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Wayne Rooney Hails 'Lovely Fella' Carlos Tevez, Insists Manchester United Are Fine Without Cristiano Ronaldo
Roo has nothing but respect for Red Devils turncoat...
26-Jan-2010 6:13:00 AM
By Mick Maguire
Wayne Rooney has dished out praise for Carlos Tevez, analysed the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo's exit from Manchester United, and discussed his development since leaving boyhood club Everton.
Tevez is persona non grata at Old Trafford these days, as he had the audacity to follow up his summer switch to Manchester City by bagging a brace and taunting Gary Neville in last week's League Cup derby date.
But as the Mancunian rivals prepare for the second leg of the semi-final on Wednesday, Rooney couldn't find a bad thing to say about his former colleague.
"Carlos was a lovely fella, an honest player who ran for 90 minutes every week and you can't ask for more from a team-mate," he told FourFourTwo magazine.
"I think he realised early on that I'm quite an unselfish player, that if he was in a better position I would give him the ball and that if he stayed up I would drop back to cover.
"We had that great bond where we'd work for each other and, because we lived round the corner from one another, we'd drive each other to training or drive to the airport together for away games."
Tevez was one of two big names to quit United at the end of last season, as a certain Portuguese winger jetted off to Real Madrid for the nominal sum of £80 million.
Much has been said about how Cristiano Ronaldo's absence has affected the Red Devils this term, but Rooney sees the upside in losing one of the world's most damaging players.
He said: "Any team is going to miss [Ronaldo] but we've just got to get on with it. For me, over the last two or three seasons, I had to play a lot out wide and Ronaldo played through the middle, so that's changed.
"For the team, when Ronaldo was out wide, you knew he would come inside and shoot, do a few tricks.
“Now with Valencia, you've got to be on your toes in the box more because he will move in and cross it more than Ronaldo did."
Indeed, Rooney has taken on the challenge of filling CR7's boots with gusto, as best demonstrated by his four-goal haul against Hull City at the weekend.
That romp brought the Scouse striker's tally to 19 goals in 22 Premier League appearances this season - comfortably his best return in front of the sticks, and with just under half the term still to play.
That statistic alone highlights the change in the 24-year-old's role under Sir Alex Ferguson, and he readily admits that he now keeps more petrol in the tank than he used to.
"At Everton it was just excitement and pure desire. I just wanted to win every ball, chase every ball and after an hour of the game I was knackered," Rooney said.
"Now I've realised that you have to save something for when the ball comes to you around the box. I've definitely improved through experience and coaching.
"The more you practice, the better you are in front of goal in a game situation. The more instinctive stuff - when the ball comes in and you've got to do something quick - that's brilliant.
"When that happens, I don't know what I'm going to do, so the defenders have got no chance of knowing!
"It just takes over you, the ball comes and you don't really realise what you've done until its happened."
Tevez is persona non grata at Old Trafford these days, as he had the audacity to follow up his summer switch to Manchester City by bagging a brace and taunting Gary Neville in last week's League Cup derby date.
But as the Mancunian rivals prepare for the second leg of the semi-final on Wednesday, Rooney couldn't find a bad thing to say about his former colleague.
"Carlos was a lovely fella, an honest player who ran for 90 minutes every week and you can't ask for more from a team-mate," he told FourFourTwo magazine.
"I think he realised early on that I'm quite an unselfish player, that if he was in a better position I would give him the ball and that if he stayed up I would drop back to cover.
"We had that great bond where we'd work for each other and, because we lived round the corner from one another, we'd drive each other to training or drive to the airport together for away games."
Tevez was one of two big names to quit United at the end of last season, as a certain Portuguese winger jetted off to Real Madrid for the nominal sum of £80 million.
Much has been said about how Cristiano Ronaldo's absence has affected the Red Devils this term, but Rooney sees the upside in losing one of the world's most damaging players.
He said: "Any team is going to miss [Ronaldo] but we've just got to get on with it. For me, over the last two or three seasons, I had to play a lot out wide and Ronaldo played through the middle, so that's changed.
"For the team, when Ronaldo was out wide, you knew he would come inside and shoot, do a few tricks.
“Now with Valencia, you've got to be on your toes in the box more because he will move in and cross it more than Ronaldo did."
Indeed, Rooney has taken on the challenge of filling CR7's boots with gusto, as best demonstrated by his four-goal haul against Hull City at the weekend.
That romp brought the Scouse striker's tally to 19 goals in 22 Premier League appearances this season - comfortably his best return in front of the sticks, and with just under half the term still to play.
That statistic alone highlights the change in the 24-year-old's role under Sir Alex Ferguson, and he readily admits that he now keeps more petrol in the tank than he used to.
"At Everton it was just excitement and pure desire. I just wanted to win every ball, chase every ball and after an hour of the game I was knackered," Rooney said.
"Now I've realised that you have to save something for when the ball comes to you around the box. I've definitely improved through experience and coaching.
"The more you practice, the better you are in front of goal in a game situation. The more instinctive stuff - when the ball comes in and you've got to do something quick - that's brilliant.
"When that happens, I don't know what I'm going to do, so the defenders have got no chance of knowing!
"It just takes over you, the ball comes and you don't really realise what you've done until its happened."
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