As Man United’s renaissance stutters, one man in particular is faltering on a consistent basis. England’s all-time top goalscorer and Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney is falling behind the pace, and after a rather forgettable trip to Arsenal this weekend, Rooney shortcomings are coming more and more apparent. Prompting the question, does Rooney justify his place in a United shirt?
Rooney endured a wretched afternoon at the Emirates on Sunday, playing behind the 19-year-old Anthony Martial, he looked a shadow of the player he once was. Looking uninterested, stale and worn-out, the 29-year-old played the full 90 minutes for Louis van Gaal’s side, which lost 3-0. Rooney in fact has started most games this season, despite looking past his best for the majority of the season. So what has happened to the man who was once dubbed the ‘white Pele’?
Quite simply, Rooney is lacking the aggression that previously dominated the England man’s style of play. A street-style striker, Rooney was one of the world’s most exciting young players, a hat-trick on his full United debut, Rooney was going to be the greatest. And the stats would dictate the hype was justified, the striker is already England’s all-time top scorer and he is just 15 goals away from replicating that feat in United red.
However, since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, Rooney seems to have mellowed. With aggression comes dynamism, an affinity to take risks and a work ethic. The difference in Rooney is telling when looking at the stats, in the 2009/10 season, Rooney averaged 5.7 shots per game and consequently scored 26 league goals. This season Rooney is averaging two shots per game and has scored once. Since 2012, the striker has averaged over 2.5 shots per game in only one season. Not surprisingly, the goals have not followed.
In fact, not since 2011/12 has Rooney scored more than 17 goals in a season, in a league with Sergio Aguero, Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez and Harry Kane, all scoring more than 20 goals per season, Rooney no longer matches his reputation as a goal scorer. Apart from the recent big-money arrival of teenage striker Anthony Martial, United have lacked a goalscorer in recent seasons as Wayne Rooney simply cannot match his Premier League colleagues in terms of goals.
It speaks a lot that rather than persevering with Rooney up front, Martial has displaced Rooney as the main striker and pushed Rooney into the number 10 role, a role which doesn’t suit Rooney. Not a natural midfielder, Rooney is too erratic for a number 10, he drifts to get the ball at his feet and subsequently, isn’t finds himself out of position. An old-fashioned centre-forward, Rooney doesn’t make sense in today’s game.
The United man, obviously still has the ability, but the creativity isn’t there anymore. Rooney can no longer justify the tag of United’s main man. A new dawn is needed at United and it remains to be seen whether Martial is the answer, however, persevering with Wayne Rooney, is not.
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