The load on Wayne Rooney's
shoulders can be judged by a comment from Carlos Tevez just before
the Carling Cup final. The Argentinian described the combination of
himself, Cristiano
Ronaldo and Rooney as "the best forward line in the
world". Suddenly, a few months on, there is just the boy from
Croxteth left.
Since their season ended in the bitter anticlimax of the
European Cup final Manchester
United have lost two footballers worth more than £100m
who last season provided 41 goals. The challenge of filling the
void looms before Rooney but it is not one he was ever likely to
shirk.
In United's first game since the departures of Ronaldo and
Tevez, played in heat and humidity that Sir Alex
Ferguson half-jokingly suggested required medical
attention just to watch, Rooney drove into the fray, scoring the
first goal in a 3-2 win over Malaysia and setting up Nani for
United's second. When with England, Rooney has confessed to
disliking friendlies, missing the intensity of a fixture where
goals translate into points. However, with 85,000 in the Bukit
Jalil stadium which erupted even when he clipped the ball into an
unguarded net in the warm-up, Rooney could not be accused of
failing to give value for money.
Afterwards he accepted that the season ahead, which may just end
in a World Cup final in Johannesburg on 11 July, would be a
draining one. "With Cristiano gone, it leaves a huge hole when it
comes to goals," he said. "We all need to score more, especially me
and Dimitar Berbatov, than we did last year.
"We don't feel let down by Cristiano. I have spoken to him since
he left. He was a great player for Manchester United but it was his
wish to go and I think the club have respected that. We always knew
he was going to go sometime. For the club and for himself it was a
good deal and the six years we got out of him were brilliant."
Despite the part Ronaldo may have played in Rooney's dismissal
in the World Cup, the two were close, bound by an unfettered love
of the game. Before kick-off at Old Trafford they would invariably
be juggling a football in the dressing-room. He got on well with
Tevez, who remarked that playing alongside Rooney was "an absolute
joy" and delighted in teaching him Spanish swear-words. Rooney is
more reticent about Tevez's departure: "He was a great lad and it
was a shame that it [his contract] never got sorted out. I am sure
a lot of people will have a lot to say about him joining Manchester
City but I don't want to say too much."
Last summer, as the club toured South Africa, Ferguson confessed
to having misused Rooney. The United manager admitted he had fallen
victim to the temptation of allowing Rooney to play all over the
pitch, sometimes because he always craves the ball, sometimes to do
a specific job for Manchester United.
Ferguson promised Rooney he would play as an-out-and-out
centre-forward, which did not always happen. Even in the European
Cup final he was isolated on the left flank, with Ronaldo operating
as a centre-forward. This time he will almost demand to go through
the middle.
"We haven't spoken about it but I am sure that is where I will
play," Rooney said. "Everyone knows it is my best position and,
hopefully, that is where I will be. It is less work, you get more
chances and, as a forward, that is what you want." Certainly Rooney
has developed his close-range work – the goal he scored against
Malaysia was a tap-in, an aspect he scarcely bothered with at
Everton. Michael Owen's winner, which ensured the match ended with
images of United's most unexpected summer signing on the Bukit
Jalil's giant screens, was similar.
Owen remarked before kick-off that, if Rooney could improve his
game by "five per cent" and if he could cast off the chains of
despair that dragged him down at Newcastle, the gap left by Ronaldo
and Tevez could be filled. Certainly Owen seems a more natural
partner for Rooney than Tevez and until Owen broke his foot in
December 2005 they were England's first-choice strike force. "We
are delighted to get him," said Rooney. "He is a great goal-scorer,
a good finisher and we are all sure he will bring us some goals. I
think the move will give him a new lease of life. Over the last
couple of years he has had some criticism but, to be honest, it
would have been difficult for anyone to have scored in that
Newcastle side."
