Have Spurs done to Sigurðsson what United did to Rooney?

Darren Anderton views of Wayne Rooney that rather echoed my own lead me to ask are we not guilt of the same.



After another below average Rooney performance against Uruguay, former Spurs wide man Darren Anderton felt Rooney has been too weak with Manchester United.

“He’s too much of a team player for his own good.

“A few years ago Sir Alex Ferguson swapped him and Cristiano Ronaldo around at Manchester United because Ronaldo wasn’t prepared to do the tracking back and the helping your defenders you have to do when you play wide.

“That’s why he plays there now. Every player would rather play centrally because you’re going to get the best out of yourself as an individual."

That is exactly an article I wrote recently about Manchester United ruining him and suggesting a player like Ross Barkley should not make the same mistake Rooney did by going to Old Trafford.

Manchester United ruined Rooney

“For me, he’s our star man and you need him involved as much as possible and in the right areas, which is behind the front two.

“He could have had a hat-trick. He was very unlucky with the header against the crossbar and he’ll be disappointed with the left-footed one in the second half.

“He’s getting into the right areas and hopefully the goal will give him some confidence going into the Costa Rica game.

“We had more possession and that’s what we wanted, but we didn’t create enough and then went to sleep against a world-class player.

“In both of the games we haven’t stopped the crosses and the ball coming into the box. Also, your centre-backs have to play as a pair and that didn’t happen.

“World Cups only come around every four years and you need to make sure you take your chances when they come.”

Now leaving the fact England didn't take any international class defenders to the World Cup and the many other short comings, it's the question of the individual that springs to mind.

For Rooney at Manchester United substitute Gylfi Sigurðsson at Tottenham. Now I'm not comparing the two players merely what each club has dome with them and how they have stunted their growth as individual players. Wayne Rooney is a very good player but he isn't the player he could have been, he's been prevented from becoming that.

Like Ronaldo, Gareth Bale was feed from tracking back duties which meant someone central had to try and cover. That is not Sigurðsson's forte, he is weak defensively, so he found it difficult to get a starting berth with Spurs at the time preferring Dempsey to track back.

Since then Sigurðsson has been shunted wide and forced to play a position he isn't great at. Yes he has tried his best, yes there are moments when it all works for him but overall he has been a disappointment.

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Sigurðsson is a number 10, that's where he played for Swansea, that's where he scored his goals, that why we signed him. By allowing us to shunt him around and play him out of position his game has gone backwards. To reignite his career he needs to leave, to find a club where he can play where he can influence the game and start to become the big fish again.

It's the only way he'll be the best player he can be. Sometimes being a team man isn't good for you, unless you stand up for yourself in this world you get used and we haven't been good for him at all.

We seem to have bought players without knowing what we want.

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