Should Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial Switch Roles at Manchester United?

Anthony Martial was supposed to be a Manchester United signing with an eye on the future, but his immediate impact at Old Trafford has meant that he has already usurped Wayne Rooney at centre-forward in several games.

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As has been much discussed, Louis van Gaal's initial plan for United's attack this season was to play Rooney at No. 9. Based on that plan, Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and Javier Hernandez were all deemed surplus to requirements. With their departures, there appeared to be little competition for places up front.

Back in July, Van Gaal said, per Jamie Jackson of the Guardian: 

"

We still have Rooney, he can play in the striker’s position, and all the media had written [he can] play there so I listened. Also Chicharito [Hernández] and maybe Wilson.

Maybe there comes a surprise.

"

Chicharito has since left, of course. The surprise at which Van Gaal hinted could hardly have been more surprising, as the Red Devils invested heavily in a relatively unknown French teenager.

Since his debut, it has been clear that Martial really is a very special prospect. When Morgan Schneiderlin told Rooney about Martial—the latter understandably being unfamiliar with the then-Moncaco player, he said, per Manchester Evening News:

"

On the plane, Wayne Rooney came to speak to me and asked me who Martial was, because the English press had started to speak.

I told him he's a great player with great potential, who has played some good matches with Monaco last season and the the beginning of this. I told him he is technical and powerful. A little like Therry Henry, even if it's the press who are making that comparison.

"

A "great player with great potential" is a pretty neat summation of Martial. At this point the question is not "is Martial a special player?" rather it is "how special can he be?"

The ceiling on his potential would appear to be very high indeed.

Van Gaal has addressed he question of how to accommodate Rooney and the youngster into the same side in two ways. Of the 10 games they have started together, Martial has started wide on the left in four, with Rooney at No. 9. For the other six, Rooney has played at No. 10 behind the Frenchman, who has played as a striker.

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In the four games Rooney has started as a striker, he has one goal—he has two in games in which he played at No. 10, although one of those came against CSKA Moscow at Old Trafford once Martial had been substituted and Rooney was playing up front.

Martial scored just twice in games he started at centre-forward with Rooney—both those goals coming against Southampton. His other goals came during substitute appearances against Liverpool and Ipswich and from wide-left against Moscow.

So, neither player has exactly been prolific in either of their starting positions. The team as a whole, though, have fared better in terms of goalscoring with Martial up top. During their six starts together with Martial at No. 9, United scored 11 goals, an average of just under two goals per game. They failed to score just once—in the embarrassing defeat to Arsenal.

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During their four starts together with Rooney up front, the team scored four goals, of which three came in one game. They failed to score in two of those games.

So, at first glance, it seems pretty clear that in most games, for the good of the team, Martial should play at centre-forward, with Rooney behind him, if they are both to be accommodated into the same lineup. United have simply scored more with that configuration.

Of course, football is more complex than that. The two games in which United failed to score with Rooney up front were against Manchester City at home and Crystal Palace away—both tough encounters. The 3-0 win at Everton saw Rooney play up front and United put in their most functional, complete attacking performance of the season.

Playing Rooney up front allows Van Gaal greater leeway in terms of his attacking midfield. Indeed, the four starts made with Rooney as striker all saw Ander Herrera included in the starting lineup—which was particularly key against Everton. Herrera scored and provided an assist in that game.

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In theory, Rooney could play wide on the left, with Herrera in the squad at No. 10 and Martial up front. However, given the captain's struggles with form, his declining speed and his historic positional indiscipline, that seems an unlikely solution.

The most attacking solution to the problem of how to accommodate all three—assuming Van Gaal is not in the market for a significant tactical shift—would be to play Herrera as one of the two in deep-lying midfield.

If he was to play on the right of that partnership he could still link up with Juan Mata— something that was particularly effective last season—with Rooney, Martial and Jesse Lingard or Memphis Depay able to look for space on the left and through the middle.

Although correlation is not causation, as any statistician knows, the fact that United have scored more freely with Martial up front does not seem a coincidence, even taking into account the Everton game and the quality of City and Crystal Palace.

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It makes intuitive sense that defences would sooner face an out-of-sorts Rooney than Martial.

The former has struggled all season, even against Everton, in which he managed a fine second-half goal, he looked far from his best. There were moments when he had space in which to break, but his increasing years and declining speed did not allow him to capitalise.

Compare that to the moment against West Bromwich Albion, late in the game, wherein Martial received a slightly overhit through ball from Herrera. The Frenchman was able to get to the ball and win his side a penalty.

Another compelling argument for playing Martial up top is his remarkable dribbling ability. Of course, he can make use of that wide on the left, too, as he proved so definitively for France against Germany on Friday. When he is played centrally, he may have fewer opportunities to go on long, mazy runs, but he will create space and opportunities through his close control.

In the simplest possible terms, he is harder to get the ball off than most footballers. When United are faced with extremely compact and deep-lying defences—as they so often are—Martial's trickery offers a chance to unlock the door.

Ultimately, it is hard not to feel that Rooney's time as a guaranteed starter at United is winding down—albeit the possibility exists that he will rediscover some form, and even if he does not, the end is on the horizon rather than nigh.

In the meantime, Van Gaal should continue to play Martial up front more often than not. The manager is adroit at identifying specific weaknesses in opposition teams, and sometimes the pace and invention of Martial will serve the team better from the left wing.

However, as a matter of course, whatever goes on in terms of personnel and systems behind him, Martial should be the main man in United's attack.

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There is no cut-and-dried guarantee that said attack will be more successful in that configuration. However, both the statistics and the subjective experience of watching the Red Devils in action strongly suggest that is the better option.