Manchester United must drop Wayne Rooney for his and the team’s own good
It’s been coming and some will argue it came months ago, but Manchester United must drop Wayne Rooney now for the good of the team – and the player.
The England and Manchester United captain started up front against Manchester City on Sunday, despite his awful form so far this season. His inclusion saw in-form teenager Anthony Martial shifted to a wide left position once again, where his involvement was much more subtle than a game of this nature should have been.
But why is Rooney seemingly undroppable? There was a stage last season where many, myself included, thought Louis van Gaal stuck by his favourites no matter what until he dropped Robin van Persie after a run of poor form and then eventually sold him to Fenerbahce in the summer without as much as a goodbye to his former Dutch national team captain.
We also saw the manager’s ruthless streak with Angel Di Maria being dropped despite being the club’s record signing, while Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa, Wilfried Zaha, Tom Cleverley and Rafael were all shipped off after being deemed not good enough.
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So what makes Rooney an exception to the ruthless streak? While some would argue it’s his presence on the field, that’s arguable now. In recent weeks he’s become more of a side-show with every camera and fan comment directed at him despite the circumstance.
Yesterday’s 0-0 draw was a game that was far from spectacular and while Rooney was near enough invisible, he was the man singled out for criticism by fans and media personalities leading Louis van Gaal to get irritable at the line of questioning post-game.
"“I have to talk every week about Rooney, why?” the Dutchman said to SkySports after the game.“You have your opinion – write it. I don’t give any more answers about Wayne Rooney. I am sick of them.”"
While his point is true, there’s a very valid reason for it.
Love him or hate him, Rooney is the talisman at Manchester United and is the face of the football club. Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, he’s taken over that role off the field as well as on it and with the captaincy too he is the man that everyone looks to answers for. Right now, he’s incapable of providing those answers or silencing his critics.
It’s time to drop him. We have better, more in-form options in the team at the moment that mean his removal from the starting line-up wouldn’t be missed so much apart from the lack of ‘star-power’, while the team would probably become even more balanced.
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Anthony Martial has shown in his short Old Trafford career that he is undoubtedly the heir to Wayne Rooney’s throne at Manchester United and his best performances have come through the middle. His pace, directness, power and ability to beat a man are all aspects of his game that he excels in over Rooney and he seems to be much more suited to the modern game of football.
The old Wayne Rooney, the Rooney signed from Everton, would be a world star in today’s game with his passion, hunger and desire to win. While he hasn’t lost that, it’s now less relevant in-game as tactics have moved on and the game has become more for athletes than footballers.
With Memphis, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial and Juan Mata all capable of operating across the front line, with Martial and James Wilson capable of filling in the striker role, Rooney wouldn’t be missed nearly as much as in previous years.
That’s not to say he should be sold or completely frozen out of the team. However a run of games on the bench can only be good for all involved. It takes Rooney out of the limelight for a short while, once the initial explosion of media interest that he’s been dropped has passed while it allows United to play with their in-form players together in their best positions.
van Gaal has already begun preparing for life post-Rooney, by admitting he sees Chris Smalling as a future captain. Why not start him off on that track now, for a few weeks at least, while Rooney sits out and is forced to watch on and recognise that he must buck up his ideas and perform or Manchester United will move on without him, if they haven’t already.