There was a moment in the first half of Sunday’s drab Manchester Derby when Wayne Rooney picked up the ball on the left and drove towards the Manchester City penalty area. At the same time, Anthony Martial drifted to the flank, looking to exploit Bacary Sagna’s poor discipline after the right-back was drawn out of position to counter Rooney. In his pomp, the Manchester United would have spotted the run of his teammate early and played him in to put a cross into the box. Instead, though, Rooney delayed his pass and, as such, an opportunity was lost.
Later on as the game thankfully neared its climax - and United resorted to thumping the ball long to Marouane Fellaini to upset the City defence - the powerful Belgian was tasked with bringing others into play, maximising his aerial strength. For that to work, though, he needs a player alongside him to feed off the scraps, which should have been Rooney. However, on this such occasion, the United captain was merely trudging towards the City penalty box, 30 yards from goal.
If any match summed just how far Rooney has fallen this season, Sunday’s derby was arguably it. His WhoScored rating against City (6.18) was his lowest in a league match this season. It was a performance to forget, of that there is no doubt. Rooney mustered just one shot over the 90 minutes, played zero key passes, completed zero successful dribbles and ended the fixture with a pass success rate of just 56.7%, the second worst of all starting outfielders.
Martial’s arrival on deadline day should have provided Rooney with the necessary shot in the arm to up his performances, but instead the latter's form has remained worryingly poor. Even after Martial's superb start to life in Manchester, he has since been moved to the left to accomodate his striking teammate in attack. While this allows Ander Herrera to feature behind the striker, it’s a detriment to United’s attack to allow Rooney to lead the line at present. Of the 478 times the 30-year-old has touched the ball this season, he has done so just 33 times in the opposition penalty area, an incredibly poor return for a striker.
However, no matter how poorly Rooney has performed, Louis van Gaal is reluctant to withdraw the frontman from action. “Sir, I have to talk every week about Rooney. Why? I don’t give an opinion. You have your opinion, write it,” the United boss said in defence of his captain in Sunday's post-match press conference. It's true that Van Gaal has been forced to answer numerous questions about his captain in recent weeks, though the press are justified in their criticism given his poor form. The United boss has perhaps shot himself in the foot a little by handing the England international the armband, which has seemingly made him immune from being hauled off, despite a number of thoroughly underwhelming displays.
His WhoScored rating this term (6.87) is his worst in England’s top tier in the last seven Premier League seasons, yet it wasn’t supposed to be like this for Rooney. With Robin van Persie and Falcao exiting Old Trafford, Rooney was tasked with spearheading the United attack once more, having flirted with a central midfield role last term. It was another chance to reestablish himself as the lead striker, having done so in the 2009/10 and the 2011/12 seasons, netting a combined 53 league goals. However, a return of two league goals from the opening nine games is one that leaves a lot to be desired.
For a player returning to his preferred role, Rooney isn’t doing his utmost to turn his fortunes in front of goal around. An average of 2.1 shots per game is his lowest in the Premier League in the last seven campaigns, while he is struggling to bring others into play, averaging a lowly 1.1 key passes per game, once again his worst return. Furthermore, an average of 39.7 passes ranks bottom for him in England’s top tier as Rooney continues to flounder on the frontline.
Without scoring goals or bringing teammates into play, Rooney offers very little for United at present. His continued selection is hindering Martial and Memphis Depay’s development, with the former shunted out wide and the latter forced to contend with a place on the bench of late, albeit after an underwhelming start. Of course, the positive comes in Herrera’s deployment in a more advanced role, but the logical selection would be to have the Spaniard start behind Martial, not a laborious Rooney struggling for form.
One of United’s better showings of the season, if only after the interval - the 3-1 home win over Liverpool - came without Rooney in the team. The Manchester giants rightly harbour title aspirations and despite drawing at home this weekend, are just two points behind City. However, while Van Gaal has publicly backed Rooney this campaign, privately he must be contemplating whether to persist with his captain or not. Judging by this season’s performances though, surely it’s only a matter of time before the Dutchman’s patience wears out and he elects to drop the striker.
Should Van Gaal persist with Wayne Rooney up front or does the United striker need to be dropped? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below
People are too hasty. I mean that eventually with performances like against Man City Rooney will get dropped. The choice before the game was between Rooney or Memphis. Van Gaal hasn't seemed confident playing Memphis in the left anymore after Arsenal-game so Martial has moved there and Rooney is in the centre. So I completely understand why van Gaal has decided to play like this. But when Ashley Young is again fit enough, I see Rooney more likely on the bench. United still need two more new signings. One striker and one right winger. Let's wait and see.
YES. Drop him till he gets his desire back. Man U can easily pick a front four from Martial, Depay, Herrera, Mata, Young, Valencia.
Almost every United fan knows this possession based football stinks. LvG had 3 transfer windows too rebuild the team (oh boy ,and he did), alot of quality players arrived (and champions left the team for cheaps at the same time), but they are not used to this "philosophy". Hope this is the last year for van Gaal.
Yes Rooney should drop from the first 11 fro few more matches.