When Rooney decides to chase a pass-back to the opposition keeper, he makes a half hearted run and saunters up to the keeper thus allowing the keeper time to plan and make a targeted kick!

Rooney then compounds his lack of effort by strolling back. Time after time this results in him being in an offside position when ITC make a quick attack. Inevitably this results in us losing control of the ball and have one man less in forward play!

What can be done?

The coaching staff certainly need to pick up on this point.

Does Rooney need a kick on the backside or something else?

Send a letter in to the club.

Not sure about this observation to be honest, as Rooney normally offers 100%. Being the furthest forward at most times then he will be the one left in an offside postition. I doubt this is only happening at our club. Still, each to their own.

I'm with tm4, towards the end maybe but u say it like its all the time....

What can be done?

I would suggest not wasting energy chasing down pass backs.

Well it paid off for him to chase Diamonds pass back 2 weeks ago!

Well it paid off for him to chase Diamonds pass back 2 weeks ago!

In fairness that was chasing a long kick down field from Esson. I wonder if Ryan got an assist for that come to think of it?

The assist was from Diamond.

Well it paid off for him to chase Diamonds pass back 2 weeks ago!

And against Raith when we won 4-0 away

When a defender passes back it is normally to buy them some time so they can push forward. So you have Rooney chasing back and the opposition defence running in the other direction. They are only going to go so far up the pitch and the first sign of losing possession and they'll be chasing back. Most of the time, no extra effort is required to bring him (Rooney) back into an onside position, and getting caught off side doesn't seem to be that regular an occurrence, IMO.

Suggestions that he lacks effort in any aspect of his game are pretty ridiculous. He's one of the hardest working players on the pitch and probably covers more distance/area than any other single player. I'm often surprised he has the energy to see out a game at times, so looking for him to be sprinting back when, in the majority of instances it is not required, would only prove detrimental in the grand scheme of things.

As has been said above why would he chase down every single passback like a headless chicken? This achieves nothing other than tiring him out and creates space in the area from which he has run, it would be pointless. He needs to pick and choose when he does it and as stated above Aberdeen & Raith are good examples of this.

Anyway how many charged down kicks do you see??

This achieves nothing other than tiring him out and creates space in the area from which he has run, it would be pointless.

This. I can accept that there are some scenarios where it might be worth it but on the majority of occasions it achieves nothing as you say.

i noticed it in the first half against st johnstone but the whole team were like that.

but it was a one off.

Rooneys workrate is what I like about him, he is always pressuring defenders and keepers in to making mistakes. Most of the time it doesnt pay off, but when it does its worth it. For example, against the dons rooney chased down that ball, and ended up scoring. Most strikers would of thought it was a "lost cause"

Chasing down pass-backs and generally running around chasing after the ball Kenny Miller style both wastes energy and as above, leaves a big gap between the striker and the midfield, which is detrimental to the team should the midfield pick up the second ball. Marking the space between the centre-halfs or the centre half and fullback is what the striker should be doing.

It worked for us last season....

It worked for us last season....

We weren't doing it all the time last season though. How many goals last season came this way from closed down pass backs? Ultimately, in the grand scheme of things, it's a pointless activity.

I don't entirely agree. It's always good to harrass the keeper into moving a bit quicker instead of giving him the freedom of Inverness to saunter over and clear the ball.

Not always bringing a goal but sometimes hurried clearances result in the ball being handed back to us via throw ins or just hoofed straight up the park to our defence.... whereupon we would proceed to throw it back to them or hoof it straight back down the big centre halfs throat, and so the cycle begins again.

Get the midfield offensive to plug the gap left by the Striker running down the ball. Obviously he won't sut down everything, but if he gets the right balance, then he will justify doing it.

IIRC there was a couple Rig.

I'm surprised no one's made the point that certain keepers are much more adept at receiving and controlling a backpass than others.

I'd like to think that our coaching staff make Rooney (or anyone else in a forward position) aware of any goalkeeping weaknesses in the opposition.

We are fortunate to have in Ryan Esson, not only a very good all round keeper, but someone who can confidently receive a back-pass, and who can then generally dispatch the ball to one of his team-mates.

Johnboy, he's happy along as he doesn't need his right foot, I've seen him lose it when bully passed back n Ryan needed to clear it with his right foot...

IIRC there was a couple Rig.

Not a very high success ratio from potential number of chased back passes though is it? It's the Scottish way though I supose to charge about like a headless chicken. In other countries when teams lose the ball they don't go charging after it, instead they regain their shape and position and by doing this they don't open up spaces for their opponents to exploit.

I think there's a time and a place for chasing after a back pass but these chances are few and far between.

I'm surprised no one's made the point that certain keepers are much more adept at receiving and controlling a backpass than others.

We are fortunate to have in Ryan Esson, not only a very good all round keeper, but someone who can confidently receive a back-pass, and who can then generally dispatch the ball to one of his team-mates.

Esson appears to be utterly fantastic at dealing with back passes.