wrong topic....er, no, don't rate the pensionhire as much as those mentioned above. able, but a galaxy away from being world class.

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  57. The answer to that question does not prove that he is consistent, it simply asks whether he is more or less consistent which is a different matter. Just because he may or may not be more consistent than most other strikers, does not answer whether he is consistent. So that is a question that does not need answering as it doesn't fit into what is being debated here. What is being debated is whether he is consistent or not, not how well he compares to others.

    Let me illustrate the difference to you between your question and as to what is being debated. Player X scores 5 in 100 games whereas player Y scores 1 in 100 games, who is more consistent? Player X. Fine but does that make Player X 'consistent'? Of course, not.

    Now back to the question I asked you, what games in that period of poor goal scoring form was he playing on the wing? I think its a fair question to ask, as you seek to make excuses for Rooney's goal droughts, so this question is relevant.

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  58. Eh? What sort of stupid post is that? You expect me to sit here and dedicate my time to waiting for your posts and reply to it instantaneously. I got other things to do such as work, as well as poke holes in your argument. Sorry for prioritizing my work over your post(!)

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  59. "All comments are welcome here" - well except those of people who constantly punch holes in my logic. When those people post, their comments need to be approved first. Only for them to never show up. Rooney is a good player, Suarez is a good player. At that level of quality, who can compare really. Oh and Van Persie is a good player too.

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  60. I agree Rooney is a better player than Suarez..He can't nutmeg as well as Suarez can, but he is very comfy in defending, midfield, and striker...something u call as a 100% footballer....and such players are very rare to find...both have their negative aspects but if u see pure football-characteristics, rooney would be better..

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  61. club and country easy suarez is better hands down. would rooney be as effective in a weak team like Liverpool.............no.
    suarez could play for barca or real, rooney couldn't.
    rooney is a good talent but not consistant.
    id rather have hernandez over rooney and rvp.
    one more thing, how many players does rooney beat over a season one on one??????? how many suarez ?????????
    I know who id rather pay to see or my kid to aspire to.
    players like suarez are rare in this country, hence our national team is laughable..........along with overrated rooney
    END OF

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  62. the things some people would do for there country eh!!!
    like he planned it as well tut tut

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  63. You might not take the time to find out but im sure there are plenty of things that a doctor could do in his/her private life that would put you off consulting him/her

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  64. And suarez,s hair is his own, lol

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  65. If I have a concern about my health, I want to be treated by the best doctor around if possible. I may want to find about their record as a doctor, yes, but doesn't bother me what they do outside of their profession, in relation to my treatment. I couldn't give a monkeys if they was a neo-nazi, a manc, or cross-dresser, etc, in their spare time.

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  66. I live in Adelaide, and there is no way in hell I would travel to sydney to watch the mancs. WTF is wrong with you nick??? Liverpool were in Asia in the off season this year, save up your money and go see them next time they are close. If you go the Sydney / Man u game you are a traitor and you don't deserve to call yourself a fan.

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  67. travelling to watch the game is different to just living in the city they are playing at. I understand your reaction, but when do teams like man utd ever come to australia? i would rather save up to watch a game at anfield, or an away game at OT for the hostility instead of a friendly in asia...

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  68. Nick, I was just joking about the traitor shit, but if Man U were playing in ADL i wouldn't go.

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  69. So you would not mind if Frtizl was your doc?

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  70. In relation to my treatment and health, I don't care if the docter is Mother Theresa II or Dexter outside of work. As long as they do their job, in relation to my treatment and what they do outside of their job doesn't interfere, why should I care in relation to my treatment as to what they get upto outside of their work.

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  71. Been waiting to see this 'world class' Rooney prove it for years. Andy Cole scored lots of goals for Utd in an era where they have dominated.

    Ther overhead kick v Man City would have been one, if it hadn't come off his shin. The last true quality periods were so many years ago and as for England performances..... no comment.

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