Wayne Rooney insists he has no problem being shunted onto the
left wing for Manchester United's drab Champions League draw with
Marseille.
Like most of his team-mates, Rooney did not get a decent sight
of the home goal at the Stade Velodrome and never looked like
adding to his single European strike this season, which came
against Rangers at Ibrox in November.
However, many critics feel United would have stood more of a
chance if Rooney had been deployed in a more orthodox central role,
which only happened following the introduction of Paul Scholes 18
minutes from time.
Playing on the left is not something the 25-year-old is entirely
unused to.
He did it on a regular basis during the latter months of
Cristiano Ronaldo's time at United, when Sir Alex Ferguson opted to
use the former world player of the year as a central striker.
And whilst Rooney would prefer to play down the middle, given
Ferguson had to juggle a team struck by injuries to seven senior
players, he has no complaints.
"We've got a lot of injuries at the minute, so I don't have a
problem [playing on the wing]," Rooney told www.uefa.com.
"It was quite a difficult game for us. Marseille didn't cause us
many problems but we didn't create as many chances as we'd have
liked either.
"We had a few big players missing and I think they would have
made a difference had they been here."
Ferguson is hoping to have most of them available for the second
leg in three weeks' time, including Antonio Valencia, who has been
out since September.
And, with United's task relatively straightforward, only a win
is certain to take them into the last eight, Rooney feels his
team-mates have every reason to be confident.
"We've got Marseille at home now and we know that if we beat
them we're through to the next round," he said.
"We're confident at home and we have to be positive."
