Phil Neville finally analyses Wayne Rooney but still manages to see a different display to almost everyone else

This needs to stop, Phil.

Phil Neville is beginning to do a pretty decent impression of "Comical Ali", the hilariously deluded spokesperson for Saddam Hussein's regime during the second Iraq war. Ali, real name Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, would tell assembled media that the western forces didn't stand a chance against the mighty Iraqi army. He did this while television pictures showed American tanks rolling into Baghdad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfAeMtcURg0 Neville, meanwhile, continues to talk up Wayne Rooney despite all evidence to the contrary. He continues to claim that Rooney needs to start for Manchester United and continues to make excuses for the player's poor form – such as Rooney being played in different positions, despite the fact that it's evident to anyone watching that Rooney isn't the player he was, the team are better without his presence and his poor form has little to do with him being shunted around the pitch. If social media is anything to go by, it seems clear to most viewers that the reason he's being moved around is because he's not excelling in any role and his status seems to dictate that he can't be dropped. Phil, was at it again on Wednesday night when he was a pundit on Sky Sports' coverage of United's 3-1 win over Northampton Town in the EFL Cup - a game in which Rooney, once again, played poorly. Afterwards Phil offered another weak defence of the player, following on from his appearance on Monday Night Football last week. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/776348330582478849 "He's still an important player, but you can see in his performance he's not playing to the top level," Neville said following the Northampton game, getting the latter half of his statement right, at least.

"His game is not flowing and things aren't coming easy to him. Tonight was important for him to get out there and play another 90 minutes. The worry is he ended up on the right wing again." "The continuing change of positions will affect him. He wants to be a centre forward or a centre midfielder – he doesn't want to be stuck on the right wing. That's having a massive effect on his performance."

Sorry Phil, but the reason Rooney ended up on the right-wing was because he was completely ineffective as a central striker. We could all see that. The same way he has been ineffective in the number 10 role, and as a midfielder. Mourinho moved him out-wide when Marcus Rashford and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were brought on in the second half because he failed to play well in a central position. It's not Rooney's position that is "having a massive effect on his performance", it's his performance that's having an effect on his position. Unfortunately for United fans, his form hasn't led to him being positioned on the bench yet. At least Neville backed-up his opinion, however weak, with something approaching a theory as to why Rooney is in poor form. Unlike when he said on Sky a few weeks ago that Rooney must play without offering any reason why beyond, for him, "Rooney has to play." https://twitter.com/ConanDoherty/status/775645458119155712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw We get it, Phil, you respect Rooney's considerable achievements and don't want to be overly critical of a former colleague. However, no-one expects you to morph into Eamon Dunphy and call Rooney a "cod". Have some respect for the intelligence of the viewers. Rooney isn't anywhere near the player he was, he hasn't played well for a long time and it's time to for United to try a different approach. His terrible form has nothing to do with what position he's playing in a EFL Cup game against Northampton. In fairness to Neville, unlike Trevor Sinclair, he hasn't called for Rooney to play as a defensive midfielder. Not yet anyway. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/777808998754033664