Three games into the season and Manchester United are still unbeaten, but a major concern for the club would be a lack of goals. It isn’t just the strikers or striker who seems to be missing the back of the net, it is the entire team. Many had believed that Louis van Gaal tinkered a little too much with Wayne Rooney last season, having played him in midfield for quite a few games but this season the English striker has featured as the lone striker for United and so far it hasn’t paid any dividends.
Where have the goals gone?
The game against Newcastle was Wayne’s 10th game in a row in which he hasn’t been able to find the net. In what is surely a pressing issue for most Manchester United supporters, Rooney has not scored for the club since the month of April. It isn’t for a lack of trying, Rooney did have the ball in the back of the net but the goal was ruled out for offside, correctly.
This was the first game of the season where Rooney actually registered a shot on target. Many had hoped that the likes of Memphis signing for the club would reduce the need for Rooney to be the goal scorer all the time. What we have seen so far this season is that United still need some sort of support for the English striker.
Wayne Rooney is not the sprightly 17-year-old who broke in the Everton team and made a name for himself with that wonder goal against Arsenal. He is 29 at the moment and is not getting any younger, he does still have the bulldog like strength and a great shot in him but the need for him to play alongside another striker would really help him out.
Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao were shipped out of the club without any reinforcements for the striker’s role, this needs to be addressed by Louis van Gaal immediately. The best position, it seems for Rooney is when he plays behind the main striker, as a secondary striker. One noticeable feature from the last game against Newcastle was the fact that Rooney was often coming deep into the midfield to pick up the ball. He needs to stay at the top end of the pitch if he has to score, coming into the midfield which has the likes of Carrick, Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin, to name a few, isn’t going to get him the goals.
The weird thing is, Rooney hasn’t been scoring bag loads of goals since the start of the 2012-13 season. He averages a goal every other game, his most prolific season was in 2011-12 when he scored 34 goals in 43 games.
Rooney just needs to be patient, it all is based on confidence, if he finds the net once, he would start scoring goals for fun again. Currently, Manchester United are just about scraping past teams, they need to get another striker in fast, failing to add another attacker would greatly hurt their chances for any silverware this season and put more critical eyes on Wayne Rooney and his so called ‘lack of goals’.
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