Rooney Watch Update
Now that he's moved to United from Everton, I've now had the opportunity, courtesy of the sports package on our cable menu, to watch Rooney a fair bit. He's a very good player, I'm happy to report. He's far more intelligent than would be apparent from reading the conventional clippings, which emphasize his volatility and ruggedness. In some respects, he's like Beckham, who also appears not to be someone who would do well on a Stanford-Binet test but has "football intelligence" of the highest order. He reads the play excellently and makes some wonderful through-passes. He also has an excellent shot, which he keeps low.
But George Best he ain't. By a long shot. In fact, watching United these past months have emphasized that Giggs remains United's most exhilarating individual player. On occasion, Giggs will have the defence twisting and turning the way George did; "like a fox going into a chicken run" was the memorable phrase, coined, I think, by Hugh McIlvanney. I haven't seen Rooney do that.