Jack: Liking between Rooney and van Gaal may yet be tested

Kristian Jack

TSN Soccer Analyst

Follow| Archive

Jack: Rooney's suspension hands van Gaal real opportunity

It was Marilyn Monroe who once said 'for a lasting union, there must be a genuine liking for each other.'

Wayne Rooney celebrated 10 years as a Manchester United player this weekend and, as a he closes the book on a decade at Old Trafford, it appears both sides are back to genuinely liking each other. For now.

In an interview with The Times newspaper to mark his anniversary with the club, the England skipper said: "I still believe I can get better as a footballer. In the next three to five years, you will see me as a different player. The next two or three, I feel, could be the best of my career.

"I'm at a stage, especially after playing at this club for 10 years, where I've picked up a lot about the game - I've learnt."

It is not difficult to agree with Rooney's assessment that he can be better as a player. Whether or not that happens as a United player, however, remains to be seen.

Great players do not tend to present the amount of challenges that Rooney has given all three of his managers at United and, even more particular, those who have been in charge of England, where his best performances still came as an Everton player 10 years ago at Euro 2004.

There is no doubting Rooney's goalscoring record for both club and country but this is not baseball or cricket where numbers alone can tell us just how good a player was.

At 28, Rooney remains a complicated player and far from the complete package.

Van Gaal

The latest man given the task at solving this issue is Louis Van Gaal.

Three full months have yet to pass since he took over at Old Trafford but his media appearances, much like United's performances on the field, have been pure box office with the main characters involved delivering inconsistent performances.

Confident Van Gaal is not a man who talks in clichés, naturally taking pre-planned pauses in between words to ensure he says the right English word and delivers his thoughts in the correct tone.

Yet rarely in life does anything get you in more trouble than your own mouth. Speak so often to an audience who marks down every single word and eventually you will back yourself into a corner.

It is no coincidence that the Dutchman's first major hurdle he has faced in this department is around the role of Rooney.

It was only six weeks ago that Van Gaal picked the 28-year-old as his skipper.

At the time, he said: "For me it's always very important the choice of captain. Wayne has shown a great attitude towards everything he does. I have been very impressed by his professionalism and his attitude to training and to my philosophy. He is a great inspiration to the younger members of the team and I believe he will put his heart and soul into his captaincy role."

Van Gaal's carefully chosen 63-word statement could not be challenged. No one outside of the club could question anything he had said about Rooney. However, not one word was said about Rooney the player.

Thankfully, as outsiders, we had many other opportunities to listen to Van Gaal since that day and eventually the subject about Rooney the player did come up.

Prior to the 5-3 defeat at Leicester, Van Gaal, after handing Radamel Falcao his first start, told Sky Sports: 'We have played well but can improve and I was not so satisfied with Rooney as a striker and [Juan] Mata as midfielder and that's why I'm changing."

The comments came just a week after he had guaranteed Rooney a spot in his team every week.

"I don't think any player is fixed,' said the United boss when asked how he was going to fit all of the star players into the team following the signings of Angel Di Maria and Falcao. 'Only the captain has more privileges but no other player has privileges, I think. Every player knows that because you see how I manage my teams – my captain shall always play and normally the goalkeeper.'

Number Ten

Van Gaal has experimented with a 3-4-3 to start the season and has now moved to a 4-3-1-2, a 4-4-2 diamond hybrid, so far this season and in both systems, he has the opportunity to play three of Mata, Rooney, Robin Van Persie and Falcao in the same team.

Against QPR, it was Falcao who missed out, while against Leicester and, most recently in Saturday's 2-1 win over West Ham, it was Mata who started on the bench with Rooney placed in behind the front two as the number ten.

Van Gaal has complimented Rooney this season on his versatility, calling him a 'multi-functional player' but it should come as no surprise that he doesn't believe he is as good as is other two attacking options to play up top. Both Falcao and Van Persie possess all of the qualities a modern day striker needs. Much like Diego Costa at Chelsea, they are very powerful and clever in their movement, predators in the six-yard box, who run with purpose and intelligence and often only need one touch to score.

Rooney is more of an all-around forward, comfortable dropping deep with his back to goal to bring others into play as a link-man. On the surface, it seems ideal to play him behind the dynamic duo in front of him but issues arise when United do not have the ball.

When not in possession, no matter in a 3-4-3 or a 4-3-1-2, Van Gaal's preferred position for Rooney requires defensive responsibilities. Such responsibilities have found him out in recent years.

Liability

At Euro 2012, his lack of tactical discipline allowed Andrea Pirlo to completely control the quarterfinal as the forward simply played far too high up the pitch.

Any astute observers came away from that match thinking Rooney could not be trusted in such a role against top class opposition.

One of those was Sir Alex Ferguson. In what proved to be his final Champions League tie, against Real Madrid in 2013, Ferguson put Shinji Kagawa in the number ten role at the Bernabeu, placing Rooney on the right where he was a liability against Fabio Coentrao. In the home leg, Rooney was left out completely with Danny Welbeck asked to play centrally and sit on Xabi Alonso.

"He understood the reasons for not playing him and that was completely tactical. And I think I was right.

"Danny Welbeck is the best player we have in terms of operating in a double role. We had to choke Xabi Alonso's ability to control the game, which Danny did," Ferguson remarked after the game. It was an indictment on Rooney as a number ten.

In the World Cup this year even Roy Hodgson, not known to be a master tactician, decided he couldn't play Rooney in the number ten role and, instead, he spent his time in Brazil either as a winger or as the main man up front.

Now 28, having spent a decade at one of the finest clubs in the game, the jury remains out as to what position Rooney is best suited in. It is possible he is a player, as he says, who can mature in that central role and learn from Van Gaal, a manager he has publicly praised.

Yet it is worth noting Van Gaal has yet to see Rooney play in that position against a top team. His red card, for a rash kick out at West Ham's Stewart Downing on Saturday, now means he will miss the next three games, meaning Van Gaal won't see Rooney in that role against Everton and Chelsea.

This presents him with an opportunity. Having said he isn't good enough to play as a striker, Van Gaal is no longer forced to play Rooney behind the front two against two good teams and he can bring back Mata in that role or even play Di Maria in such a role and add more steel with a Darren Fletcher, for example, coming in alongside Daley Blind and Ander Herrera.

Rooney will be back soon enough but the next few weeks will allow Van Gaal to examine evidence on how United operate without their captain. He may have promised him a spot every week but if the club improves without Rooney on the field, like England did against Norway recently, the genuine liking for each other may start to be tested if Van Gaal discovers Rooney is more of a problem than a solution.