Time for Rooney to step up as Manchester United's main man

Time for Rooney to step up as Manchester United's main man

The Red Devils skipper has struggled in the opening two games of the season and with a crucial campaign ahead, and records in sight, he needs to get back on track
This should be the happiest of times for Wayne Rooney. This is the year England's record goalscorer should establish himself as the most
prolific player in Manchester United's history. The probable conqueror of Sir Bobby Charlton has seen off 21st-century challenges, in the shape of Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao, for the striking spot.

He is the great survivor. The times when Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to exile him are fading into the past. He ought to reign unchallenged at Old Trafford, installed as captain and centre-forward by Louis van Gaal. The only alternatives are obvious understudies, whether the youngsters Adnan Januzaj and James Wilson or the perennial substitute Javier Hernandez.

And yet, two games into the season, Rooney finds himself in a familiar position. There are suggestions his career is at a crossroads. Again. He is now in his 12th season at Old Trafford but has contrived to remain on the same path despite taking many an unexpected turn.
The teenage tearaway will turn 30 in October. After 663 games for club and country, he may have too many miles on the clock. Now Rooney has to stave off suggestions his best days are behind him: some way behind him, some might say. He scored 34 goals for United in 2009-10, his finest campaign, and a further 34 in 2011-12. Hampered by being fielded in midfield and with his appearances limited by United's absence from Europe, he mustered a mere 14 last season.

This year, he argued, will be his first full campaign as an out-and-out striker since then. Yet two games in, Rooney has only had two shots. Both were off target. Kyle Walker has registered more efforts on target for United than Rooney this season. Tottenham and Aston Villa tended to be favourite opponents of his in the past. Rooney was mediocre against both.

He lacked the pace to stretch either defence. Van Gaal noted that he conceded possession unnecessarily at Villa Park. Truth be told, Rooney always has. Even when he was reinvented as a Paul Scholes-style central midfielder, he was never a byword for metronomic passing.
Van Gaal has been touchy, too. He spent Monday's press conference complaining that he was being criticised for not selecting Rooney as a striker last season and is now being asked about fielding him in attack. Yet that missed the point. The question was why Rooney was so ineffective, not where he played.

One answer lies in a disjointed supply line. Of the four men who have started in the three creative roles – Januzaj, Memphis Depay, Ashley Young and Juan Mata – only the Spaniard has begun the season in particularly inventive style. Yet a glimpse of Sergio Aguero on Sunday showed that Rooney lacks the sharpness, the elusiveness and the ruthlessness of the very finest strikers. He has not carved out chances for himself.

One argument is that he should be a No.10, not a No.9. He likes to be involved. He tends to drop deeper. Yet, given the composition of United's squad, that is unlikely. In any case, Rooney has spent much of his United career to a backdrop of his advocates arguing he is being played out of position. A dozen seasons in, the debate really should have been resolved by now.
Van Gaal has stated that the captaincy gives Rooney "privileges" when it comes to selection. It was why he was crowbarred into the team in a variety of roles last season. Now his versatility is less of an issue. It is more a question of his ability: to lead the line, to threaten, to score.

It is dangerous to dismiss him. He has an increasing habit that, when he is not at his best, he appears out of sorts. Such spells can precede a goalscoring run, often without warning. It may be the case, too, that he is easing his way into the campaign. Ferguson always argued he needed plenty of first-team football to be fighting fit. The Club Brugge game will be just his third meaningful match of the season. Rooney was United's last player to score in a Champions League final. Now the task is to find the net in a Champions League qualifier.

Such matches were never required in the golden days. The captaincy came Rooney's way when United were at the lowest of ebbs. They were the side that had slumped to seventh. Van Gaal feels they are in process of returning to the top. Yet if they are to do so, it would help to have the finest forward in the league. Five years ago, after his stellar 2009-10 season, Rooney could claim that title. Not any more. Having overcome Falcao and Van Persie, his next, and biggest, battle is with Aguero and Diego Costa.