Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has been asked by Louis Van Gaal to play a midfiled role for a big part of the season so far. Can it really work?
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Four years ago yesterday Wayne Rooney scored one of the best goals of his career, a stunning overhead kick against Manchester City. United won the Barclays Premier League that season.
Rooney’s return of 16 club goals was modest for him, but many of them were important.
He scored against Liverpool, Chelsea (twice), Arsenal and in a Champions League semi-final and final against Schalke and Barcelona respectively.
Today Rooney is having to adjust to changed circumstances at United, and one wonders just how long England’s most celebrated modern centre forward will allow it to last.
The statistics of Rooney’s season are remarkable. He is in the middle of his worst scoring run since 2006, having scored in just one of his last 11United games, and has not managed to have a single shot on goal since the turn of the calendar year.
That last statistic is so startling, Rooney himself was stunned to learn of it. But when he looks back at his latest 90 minutes, against Burnley on Wednesday night, he will begin to understand it.Rooney has not always played as a traditional No 9 at United.
Far from it. In Louis van Gaal’s team, however,Rooney has been asked to perform a conventional midfield role.
On Wednesday, after an injury to Daley Blind, he spent an hour playing in front of his own back four.It was an unedifying sight as United’s most potent forward player scuffled about in the cheap seats simply because Van Gaal, by his own admission, had no one else in his squad he could trust to do it.In the second half he was booked.
Those of us who have watched Rooney recognised the pattern. As his frustration built, he began to niggle at opponents, snipe at the officials. He was eventually cautioned for persistent offending. Classic Rooney.
As always, he did his utmost to drag his team through the game. Up ahead of him, though, the pairing of Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao lumbered through the night like a couple on a rather uncomfortable first date.
Publicly or privately, Rooney has said nothing about his current role. He admires Van Gaal, is impressed by his c.v. and his thoroughness.Be under no illusion, though, this will be irritating the hell out him.
Eventually we can expect the dam to burst and if that happens Van Gaal will have a problem.Still only 29, Rooney remains ambitious and, more importantly, he still sees himself as a centre forward.
The longer Rooney remains stuck 25 goals behind Sir Bobby Charlton’s club record of 249 and the longer United remain detached from title contention, the greater the risk of disenfranchising the player Van Gaal’s team really should be built around.
After all, when he signed his big new contract in February 2014, he did not do so thinking that only a year later he would be spending his time doing a less than convincing impression of Michael Carrick. – Daily Mail
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