ROONEY AGONY
LVG hammer blow as Wayne out for 6 weeks
WAYNE ROONEY will be out of action for at least six weeks with knee-ligament damage, dealing a hammer blow to Manchester United’s season and manager Louis van Gaal’s hopes of keeping his job.
The injury will also concern Roy Hodgson, and the England boss was last night said to be worried about Rooney’s fitness ahead of Euro 2016. Van Gaal confirmed the United and England captain ( right) suffered the injury in Saturday’s defeat at Sunderland and may have aggravated it by playing the entire game.
‘That’s typical Wayne,’ said Van Gaal. ‘He’s a guy who wants to go until the end. If he’s feeling pain, he doesn’t want to go off, and certainly when you are in a drawn match he wants to win. That’s a fantastic attitude but sometimes it’s bad for his body.
‘He was injured in the game against Sunderland and he has a knee problem. We have to wait and see how long that takes. You cannot say (he made it worse) because
WHILE Wayne Rooney’s knee injury represents the gravest of blows for Manchester United as they strive to save another underwhelming season, it does not necessarily have the same shock impact on England manager Roy Hodgson.
Club and international football can be uncomfortable bedfellows at times and traditionally that has never been more apparent than in the fluctuating relationship between England and United.
On this occasion there is no dispute. Rooney — the United and England captain — has a ligament injury that will repair only with six weeks or so of inactivity.
Nevertheless, as United prepare to muddle on without him, Hodgson, instead of worrying, should perhaps allow himself to contemplate the rare luxury of having a rested and repaired Rooney at his disposal for Euro 2016 this summer.
Last night in Denmark, United manager Louis van Gaal was rather vague about Rooney’s injury.
‘He has a knee problem so we will have to wait and see,’ he said. It is understood, however, that Rooney was hurt during Saturday’s defeat at Sunderland and was aggravated because he played on with the problem instead of coming off.
The 30-year-old has been told he may return by the end of March with a little luck.
This is dire news for Van Gaal’s United. For all his struggles in the first half of the season, Rooney has been the Barclays Premier League’s most effective attacking player since the turn of the year with five goals and three assists.
It has been that upturn in form, along with that of Frenchman Anthony Martial, that has kept United on the fringe of the top four.
Without Rooney, it is tempting to wonder how United will cope. He is not the player he once was but he still occupies defenders and his presence gives Van Gaal’s team shape and industry.
Van Gaal is expected to move Martial into a central position against Midtjylland tonight and that is where we can expect the 20-year-old to stay. In terms of his football education, this can only help him. It will also be interesting to see how another young United player, the thus-far disappointing but gifted Memphis Depay, responds now that a spate of injuries has compelled Van Gaal to consider him once again.
For England and Hodgson, however, an enforced spell on the sidelines for Rooney may yet work out favourably — as long as he manages to play himself back into form and sharpness by the time Euro 2016 starts in early June.
This is the key issue. Rooney is traditionally slow to find rhythm after a lay- off. On this occasion, however, there should really be enough time.
It looks likely Rooney will miss all United’s games between now and the April 2 fixture with Everton, as well as England friendlies against Germany and Holland.
That would leave six Premier League games and possible FA Cup and Europa League ties, as well as pre-tournament England friendlies, in which Rooney can, theoretically at least, find the edge he needs for France.
If all of this sounds rather calculating then so be it. What is certain is that exactly the same thoughts and estimations will have been running through Rooney’s head as he ponders his chances of going into Euro 2016 ready and able to fire.
Rooney, as we know, has a chequered history when it comes to injuries and major tournaments. His 2006 World Cup in Germany was ruined by a foot problem.
Four years later he headed to South Africa with an ankle issue, while just before the Brazil World Cup campaign two years ago he had a troubling toe problem.
The story has become a familiar one but those injuries were suffered later in the year. This time, it seems, Rooney’s body has shown somewhat better timing.
Hodgson, given the choice, would have preferred to have Rooney with him when England travel to Berlin next month. Without him, however, the England manager may be forced to experiment — and that is no bad thing.
Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy surely must play against the Germans, while it would be interesting to see Tottenham’s Dele Alli and Everton’s Ross Barkley in the same England team.
By that time, Rooney should have benefited from a sunshine break likely to be granted by Van Gaal and, all being well, he will be approaching the latter stages of his rehabilitation process.
Injuries are unpredictable, of course, and recovery times are fluid. Rooney, though, is about to begin his own version of a winter’s break and while that may critically damage the prospects of his club and its manager, for once the reverse may be prove to be true for a country whose need is equally great.