Louis Van Gaal's Tactics Blamed for Wayne Rooney Struggles by Matt Le Tissier

Former England international Matt Le Tissier believes Louis van Gaal is partly to blame for the slump in form of Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney.

Rooney has looked a shadow of his former self this season, scoring only twice in the league and regularly failing to make any impact in matches, per WhoScored.com.

While many have surmised that Rooney is simply "past it," Sky Sports pundit Le Tissier believes the defensive attitude imposed at Old Trafford by manager Van Gaal is hamstringing the English striker:

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Rooney is probably suffering a bit from United having changed their emphasis from 'we will win every game because we've got the best players' to one that says 'we're not going to lose first and foremost'.

He suffers because they don't attack in the same numbers as when they believed they could outscore whoever they came up against. 

This is probably the longest slump we've seen. He has had dips in form before but I don't remember him having ever struggled for this long.

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Van Gaal's Red Devils have consistently failed to get the heart pumping this season, but they still lie only one point back from Premier League leaders Manchester City.

Rooney's last league goal for United came on Oct. 17 against Everton in a 3-0 victory.

Since then, the Red Devils have drawn three times in the English top-flight and won twice, scoring a total of five goals.

Their style of play under Van Gaal is a world away from the frenetic, high-scoring, all-or-nothing football that was a hallmark of the club in the Sir Alex Ferguson era.

They dominate possession but consistently fail to threaten the goal, per sports writer Chris Fleming:

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United top the Premier League for possession. In terms of shots on target per game, only six teams are worse. That needs to change.

— Chris Fleming (@Chris__Fleming) November 28, 2015"

Such an approach does seem to be affecting Rooney, especially when he plays in the No. 9 role as he becomes isolated when United pass the ball around in midfield.

So poor has the 30-year-old been this season that there has been much talk of him being dropped from the starting XI, per Bleacher Report's Dean Jones:

Le Tissier is not the only person to have put some of the blame for Rooney's decline at Van Gaal's feet—United legend Paul Scholes offered up a similar hypothesis back in October, per the Express' Richard Tanner.

But it is unlikely that Van Gaal will change his approach as it is currently paying dividends. While the football United play is hardly inspiring, they do look set to make a genuine title challenge this season.

A return to form from Rooney would perhaps even make United favourites to triumph in the Premier League, but he will likely have to adapt to Van Gaal's tactics, rather than the other way around.