Manchester United’s Post-Wayne Rooney Era Begins with a Bang

It was the decision Manchester United fans were crying out for. After his lacklustre performance leading the line against Northampton Town, Wayne Rooney was finally dropped.

It was just the second time he was left out of the starting lineup in the Premier League for anything other than fitness reasons since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

Now confirmed: Wayne Rooney dropped for just the second time since Fergie retired #mufc https://t.co/mgMf9c2TNt

— Man United News (@ManUtdMEN) September 24, 2016

A poll was run on former fanzine Red Issue’s website during the week (h/t Manchester Evening News) and the results were astonishing. Ninety-nine per cent of respondents voted in favour of dropping him.

The club captain’s performances had so obviously been part of the problem in recent weeks. He had been tried at No. 10, No. 9, in midfield in a 4-3-3 and as one of the wide-forwards in that system. Nothing had worked.

There was a goal and a couple of assists early in the season, but in truth, even in those games, United’s general play fell foul of their captain’s heavy touch or recently acquired tendency to look backward down field with the ball. The Hollywood cross-field balls out to the right flank were no longer enough.

His work rate and commitment were never in doubt, but the player who was once the very best of his generation has suffered, as all players do, from the passage of time.

Dropped right before a statement win for #MUFC—what does the future hold for Wayne Rooney? pic.twitter.com/TFy9aGNZc7

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) September 24, 2016

David Moyes and Louis van Gaal both hitched their wagon to Rooney’s star—not the only reason their teams failed, but certainly one of the reasons. For a brief time it seemed as if Jose Mourinho had done the same, but the former Real Madrid boss’s reputation for ruthlessly dealing with a club’s sacred cows proved well earned and the United and England captain was dropped.

Not rested as he had been against Feyenoord, but dropped. The results were almost instant.

The first half of football in the post-Rooney-as undroppable-talisman era yielded four goals. Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcus Rashford, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard—who had struggled so much against Manchester City in the derby—combined to form a fluid, dynamic attacking unit. Ibrahimovic led the line, but he and Rashford have struck up an understanding already.

Happy to score and help the team get back to winning ways