The worst thing about Alex Ferguson’s retirement was that he never got to sell Wayne Rooney.
The Scotsman had the presence of mind in his last season at Old Trafford to drop Rooney. There was no fallout, no ulterior motive, it was just for the simple fact that he was playing shit and there were better options in any of the positions that he could supposedly play.
That’s what it boiled down to four seasons ago and it’s what it boils down to today. It’s at least what it should boil down to.
But, still, we get this sickening question being asked week in and week out of how we get the best out of Wayne Rooney as if this slump that he’s having is just bad form. This goes way beyond the realms of form and anything around it. Three years is not form. Nobody has a three-year dip and nobody gets away with it like Wayne Rooney does.
No matter how badly he plays, no matter for how long this continues, you get people like Phil Neville making sweeping statements like: “He HAS to play.”
You can't voice opinions like these and not even attempt to explain them https://t.co/p9WSJUCrpF
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 14, 2016
There’s no reason for it – how could there be? He just HAS to play.
Why? Because he was a very good player five years ago?
Why? Because he’s England captain?
Why? Because of his record?
Wayne Rooney will retire as Manchester United’s and England’s top ever goalscorer and he should be remembered as a legend. But he’s already become that now. A legend. A memory. He’s hanging on and he’s living off his reputation and his goals and his career.
He’s living off the past but still manages to find himself at the centre of United’s team every single week when it is so blatantly clear that, if they took him out, they’d solve one massive problem.
His performance against Watford was on another level entirely – and this is off the back of some fans claiming Rooney has been their most consistent performer this season.
He has three outlets here.
He uses neither.
He’s teed up at the edge of the box. Wayne Rooney. This is it. He even has time to work it onto his right.
He rolls it to the Watford full back instead.
Wayne Rooney thinks he has three options here.
What he actually has is every single Watford player behind the ball and marking up.
When dreams quickly turn to reality.
Luke Shaw has Wayne Rooney free so he slides him through.
This is 2016 Wayne Rooney we’re talking about.
Defenders always drop off big Zlatan. Just sit it up for him Valencia-style, Ibra will eat that up.
Oh.
There goes the most expensive player in the world, completely free. Just roll it to him. Look at all that space.
FFS.
It’s a special case, this Rooney one. Managers and pundits are seemingly oblivious to his waning talent. How can United get the best out of him, that’s still the question. Don’t worry about it, lads. They don’t need to get the best out of him and no position will get the best out of him anyway.
He’s struggling to play football. He’s not struggling to play in certain positions.
Whether you think he’s a striker, a 10, or a midfielder is irrelevant. Zlatan, Martial, Rashford, Mata, Mkhitaryan, Herrera, Pogba and even Ashley bloody Young are all ahead of him in any position Mourinho could possibly play Rooney.
But the selection process seemingly has nothing to do with current ability when that should be the only basis for picking any team.
You don’t have Wayne Rooney of five years ago.
You don’t have Wayne Rooney nonchalantly waiting for the ball to drop from the sky in front of the Newcastle defence so he could smash it into the top corner for the craic.
You don’t have Wayne Rooney defying gravity, floating above Kompany and Richards to score one of the most iconic goals in Premier League history.
You have Wayne Rooney now and he’s keeping better players out of the team, he’s slowing up good moves and he’s wasting ball left, right and centre.
You have this Wayne Rooney and he is not a Manchester United standard player. Alex Ferguson saw that four seasons ago.
Everybody in the world can see that now.
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