The' Roomania Curve'

Caution: As I write this, the unusually lackluster Manchester United is taking on the resurrected Chelsea hence the opinion expressed here needs to be viewed ignoring the performances of players and the result of the match. 

 

Manchester United are struggling at the start of the season as they always do but this season the lackluster performances have given rise to more theories than Einstein could have come up in his entire life. All the theories have been centered on of course the phenomena called Cristiano Ronaldo. Is Manchester United really a one man team as some ABU fans (Anything But United) believe? I personally think they are not, the reason being there is another player in the United colours who can carry the team on his shoulders. He might not get as many goals as his more celebrated team mate but on his day he is more influential than Ronaldo himself. That player is of course England’s boy wonder Wayne Rooney.

 

When Rooney scored that scorcher of a goal against Arsenal wearing the blue of Everton FC people around England started to take notice of him. When he finally arrived onto the international stage in Euro ’04 the world started to take notice of him. The English fans hailed the then prodigious 18 year old as the ‘White Pele’ as he carried the hopes of an entire nation before he got injured in the tournament. Some dismissed him as a mere flash in the pan, some did not and one amongst those was Sir Alex Fergusson. Anyone who has followed Rooney throughout his career can hardly disagree with Sir Alex. But those who have followed him for the last one year or so would start wondering if he has gone backwards in his development.

 

Nowadays one hardly gets to see the explosive Wayne that we are so used to. Whilst he looks like a more disciplined player now, there seems to be a sense of paucity when it comes to his spontaneity. He looks like a player who is a little short of confidence and he seems to be reluctant to be taking on defenders. We hardly get to see those slick one touch flick passes or him bulldozing his way through the defense line. But I do still believe that he is the best support striker in the world right now, I can’t think of another striker who has the vision and awareness of Rooney. He almost has the vision of a centre mid who pulls the strings for his team. For all those fluffed chances , his goal ratio isn’t bad either, someone recently quoted statistics in a Manchester United blog which showed that he has a better goal ratio than Zola or Bergkamp had. Then where is the worlds best support striker now when his team is struggling, one might ask, which brings me to the main point.

 

Has Ronaldo been an impediment in his development or has Sir Alex Fergusson sacrificed too much of the guy’s talents for the sake of his team?

 

Rooney as we all know loves to have the ball at his feet all the time, he likes to be involved in the play of the team through the middle and when he is not getting enough possession he tends to get frustrated much like how Sachin Tendulkar used to, in his early days, when he used to not get much of the strike. This frustration leads him to desperation which results in wandering about the pitch like a nomad. Ronaldo is so outrageously and ridiculously talented that Sir Alex had no other ideas but to revolve his team’s attack around him. Ronaldo being a winger has a gift for scoring goals. Manchester United lacked a no.9 for the last few years before the recent acquisition of Berbatov. Sir Alex had to get a goal scorer out of one of his players and that player happened to be Ronaldo. Hence Ronaldo was given a free role; he could cut in, go wide and get in to the box. This often left Rooney doing the dirty work for him, covering for him in the wings, going wide when Ronaldo cuts in. He often played like a mid-fielder trying to pull the strings. He had to be the more disciplined player of the two, not giving away ball while trying to dribble. Rooney being such a team player did not mind this , he was just happy to be there on the pitch representing United, for this reason Rooney lacks the attitude of a striker , someone who is so unselfish is always bound to get more assists than goals. Rooney was often pushed out wide in the European games away games to give Ronaldo the free role for example the Barcelona match. Sir Alex could have instead gone with a defender but he was happy to have Rooney on the pitch expecting him to produce one moment of magic. This by far I feel has diminished Rooney’s presence on the pitch, he has lost some of the attacking potency and it in a way has been a retrograde step.

 

Rooney in his defense has never played in his preferred position since Van Nisterlooy left Old Trafford. He either played up top or on the flanks. The only time Rooney has been played behind a proper front man who can hold the ball has been against the Croats recently and we know the havoc he caused in the Croation defense. The signing of Berbatov might get the best out of him but only if he is played in his preferred position

 

I close off with a rather rhetorical question, will Ronaldo’s departure be a blessing in disguise for  Rooney or does Rooney not give a damn about his individual career as long his team is winning ?

 Cheers

Vivek