What is Wayne Rooney if not a striker, Mr. Louis van Gaal?

Rooney has been subdued this season

In the deep corners of his mind, even Rooney must be wondering what he is doing in the middle of the park when he’d rather be pumping in goals as he formerly did. Let’s be honest here, a player’s talent should be cherished, not compromised because he is so good. I might be going hyperbolic but hyperboles are the only thing we can offer the United faithful at this moment.

The United frontline is just not clicking. Van Persie and Falcao are good finishers, their credentials prove that, but sometimes things just don’t work out. Accept. Move forward. Wishful thinking can only last so long. The season has already crossed the halfway mark and by now United should be accelerating towards the Championship rather than scrambling for a Champions League spot.

Falcao and Van Persie reflect each other’s weaknesses – Falcao’s movement inside the box is good but his finishing lets him down time and again while Van Persie has slowed down a bit and is being denied the space he so relishes. It’s evidently clear that Rooney’s creativity and his ability to play off the shoulder of a target man is being sorely missed this season. The past two games have seen him restore to his favoured position and that is where we want to see him creating nuisance inside the box.

Should Rooney be deployed in a midfield role?

Rooney’s all-energy game has seen him entrusted with a deeper role

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This conundrum, as we all know is bigger than just Rooney being played in midfield. It is more importantly, about the pressure Van Gaal faces in accommodating all his star attacking players while compromising on balance. This United team is a good example that sometimes those teams we make up in our FIFA Games would not be as big a hit in reality. We can go on about the constant tinkering in formations and that’s a perfect example of the task at Van Gaal’s hand.

Statistics sometimes takes the aesthetic beauty out of the game and crumbling down every fact and figure is not as much a delight as watching that wonderful over-head goal that Rooney scored against Manchester City. Rooney might be possessing a good pass completion rate and his tireless running makes him reach places forwards are reluctant to go but that is not reason enough to be playing him so deep. You don’t wear your party shoes while jogging, do you? That is the case here, a good utility being used at the wrong place.

Is Rooney really the player Ferguson pictured him to be?

Sir Alex and Rooney were not at the best of terms

Starting no controversies here, but Ferguson, was, at best, courteous towards Rooney in the latter stages. Rooney’s shock transfer request in 2010 and the later jibe Ferguson took at him before departing in 2014 pictured Rooney to be a very individualistic person. That perception must be slowly changing now as Rooney has shown that he is willing to sacrifice personal glory for the greater good of the team.

The captain’s armband has further added to his willingness to be a leader of the pack and lead by example. Rooney may never be as revered as Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Alex Ferguson, Giggs or Cantona but he has marched on regardless. The very fact that he is willing to play in midfield being a world-class striker is proof enough of his loyalty.

The Van Gaal Jigsaw

His task is a thankless one

It must be a bittersweet moment to be Van Gaal right now. His team marches and stumbles along while struggling to get a grip of his oft-spoken “Philosophy’. By now I am pretty sure every Manchester United fan must have become a tactician with tips for Van Gaal. “My captain, by virtue, will play, but I have other good strikers”, he can be heard mumbling in press conferences and it is no wonder he is seen constantly scribbling in his note-pad on match-days.

Half of the famed players don’t suit in his style of play but they are the ones that pull the crowds every weekend. This must not be the style Van Gaal envisions his side to be playing. The constant parallels to Moyes don’t help either. Playing Rooney in the centre of the park is his best alternative for a creative outlet and he trusts on his captain to be the legs in the middle of the park and playing those now-customary diagonal crosses towards the full-backs for inward crosses into the penalty area where Falcao and Persie (used to) be lethal. Perhaps, Van Gaal is making his captain take one for the team.

Rooney is the current embodiment of United

So as we end here discussing Rooney and everything in between, the only conclusion that I have reached is that Rooney embodies the state of United – the more deeper he plays, the deeper they are in the table, both seem uncertain and both are meant for bigger things. Something has to give. All those voices can’t be wrong. Mr. Van Gaal, are you listening?