Wayne Rooney was dropped on Saturday as Manchester United beat Leicester City 4-1. The reasoning was due to back problems the veteran forward has been dealing with. However, starting on the bench comes after many fans and pundits have called for him to come off the team sheet to give some players like Paul Pogba a chance to better express themselves.
Since 2004, Rooney has been a key figure at Old Trafford, but so far this season he’s been in poor form. The United captain hasn’t scored since his team’s League opener against Bournemouth. For Rooney, it’s been a disappointing season, despite getting off to a great start. His goal on matchday one and assists in the previous two league games against Hull and Southampton gave United a blistering start to the season. Since then it’s been difficult for the 30-year-old.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – AUGUST 19: Jose Mourinho, Manager of Manchester United gives the thumbs up after the Premier League match between Manchester United and Southampton at Old Trafford on August 19, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Jose Mourinho hasn’t been shy about banishing star players this season, just ask Bastian Schweinsteiger. Considering Rooney’s recent struggles it’s not surprising that United’s new boss chose to sit his number 10 for a game against Leicester. What is surprising is how non-confrontational Mourinho is being about it.
Mourinho said the decision to drop Rooney was more about playing to an opponent’s weakness rather than a single player’s form. What playing Martial and Rashford meant was it gave United speed and width on the pitch. It was a pragmatic answer to defend his captain. Mourinho’s handling of the situation shows he’s good at playing politics. A 21-year-old Luke Shaw can have a bad game and be heavily criticised by his manager, but Rooney won’t be. Seniority counts to Mourinho it seems.
Rooney is a professional so he likely understands that getting dropped is a fact of life sometimes. Maybe it was just a case of him not matching up against Leicester, or maybe there is something more to it. It’s a small sample size but the fact is, United’s last three games with Rooney in the starting lineup were terrible. The game he was dropped, they won 4-1.
[link_box id=”23195″ site_id=”158″ layout=”link-box-third” alignment=”alignright”]Moving forward, United have to decide what to do with their captain. The longer this lingers, the bigger of an issue it becomes. Rooney’s lack of consistency and the inability for his managers to find that perfect position for him hurt the team, as well as Rooney. Since Alex Ferguson left United, Rooney has seemed to have shifted further and further back into midfield at times, with varying degrees of success. With United’s willingness to spend heaps of money on superstar players, Rooney has to establish himself in a certain role, especially as he gets older. To be fair to him, most of the time it isn’t his fault his managers can’t exactly decide what his best position is.
What this means for Rooney is that he has to feel slightly concerned about his place in the team. He’s going to be given more chances, he’s the captain, it would be impossible not to give him playing time. But Rooney is going to have to start performing. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that he comes back and strings together a series of great games. However, his current situation kind of makes that a necessity. If he wants to continue to be an important part of Manchester United moving forward he has to be the Rooney United fans remember.
For United, there is going to be a nagging feeling in the back of their minds that the 4-1 against Leicester is what the team could become with Rooney on the bench. Critics of Pogba’s poor start to the season pointed out that playing alongside Rooney stifled what made him great at Juventus. It’s almost certainly a coincidence, but with Rooney on the bench, Pogba scored his first goal of the season. That’s a tough coincidence to ignore, though. United won’t banish Rooney to the reserves or publically throw him under the bus, but there is a seed of doubt in Mourinho’s mind now. Rooney is going to have to find his form soon if he hopes to squash it.
