Rampant Rooney is not just the appealingly alliterative newspaper phrase of the moment, it happens to be a wholly fair and accurate description of a singular talent. The Manchester United striker is in the form of his life, not only scoring wonderful goals but terrorising opponents with his determination and decisiveness and singlehandedly influencing outcomes in a manner he briefly achieved for England at Euro 2004 but until now has never managed to replicate for his club.
The change from good player to unstoppable force of nature was sudden and unexpected, and Wayne Rooney puts it down to Fabio Capello's influence. "I am scoring more goals because I have changed my position," he explained after his four-goal one-man show against Hull. "I'm playing further forward and in the middle of the penalty area. It was Capello who suggested this to me. He said I needed to be in the danger areas and I think he's right."
Here is what Capello had to say after watching Rooney help demolish Manchester City in the Carling Cup semi-final. "Rooney has improved a lot during the last two years and this season he has been fantastic. He has been United's leader on the pitch. For me, he has improved in every area and in one part of the pitch especially – close to goal. That is where he needs to be. I have watched him this year and he is showing a new maturity."
So far, so good. Rooney does appear to be blossoming both on and off the field in United's care, rapidly turning into the devastating player everyone hoped he would become while at the same time managing to pick a sensible path through the tawdriness of the celebrity circus that nowadays envelops football.
Few at Old Trafford will mind if the England manager's input has refined their best player's game and made him a more efficient goalscorer, though sharper-eyed observers may already have spotted a flaw in the above analysis. It simply isn't true. None of it. Rooney has not changed his position, has not become a goal-hanger or a specialist in playing off the last defender like Michael Owen or Jermain Defoe, and has not stopped covering almost the whole area of the pitch. He is certainly doing something better and more effectively than he has been, and has changed position in that he is now the central prong of the United attack without having to fit in around other forward players, but the idea that he waits around in advanced upfield areas until United can get the ball to him is demonstrably false.
The four goals against Hull could be termed a finisher's haul, but that was mainly because United ended up dominating the game and most of the play was around the opposition penalty area in any case. Against better-matched opponents in highly competitive games it has been a different story. The pass to Ryan Giggs that helped set up the first goal against City, the one Capello marvelled at while convalescing after knee surgery in Switzerland, was delivered from the halfway line out on the left wing, exactly the sort of position Rooney is supposed to have given up occupying. The stunning counterattack he launched and completed against Arsenal last week began just outside his own penalty area, with an astute pass to Nani, and by the time Rooney had galloped into the opposite box to supply an immaculate first-time finish he must have travelled 60 or 70 yards.
It appears to this observer that Rooney is doing just what he has always done, only with more confidence and authority and with a notably improved end product. Perhaps the two go together, and perhaps if Rooney believes he is playing a different game, whether he actually is or not, he should just be allowed to get on with it because the results speak from themselves. Following the Leeds v Tottenham game on the car radio and then on television on Wednesday, I heard two different commentators refer to the newly improved David Bentley as a confidence player. All footballers are confidence players. Perhaps some have lower thresholds and more delicate balances than others, but no player, indeed no human being, is immune to the sometimes unfathomable pendulum swings of self‑belief. Confidence, Sir Alex Ferguson once said, is the key to about 99% of what is achieved in any walk of life.
Confidence, surely, is what is propelling Rooney at present. For whatever reason, something has clicked into place and he is right on top of his game. Not only is he United's main man he is equipped to be England's main man, and in a World Cup year that is an exciting prospect. His chances of becoming the next England captain were real, too. Not only would he have conducted himself better than John Terry – he could hardly have conducted himself worse – but for any given England game he is a far more automatic choice than the out of form Steven Gerrard or the injury-dogged Rio Ferdinand, and that is an important consideration.
Capello knows that and his elevation of Ferdinand, no saint and not always available, rather confirms the view that the captaincy role is not all that important. Not as important as allowing Rooney's talent to flourish without any extra pressures or distractions. While Rooney has every chance of being a brilliant England captain one day, that day can wait. With further revelations imminent, Capello merely made a pragmatic decision over Terry. His second decision was the clever one.
Chelsea take bonding to new levels
The English media pack on the scent of a story is a sight to behold, like a foxhunt in full cry only with slightly more damage to the landscape. Fabio Capello's face was a picture as he stepped off his flight from Switzerland to discover that he too was part of the quarry. The great thing about an orchestrated burst of manufactured moral outrage is that it can leave everyone looking foolish.
Who would ever have thought, for example, that a sermon on the need for footballers to be role models would ever be delivered by Harry Redknapp? "If you don't want to be a role model, don't come into football," said Tottenham's pillar of probity. Then there was plain-talking Dave Bassett. "There's an unwritten rule that you don't start messing with players' missuses. The thing we don't know is whether Terry only saw her after they split up but he's been sneaky about it anyway."
There is possibly something Bassett has failed to grasp about the nature of clandestine affairs, but never mind. The England captain appears not to be the only sneak at Stamford Bridge. No wonder Chelsea have had five managers in four years. Carlo Ancelotti is to be congratulated, now we know how Chelsea spend their leisure time, for making sure there is enough energy left for securing results on the pitch. In fact Chelsea have been so impressive in recent seasons, with team spirit and unity frequently lauded in their runs to FA Cup and Champions League finals, that perhaps a few more teams will start to follow their example and pass round the partners. Team bonding exercises at most clubs are still in the dark ages, after all. Orienteering in the Lake District or freezing in the rain at an army training base is about as much fun as you can expect. Trust the flash King's Road set to update the concept by keeping it indoors.
Comments in chronological order (Total 97 comments)
7 February 2010 12:30AM
Singlehandedly influencing outcomes? Well today I think three own goals helped a little along the way.
Am I being Derek Doom here or has a 5-0 win and climbing to the top of the league with a very good chance of staying there after the weekend fixtures lost its gloss?
Didn't it used to be that a 5-0 win was a surprise, an achievement, a fkn great day out as a football fan, something special? I'm not talking just about when I was watching a shite United team and anything over two goals was special, I'm talking about when Liverpool were good, and even ten years ago when the likes of Barnsley & Swindon were getting dicked. Swindon shipped 100 goals in a season but do you know what... they put up a fight in every single match they played as far as I remember, and tried to play football along the way. Even though Barnsely were outclassed 7-0 at OT, at least you didn't KNOW that was going to be the score, especially after they'd beaten Liverpool earlier in the season. What the fk has gone wrong with the Premier League when my team can stroll to a 5-0 win without hardly trying, and I can just shrug my shoulders and think it really should have been 8-0...? And even then it would have left everybody completely unsatisfied. I can also factor in the 4-0 against Hull and the 5-0's against Wigan as evidence. I haven't even mentioned the Wolves Reserves match.
I thought that Wigan match was the most depressing 5-0 win that I could ever hope to see from my team, but I was wrong. I was arguing today with a visiting Chelsea mate who was claiming that the Premier League was the best league in the world. How can it be?
There must be something more interesting than this in world football. This if fucking Sunday League stuff.
7 February 2010 12:33AM
So in brief Rooney is now the greatest English player of all time cos Ronaldo f***ed off to Real Madrid. What delicious irony
7 February 2010 12:48AM
Maybe not living in England I have a little more persepctive, as the English press has less of an influence. As a ManU fan, it's gret to see Rooney playing the way pretty much everyone Knew he could, and can still improve on. But there are 10 other guys on the pitch, and Gerrard will probably be one of them. ENGLAND will NOT win the World Cup this year.
In fact, after the recent goings on in the Cup of Nations (an excellent tournament), I'd be happy to see the boys (especially Rooney) back home safe and sound.
7 February 2010 1:26AM
PaulWilson:
So Rooney hasn't changed his position, but has? Bit of a contradictory paragraph there.
Rooney *is* demonstrably spending more time centre-front this season. He still roams, of course, because that's a natural part of his game, but his default position is now basically to get square on to the goal, rather than to, say, get out onto the left or right of a front three as it had been so often in previous seasons.
Comparing these chalkboards might be instructive:
This one is of the passes he played against Arsenal at the Emirates in November 2008 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/V4vRL19v02RO4360n98P
And this one is of the passes he played against Arsenal at the Emirates in January 2010 - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/V4vRL19v02RO4360n98P
You can see that in January's game, he was getting far, far more touches - both in general, but also *in terms of proportion* - in offensive central areas than he was in November 2008s game.
I wouldn't be surprised if these findings were consistently replicated in other game for game comparisons.
Anyway, the player himself and both of his managers are on record as saying that he is playing more forward and centrally this season than previous seasons, and that this has a lot to do with his improved scoring rate. Paul Wilson actually quotes them saying it. I doubt they're lying, or that they're so clueless that they don't even know where Rooney is playing, so the premise of this article seems a bit strange to me.
7 February 2010 1:31AM
@BrazilBranch
Spot on, couldn't agree more. In my opinion watching United/Arsenal/Chelsea smashing teams for four/five while barely getting out of reverse (never mind third gear) is actually more damaging to the PL "product" than the dirge Sunderland & Stoke served up Monday.
That said I hope nobody points to La Liga as the superior Euro competition - the 11 human white flags put out by Getafe tonight against Barca should debunk that theory before it gets any traction. Of the main 4 leagues in Europe only Germany can truly call itself competitive - far more interesting than the other 3 combined (times a million) anyhow...
7 February 2010 1:35AM
BrazilBranch
It's obvious just from the blogs that a general apathy has set in ; no-one even bothers agitating with the ManU fans anymore. I think it's because the business aspect has become so front and centre : who's earning what, how much debt, leveraged buy-outs etc etc. It's like this latest takeover of man City has pushed the EPL over the line and into pure farce, all so tacky and predictable. Chelsea to buy Kun Aguero and Ribery ?? Of course they are.
When I first encountered the GU blogs, some 3 years ago, it was a shangri-la of debate, passion, and eccentricities. Now it's like a giant shoulder-shrug.
7 February 2010 1:40AM
'kat
I feel your pain
7 February 2010 1:59AM
Get your money on Rooney picking up another metatarsel injury in next month or so and the following 3months endless headlines of "will he make the plane?", "I'll take him with one leg says desparate Fabio", "Ferguson happy to have messed up England's chances" etc. Sounds familar?
Welcome to England's Groundhog Day...
7 February 2010 3:01AM
Sorry for being a pedant, but it`s the Kings Road, no apostrophe needed.
7 February 2010 3:05AM
Meerkat....Are we? You are more confident than me, at any rate. I agree with you about the site though.
7 February 2010 3:10AM
PaulLambert - those are identical chalkboards; you have posted the same link twice.
7 February 2010 3:13AM
Maybe the ABUs just got sick and tired of United winning when logic, common sense and their squad dictate that they should be scrapping it out for 4th. And yes, we will drop points tomorrow.
7 February 2010 4:08AM
I couldn't be bothered reading this blog, something about Rooney I guess, so I just went straight to the comments to get the gist. Did anyone see Messi tonight, how astonishingly good is that kid, he just warms the soul. La Liga is so superior to the Premier League right now, probably more so than it has ever been and it will continue to be so because England cannot regularly produce players with the technical ability that grace every team in Spain. Rooney is the exception though, an incredibly technically gifted player with work rate and determination, a lethal combo that could win England a world cup, gotta find a keeper though.
7 February 2010 4:09AM
The squad is criminally underrated by opposition fans. Players like Michael Carrick get routinely dismissed by rivals, yet his performances over the past few weeks have been absolutely fantastic. He was majestic against Arsenal. People have this weird idea in their heads that the likes of Denilson and Song are superior to Carrick, and then get surprised when United's players show their class and superiority.
Patrice Evra summed it up recently:
7 February 2010 4:25AM
Ah, is this the part of the four-year cycle where the English press and opposition fans try to claim Rooney as their own personal saviour, after three years of calling him an overrated potato-headed Shrek lookalike?
Just so I know. I don't follow this semi-professional 'international' game that swings into view every once in a while.
7 February 2010 4:31AM
another aspect of the pushing forward of rooney has been the departure of ronaldo.and as far as confidence goes being the #1 at a club helps.
regarding apathy, as a supporter of a team well outside of the big four been flirting with it for decades.that a liverpool supporter would flag it up as a more recent phenomenon makes sense especially after the "crisis" they have experienced this year.
shedendexile,i can,t believe you are so confident chelsea will drop pionts at home to arsenal.evryone will be up for this game and in that regards i,m confident chelsea,s superior team will win through,possibly every bit as convincingly as mu did last week.
7 February 2010 4:32AM
TheRedBadBoy - D'oh.
Here's the 2010 board: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/K218sdc7MQmxkW603KDp
7 February 2010 5:00AM
I think Chelsea will spank Arsenal tomorrow. Could be 3 or 4-0.
7 February 2010 5:18AM
Basically, Rooney finally became this year the player he already was in essence years ago ; but which in Manu, under Ferguson, was threatened to be dulled forever thru the ongoing miscast and being plugged as a cog in the service of the Manu machine.
Good for Rooney, enjoyable to see too, but still won't be enough for the big prizes in May and June
7 February 2010 5:26AM
arkoroyal
Nice comment on Messi, and relevant too, here they are out of themselves that R10 galloped half the pitch to receive the ball from Nani and tucked it in , no mean feat , but that Messi does it every other game , with the ball , and through defenders, like today, that is something altogether different.
But my comparison is about something else, quantitative; there is no one in all of Europe that takes so many shots like Rooney (150 so far), in fact there are very few that took even half that amount. In fact Messi who is beyond comparison surely needed less then half that amount to score equal amount of goals.Though all top European man are prety close to that. Not so Rooney, he is perhaps the best Englishman in sight, very enjoyable too, but coming CL last stages or this summer's WC against the top teams such gluttonous need of supply and such profligacy cannot possibly be good enough.
7 February 2010 7:45AM
Rooney is a fantastic player.
And a rural legend, a sub-class of urban legends according the the Wikipedia article on urban legends.
7 February 2010 8:06AM
meerkat,
quite!
gg
7 February 2010 8:40AM
Good article.
7 February 2010 9:44AM
All i can say is this
Wayne Rooney.
7 February 2010 10:38AM
Sorry to be so pedantic but surely the writer owes us a duty of care with his English. Should it not be Rooney on a different "plain" as on a dfferent level. Rather than being on a different aircraft.
7 February 2010 10:45AM
I'd like to find a delicately polite way to make this statement, however I can't think of one: what this article has taught me is that I, not unlike Fabio Capello, know a lot more about football than does Paul Wilson.
Now, I don't watch their every game, but from what I've seen of Manchester United this season, Wayne Rooney clearly does play as a much more genuine centre-forward, a No9 if you will, compared to previous seasons, and this has clearly been of significant benefit to his game.
He's a mobile and tenacious individual, and will clearly never be a fox-in-the-box, Pippo Inzaghi-style, but it should be acknowledged that key to his present form is the fact that he now plays as a striker, as opposed to the all-round donkey-worker who spent last year's Champions League Final as an auxiliary left-back, for example.
7 February 2010 11:17AM
<"... a few more teams will start to follow their example and pass round the partners.">
Excellent, I'm sure Wayne Bridge and Mrs Terry appreciate that little 'joke.'
7 February 2010 11:37AM
Mikey,
I'm sure they have other things in their mind and they're not football related.
7 February 2010 12:02PM
True - he played as a centre-forward in a front three in the past, on several occasions but he certainly plays differently now, he's much more direct and doesn't drift wide as often.
I also got into this chalkboard business to prove my point:
This was against Liverpool, March 2008, when he was flanked by Giggs and Ronaldo:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/US996u7985ejWjrgPN69
And this is the chalkboard of his Emirates performance last Sunday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chalkboards/6MZenj3uRz0p45441440
He is more attacking now, even. Notice how many more passes he made in his own half against Liverpool than against Arsenal - and that was a home game which United absolutely dominated!
7 February 2010 12:02PM
@GlobalGunner:
Your pedanrty is actually really funny. Because you are one hundred percent wrong:
plane: A flat surface extending infinitely in all directions (e.g. horizontal or vertical plane); A level of existence.
It seems you owe an apology to the author. We shall see if that happens.
7 February 2010 12:05PM
?
7 February 2010 12:09PM
Absolutely spot on, NutjobChin. Some people here seriously suggested that City and Arsenal have better squads than United. Reading these blogs you would never guess that United actually won the last three league titles.
I remember back in 2007 an Arsenal fan vehemently arguing that Hleb was better than Ronaldo. I also love the revisionist attitude to Ronaldo - he was an overrated show-off while he was playing for United, now we are doomed without him because we were a one-man team. Brilliant.
7 February 2010 12:35PM
I hope Capello is taken note. Forget counselling John Terry, Capello needs to start watching United so he can change the formation of his England team. After doubts that Rooney could lead a line on his own, it is now imperitive that he now does the same with England. It would allow Heskey to be dropped, Gerrard to move into his favoured postion just off Rooney, and free up the left midfield slot for hopefully an improving Joe Cole.
Surely Gerrard and Rooney up top is the way forward in South Africa. Anyone disagree?
7 February 2010 12:35PM
Midlothian99...
Guilty as charged - and I stand by my word!
If I were the manager of a professional football club, I'd take the squads of Arsenal and Man City ahead of that of United, in terms of the combined factors of current ability and long term potential.
I'd like to point out, however, that I also said United have a better first team than any other English club except Chelsea.
7 February 2010 12:43PM
It seems journalists like making every topic black and white. It generates more posts on blogs (e.g. me). Also, why bother thinking through a topic carefully when your thoughts end up wrapping tomorrow's fish and chips?
Still, you'd hope that a Sunday paper would take a bit more time over the nuances, the shades of gray. Rooney still does everything he did before, yes. But he also spends more time in the box. How is this possible? The distribution of his time on the pitch has changed a bit: it is now more concentrated around the penalty area. [This is averaged over many matches: it may vary from one match to another.] He does a bit less roaming, a bit more poaching.
You can't depend on journalists for intelligent analysis, apart from a few exceptions such as Hugh McIlvanny
GlobalGunner:
A plane is a flat surface (infinite and 2-dimensional: hyperplanes have > 2 dims).
A plain is a flat surface covered in grass.
7 February 2010 12:58PM
As number 1 stated, Rooney blows innumerable chances, so may that I consider him one of the great wastrels of modern British football. There are days when it seems the guy couldn't hit the side of a barn, and for all the superlatives being thrown around at the moment few people seem to realize that for all his goal scoring, most of them have been mere tap ins, simple headers, or short range goals - all laid on by the excellent work of his team mates. Nani suddenly firing, and the midfield seemingly coming to life at long last, are to account for Rooney's sudden good fortune in the goals scored column, not a sudden Messi-like rise in ability to scythe through the opposition and make goals from nothing.
Take the lovely goal scored against Arsenal - yes Rooney started it by laying off the ball back in defense, then running all the way up the pitch to be the one to finish off the move. But who received the ball, sprinted up the pitch with it past a posse of Arsenal defenders pressing in, and finished things off with a lovely weighted ball that beautifully set up Rooney to fire the ball into the net? Nani.
Rooney has a vast deal of improvement to make before meriting the many plaudits being thrown his way. His disposal and decision making have a long way to go before reaching maturation of a level even remotely close to the Messi's of this world, his shot taking (especially in terms of accuracy) needs a great deal of work, and his positioning and vision, his sense of awareness regarding his team mates, also need considerable work.
And as admirable as it looks, he needs to stop wasting so much energy running all over the pitch, often putting himself out of position. Note the aforementioned goal against Arsenal - what ended up looking like a guts and all effort from Rooney was as a result of Rooney being way out of position - he NEEDED to sprint almost the full length of the pitch to receive that great through ball from Nani, and only just managed to get there in time. If you look closely, Nani had to actually slow the play up a bit to give Rooney time to catch up.
People in this country are just so starved of their own world class talents, and so ready to thrust such a mantle on the next 'great thing' that they're (including the media) all to ready to overlook Rooney's many deficiencies as a player in their rush to crown him as the new champion of British football.
The mark of a champion footballer is his ability to make those around him look better, to be able to lift a team and carry it on his shoulders. Rooney is far more the player whose fortunes depend on the form and ability of others, which is why he can so often be left looking isolated and frustrated, especially against top tier teams.
7 February 2010 12:59PM
bad:
Current ability?
Perhaps that is best judged by recent results and league positions.
Long-term potential?
Arsenal have a patent on that, so it's no use arguing the point. In the long term, they'll always have long-term potental - but perhaps no short-term results.
City's financial situation has amazing long-term potential.
gg
7 February 2010 1:07PM
@FlyingBadger
Yes, I made a typo. But unlike GlobalGunner I'm not ignorantly claiming a superior grasp of English!
7 February 2010 1:07PM
101 instead of 102 ?
7 February 2010 1:09PM
@badtothabone
So Arsenal have a better squad than United? For next year?
Ah yes, it's always next year isn't it
7 February 2010 1:18PM
That statement isn't even ironic, never mind being of the delicious variety.
7 February 2010 1:25PM
@timbo59
Relax man their actually sound now.
In fact their a bit embarrassed by that whole John Bull image at this stage.
7 February 2010 1:30PM
Different plane? Did Terry shag Coleen and Rooney get in a huff?
Bridge and Rooney will travel to SA together.
7 February 2010 1:33PM
lovingu...
Charleysurf...
Admittedly it's speculation, but I expect to be proven right over the next couple of seasons.
United have an excellent record of promoting talent from within, far better than what they are often being given credit for, however the current batch of youngsters is a combination of overrated mediocrities, such as Macheda and the Da Silva twins, and inadequate Norwegians signed on the instistence of Ole Gunnar Solskjær and his deeply shady so-called "business associates".
Sorry.
7 February 2010 1:37PM
BrazilBranch & meerkat
You know, there is definitely something in what you say. Even though I put up more comments on here presently compared to previously years, it is mostly in JofS and David Conn articles. I'm reading less and commenting less on actual football articles than before. This isn't just a PL thing either since I find myself not bothering with Sid's Monday comments most weeks. There is something just stale about football at the moment. Like a book which has interesting chapters and sub-plots but a distinctly average narrative and story, the PL may have great individual games but take the season as a whole and it isn't special.
The excitement appears to have, at the very least, significantly decreased. As for the CL.......
7 February 2010 2:05PM
VM
Totally agree but then again, we're only as good as the tools which they give us; speaking of which, thank you Mr Wilson for yet another bore-fest, and who is undoubtedly one of the main causes for the said shrugging of shoulders on here nowadays!!
There's no doubt that the GU blog is fast becoming very tired now and has been resting on its laurels, probably wallowing in its own success and popularity for too long. In my opinion, it's desperately in need of a shake-up to get it back to where it was a few years ago??
7 February 2010 2:33PM
I must admit to being shocked at the beginning of the match. The commentator said that Rooney had scored 20 premier league goals, more than the entire Portsmouth team! Not hard to work out why they are at opposite ends of the league.
7 February 2010 3:52PM
timbo59
Yeah...with premiership teams regularly dominating the final stages of the champions league featuring the likes of rooney, lampard, gerrard, the coles and terry amongst their best players there are absolutely no world class players in England.
7 February 2010 3:53PM
timbo59
did you get up on the wrong side of the bed today - is a player to be all or nothing. Are you saying Rooney is just another average player? Your comment appears total "tosh" from someone who does not care for a player and it has nothing to do with ability.
7 February 2010 4:02PM
rooney would walk into any team in the world, except the current barca team, and spain side.