Why Wayne Rooney Must Reinvent Himself as a Midfield Playmaker

Wayne Rooney’s midfield performance was absolutely crucial to Manchester United’s FA Cup win on Saturday evening at Wembley Stadium. When the Red Devils went 1-0 down to an against-the-run-of-play goal from Crystal Palace’s Jason Puncheon, Rooney’s response was pretty remarkable.

He picked the ball up from deep and went on a driving run, eventually finding himself on the right-hand edge of the Palace penalty area, from where he dinked a cross over toward Marouane Fellaini. Fellaini used his chest to bring the ball down for Juan Mata, and United were back at the races.

It was a moment of inspiration from Rooney of the type that used to be his stock-in-trade.

Driven perhaps by his desire to lift the team, perhaps by his desire to ensure he did not end his illustrious career without the FA Cup that had for so long eluded him, he conjured his UEFA Euro-2004 self from deep within his muscle memory and got the job done.

Of course, it was a slightly slower version of his 2004 self.

One more off Wayne Rooney’s footballing bucket list. Congratulations, @WayneRooney! ???? pic.twitter.com/aahjg0HSsE

— Bleacher Report UK (@br_uk) May 21, 2016

It is this loss of speed that most clearly marks out a midfield role as being his natural position now.

The season that has just finished saw what will almost certainly be his last hurrah at centre-forward. There were bold predictions of a big scoring haul in a season spent leading United’s line.

In July 2015, Rooney said, per Mark Ogden of the Telegraph: “I have no doubts that I can score 20 goals or more again and I am ready to take on that mantle and be the one who gets the goals for this team. If I play up there again this season, then I can get the goals. It is where I like and it is where I will play.”

That is not how it worked out. He scored 14 goals in all competitions.

Three of those came against an injury-ravaged Club Brugge, and six came in January alone. Between the end of August and the beginning of January, he scored just three times. Following his return from injury in April, he scored just once in eight starts, though by then he had moved to midfield.

He can add six assists to his tally, but this season was as close as can be found to proof positive that Rooney is done as a top-level out-and-out goalscorer.

The arrival of Anthony Martial was the first threat to Rooney’s run as a No. 9. However, after United’s 3-0 loss at Arsenal in early October, Rooney was returned to the …

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