Wayne Rooney
"I cannot deny it - Robin van Persie cannot deny it, Falcao cannot deny it and Rooney is not playing there much anymore. We cannot deny that, at this moment, we don't have a striker who scores 20 goals in the season."
"I cannot deny it - Robin van Persie cannot deny it, Falcao cannot deny it and Rooney is not playing there much anymore. We cannot deny that, at this moment, we don't have a striker who scores 20 goals in the season."
Louis van Gaal's words were intended more as a factual summary than staunch criticism of his forward line, but the Dutchman's assessment still looks ludicrous when he has been playing Wayne Rooney as a central midfielder. Rooney averages 20.6 goals per season during his time at Manchester United. He also has five goals in ten Premier League games under Van Gaal when playing as a striker - one suspects the manager would settle for 19 over the course of a season.
That figure does not even include Saturday's victory over Sunderland. Rooney was still not deployed as an out-and-out striker, but was pushed up into an advanced No. 10 role behind Radamel Falcao. He scored twice and looked far more assured. I'm getting sick of writing about square pegs and square holes with United this season.
I could call the difference in Rooney's game magical, but that would miss the point entirely. Instead, it was just logical. The four shots on target Rooney managed against Sunderland was as many as in his previous ten games combined. He also created three chances and actually seemed allowed to enter the penalty area. Praise be.
The question (provoked far too many times this season) is this: Why is Van Gaal still having to learn these very simple lessons?
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