Lethal striker
When Wayne Rooney turned his ankle playing for Manchester United against Bayern Munich in the Champions League earlier this year, the whole of England flinched.
A broken metatarsal suffered against Portugal in the quarterfinal ruined his Euro 2004. A broken metatarsal suffered in the build-up hampered him at the 2006 World Cup.
So when it turned out Rooney had suffered only soft tissue damage there was widespread relief. “You can stop praying now,” said the United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The desire for Rooney to be fit is all the greater because the goals he has scored this season have brought a great consensus of praise.
He has, apparently, found his true position and is in the form of his life. After years of living in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo, he has finally emerged to become the player we all hoped he could be.
Except it’s not true. Rooney has been brilliant this season, but then he was brilliant last season, and the season before that.
Perhaps there has been an incremental increase in his brilliance this season, but essentially what has changed is the perception.
He’s scoring goals, and that means that people are noticing his brilliance (and ignoring how much sloppier he is in possession this season to last; a facet of playing as the lead strike, perhaps, but then so are the goals).
Rooney has developed over the past year, but it is not necessary to do with his change of position. He himself has commented how much time he’s spent working on his heading, and his success at that can hardly be disputed.
Relying on one limited skill seems a peculiarly English vice, at least if Jose Mourinho is to be believed. “I can’t believe that in England they don’t teach young players to be multi-functional,” the former Chelsea coach said.
“To them it’s just about knowing one position and playing that position. To them a striker is a striker and that’s it. For me, a striker is not just a striker. He’s somebody who has to move, who has to cross, and who has to do this in a 4-4-2 or in a 4-3-3 or in a 3-5-2.”
Rooney, though, has developed a wide range of skills; as he has proved over the past two seasons. He can play wide on the left or right.
In fact, it’s easy to forget now that he was such a success at doing that that Ferguson suggested coming from wide might be his best position.
“When forwards attack from wide to inside, they are far more dangerous,” he said.
“It’s funny when I see centre-forwards starting off in the middle against their markers and then going away from goal. Strikers going inside are far more dangerous, I think,” he added.
Rooney’s early performances for Everton, for England at Euro 2004, and then at United showed he was effective in central areas but what he has done this season is to show he can lead a line as well.
Valeriy Lobanovskyi preferred Andriy Shevchenko to all other players he worked with because he was the most “universal.” Rooney is his successor as the most complete striker in the world.
— DPA
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