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Ryan Mason

If Scholes rates him that highly then surely that ends the debate about his ability?

If there is one thing Scholes knows, its how an effective, dominant midfield works.

Yeah you would think that.

But then you remember that when Scholes picked his best XI from his time at United he put Wes Brown in it. And then you remember that the overwhelming majority of footballers are in fact idiots; natural born players that have little or no idea of why they are able to do the things they can do with a football. This is even the case (most of the time) for those who are so smart on the ball that you would presume some level of genius.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/jan/27/paul-scholes-manchester-united-team


BTW, i'm a big Mason fan. Just pointing out that an endorsement from a former England international isn't really worth anything more than an endorsement from a celebrity fan.
 

I'd start him.

I think England have really poor options in the two CM roles.

Any of Sterling, Rodriguez, Welbeck, Lallana, Ings, Barkley, Rooney or Sturridge can play in trio behind Kane.

But deeper there's very little - Mason, Henderson, Wiltshire for the more advanced/mobile one, but I can't think of anyone for the Bentaleb role. Rodwell?


-----------Kane
Sterling--Barkley--Sturridge
---Mason---Henderson
Baines--Stones--Dier--Clyne
------------Hart

Would be my team building towards the Euros
 
Yeah you would think that.

But then you remember that when Scholes picked his best XI from his time at United he put Wes Brown in it. And then you remember that the overwhelming majority of footballers are in fact idiots; natural born players that have little or no idea of why they are able to do the things they can do with a football. This is even the case (most of the time) for those who are so smart on the ball that you would presume some level of genius.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2009/jan/27/paul-scholes-manchester-united-team


BTW, i'm a big Mason fan. Just pointing out that an endorsement from a former England international isn't really worth anything more than an endorsement from a celebrity fan.

Except, fwiw, it does help raise Mason's profile.
 
My opinion is that he is suffering from a loss of form right now - he has much more ability than he is currently showing. Once he gets his passing and creativity back on a more consistent basis he will be nailed on for an Eng call up.
 
IMO Mason will not get into the team. Hodgson seems to have found a system he likes with the current 4312, allowing him to keep the midfield compact whilst keeping two strikers and getting the best out of Sterling. With Kane in his current form, he's got to start up top, alongside Sturridge or Welbeck. Rooney has to fit in somewhere and if it's not in the top 3 positions then he's gonna be crowbarred into that midfield alongside Hendersen and a DM. That DM position is where England are lacking at the moment and a change to 4231 like GB shows would counter our need for a real DM.

Mason may make the squad though.
 
My opinion is that he is suffering from a loss of form right now - he has much more ability than he is currently showing. Once he gets his passing and creativity back on a more consistent basis he will be nailed on for an Eng call up.

He dominated Arsenal's midfield and was admirable against Liverpool's 4 CMs. The only game I've noticed him struggling was the first Sheff U game, when he clearly looked rusty.

With a 9 day rest now, he'll hopefully be raring to go again for Fiorentina and West Ham.
 
IMO Mason will not get into the team. Hodgson seems to have found a system he likes with the current 4312, allowing him to keep the midfield compact whilst keeping two strikers and getting the best out of Sterling. With Kane in his current form, he's got to start up top, alongside Sturridge or Welbeck. Rooney has to fit in somewhere and if it's not in the top 3 positions then he's gonna be crowbarred into that midfield alongside Hendersen and a DM. That DM position is where England are lacking at the moment and a change to 4231 like GB shows would counter our need for a real DM.

Mason may make the squad though.

We really need an injury to Rooney to usher in the new age.

Like happened with Robson and Webb in 1990 to allow Gascoigne and Platt in, or Hateley and Dixon in 1986 to give a platform to Lineker and Beardsley.

Hodgson is too cowardly to do the deed of his own initiative. Rooney is already our Kevin Pieterson.
 
My opinion is that he is suffering from a loss of form right now - he has much more ability than he is currently showing. Once he gets his passing and creativity back on a more consistent basis he will be nailed on for an Eng call up.

Agreed. Hopefully a short break will do him good. Need him back at his best.

We really need an injury to Rooney to usher in the new age.

Like happened with Robson and Webb in 1990 to allow Gascoigne and Platt in, or Hateley and Dixon in 1986 to give a platform to Lineker and Beardsley.

Hodgson is too cowardly to do the deed of his own initiative. Rooney is already our Kevin Pieterson.

Disagree. Most successful international teams have a lot of experience in their ranks and are often a mix of youth and experience.

Wayne Rooney at 29 is still a quality footballer. And at the next Euros he'll be just 30 closing in on 31. No reason why he couldn't be very useful for England for at least another couple of international tournaments. As always the issue is how to get the most out of your good players, at this England have failed miserably in the past.

Piling pressure on the next bunch of youngsters and performing a huge generational change at once is not a good idea. And England has a rich history of overestimating youngsters only to turn on them when they almost inevitably fail to achieve the very high expectations.
 
The question re: Rooney though is whether or not he is the best option for any of the positions in that team. On current form you would argue not, as he isn't even getting regular game time up front for UTD, where LVG is playing him as a central midfielder. Hodgson has to fit his captain into the side, he did so with Gerrard in the W/C and it was imo detrimental to the team as Hodgson wasn't able to create a system that played to Gerrard's strengths.

The same will happen now with Rooney. Hodgson will either squeeze Stirling out wide or dump one of Kane or Sturridge to accomodate him up top. The best thing that could happen for all parties is for Falcao or RVP to get injured so Rooney can go back to playing up front.
 
We really need an injury to Rooney to usher in the new age.

Like happened with Robson and Webb in 1990 to allow Gascoigne and Platt in, or Hateley and Dixon in 1986 to give a platform to Lineker and Beardsley.

Hodgson is too cowardly to do the deed of his own initiative. Rooney is already our Kevin Pieterson.

Wow I agree with every word of that post.

I do not understand either why managers keep trying to put Rooney into the team when we would look a better more all round team without him there. It is bit like the whole Gerrad and Lampard thing, not sure what happens to people when they become England managers.
 
Better for us if he stays under the radar/underrated

I'll be happier when our fans appreciate his contribution more though. He's suffering a bit in the way Carrick and Modric did early in their careers too, because they are not flashy
With your Mason hard on, i'm sure he will not be under the radar for to long.
 
I find it strange to see such a lack of appreciation for Rooney's talents. While I agree that he has never fulfilled the potential that he showed when very young that doesn't mean he isn't still deserving of his England place and I would still have him in any England team that I picked. It might not be fashionable to think Rooney is a good player these days but I still think he offers a huge amount. I would have him in any one of the positions behind the centre forward in my England team. James Milner is another who I would have in my England team, again not a fashionable player, but extremely effective.

My team would be:

----------------------Kane
------Sterling------Rooney-----Sturridge
----------Milner-------------Henderson
Baines--------Jagielka-------Cahill--------Clyne
------------------------Hart

Jagielka and Cahill get in by default.... Neither are good enough for where we want to be, but both are still better defenders currently than Stones and Dier. Terry would still be in there if picking the team on merit, but I think that ship has sailed from a political point of view.

I think Walker will probably force his way back in the England team in the next few months as well. Additionally it wouldn't surprise me to see Rose or Shaw replace Baines in the medium term either.

Oxlaide Chamberlain, Walcott and Wellbeck and Barkley are then all good options off of the bench.

It's interesting that England now seem to have some decent attacking options while lacking really good defenders, a few years ago I don't think I would've ever really envisaged that.
 
It's not that I don't see what Rooney brings Finney, just that right now his current form is not good enough for a place ahead of any of those others in Hodgson's system. I also like the idea of a midfield 3 containing Henderson and Milner.
 
If Scholes rates Mason that highly then surely that ends the debate about his ability?

Uh, no. It doesn't end any debate, especially in a (club) forum such as this. Just cos Scholes says it, doesn't mean its so. He's now media/pundit. If Roy Keane or Hoddle were critical of Mason would it end debate? Never knew Scholes was held in such esteem in here. But, will keep it in mind. :)
 
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Uh, no. It doesn't end any debate, especially in a (club) forum such as this. Just cos Scholes says it, doesn't mean its so. He's now media/pundit. If Roy Keane or Hoddle were critical of Mason would it end debate? Never knew Scholes was held in such esteem in here. But, will keep it in mind. :)

Scholes is held in very high esteem as a player on here. His opinions are rated more as a result of him very rarely opening his mouth as a player I think. Only recently has he been moving into punditry, I at least have no idea if his opinions are particularly noteworthy.

As a player he was somewhat similar to Mason I suppose. Unlike with United players Scholes has no reason to be positive about Spurs players. If he rates Mason I think it's at least noteworthy - although as you say it's not a debate ender.
 
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