WANE ON THE WAYNE
United are moving on as clock ticks for captain
LONG after Manchester United’s fans had streamed away from Old Trafford, lifted by the manner of this emphatic win, Wayne Rooney re- emerged on to the pitch with two of his three sons and started playing football again.
The United captain had appeared for 10 minutes against Leicester; a rather pointless appearance, considering his team were 4-0 up by half-time and took their foot off the pedal long before he replaced Marcus Rashford near the end.
Afterwards, Rooney came down minus his club tie and spoke to Michael Carrick and former United team-mate Nemanja Vidic in the tunnel before going back out with his boys.
It will not have been lost on the 30-year-old striker that his team produced their best performance of the season — indeed, for some time — after Jose Mourinho dropped him to the bench.
It felt as though United had been liberated, freed from the shackles of a system that suited Rooney but not the rest.
Midfielder Paul Pogba was given the freedom to push forward and play more like a man who cost £89million, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic his main accomplice in linking up the attack.
Rashford and Jesse Lingard provided pace down the flanks, Juan Mata the creativity as Rooney’s replacement at No 10, and Ander Herrera a highly effective midfield fulcrum.
Most of all, though, United played with an enterprise and spirit that was missing for two joyless years under Louis van Gaal. Chris Smalling, captain in Rooney’s absence, diplomatically described him afterwards as ‘England’s main man and our main man’.
‘He is often one of the most vocal and he was the same today,’ added Smalling. ‘ Whether he is on the bench or playing, he is always that same character. That will never change with Wayne.’
The truth, however, is that United are moving on. Slowly perhaps. Rooney could well be back in the line- up for Thursday’s Europa League match at home to Zorya Luhansk, just as he played for a largely second- string team against Northampton in the EFL Cup last week — an indication of his new place in the pecking order.
His best days are behind him and he could find his role being quickly redefined.
With a £300,000-a-week contract until 2019, it remains to be seen what the long-term future holds.
For now, though, he may have to get used to the bench as Mourinho tries to make performances like this one the benchmark for his team. ‘If we can start the game with that tempo, there are not many teams who can live with us,’ said Smalling. ‘It’s just great how we play on the front foot and it benefits all of us.
‘It’s about finding consistency to make sure we stay at the top end of the table because we don’t want any more blips.
‘There was a lot of talk about turning the situation around because it was a very bad week with the three results (defeats by Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford). It’s been down in training. It’s hard when you’re not winning — you can’t enjoy yourself.
‘But we could only really show that we’ve changed by doing it on the pitch, and that first half really gave us a marker to make sure we attain that.
‘The manager stressed there are 70,000- odd people in the stands who would want to be in our shoes and his shoes. He really wanted to get over that factor of enjoying it. It’s just a case of realising how lucky we are. You can see everyone did enjoy it, so that message really did get across.’
Those United fans who went home happy at the weekend will be aware there have been a few false dawns since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club in 2013.
Rooney, too, has been written off more times than he would care to mention and has come back to prove his doubters wrong. This feels different, though. This time it does seem as though the clock is ticking on a man who is set to break Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time scoring record of 249 goals for United this season.
And as he kicked a ball about with his boys, it was clear Rooney will have to step aside for the next generation at Old Trafford sooner rather than later.
SUPER STAT: This was the first time United have led by four goals at half-time in the Premier League since beating Arsenal 6-1 at Old Trafford in February 2001.
MAN UTD (4-2-3-1): De Gea 6; Valencia 6.5, Bailly 7.5, Smalling 7, Blind 7.5; Herrera 7, Pogba 8; Lingard 6.5 (Carrick 78min), Mata 7 (Young 87), Rashford 7 (Rooney 83); Ibrahimovic 7. Subs not used: Romero, Rojo, Fosu-Mensah, Fellaini. Scorers: Smalling 22, Mata 36, Rashford 39, Pogba 42.
LEICESTER (4-4-2): Zieler 5; Simpson 6, Morgan 5, Huth 5, Fuchs 5.5; Mahrez 5 (King 46, 6), Amartey 5.5, Drinkwater 6, Albrighton 6 (Schlupp 62, 6.5); Vardy 5 (Gray 46, 7), Slimani 5.5. Subs not used: Hamer, Hernandez, Okazaki, Ulloa. Booked: Huth, Simpson. Scorer: Gray 60.
Man of the match: Paul Pogba. Referee: Mike Dean 6.