Wayne Rooney Is Reportedly 'Dispirited' at Manchester United Ahead of Chelsea

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney is reportedly "hamstrung" by manager Louis van Gaal's tactics and is believed by his team-mates to be "dispirited" ahead of the Red Devils' crucial clash with Chelsea at Old Trafford on Monday.

That's according to Ian Ladyman of the Daily Mail, who added that Rooney's confidence is "as low as anyone at Old Trafford has ever seen it."

The 30-year-old was dropped to the bench by Van Gaal for their Boxing Day defeat to Stoke City. His decision proved divisive, with journalist Lucas Sposito believing it to be a pointless exercise:

Meanwhile, football writer Graham Ruthven believed the decision to be the correct one, while B/R's Sam Tighe wasn't surprised by it:

Rooney came on at half-time with his team already down 2-0, and though the forward was able to help them produce a slightly better second-half performance, he was unable to have the dramatic impact required to pull them out of the fire.

The England international was likely surprised at the omission after publicly giving the Dutchman his backing on Christmas Eve, and while the decision undoubtedly served as a blow to his self-belief, the manner in which he received the news was likely equally unhelpful.

According to the Mirror's John Cross, Van Gaal didn't inform Rooney of the decision until United were already at the Britannia Stadium.

Benching Rooney is an understandable decision, as he has been exceptionally poor this season, netting twice in the league and generally looking ponderous and out of ideas along with many of his team-mates.

However, the handling of it by Van Gaal shows poor management skills and perhaps indicates his hard-line approach with the players is out of touch with the modern footballer.

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Rooney's bad run of form—which stretches to the back end of last season—is among the longest he's had.

The attacker has had poor spells before, but Sir Alex Ferguson was always able to bring the star back to form.

That could indicate the manager must take some responsibility for failing to rouse him from this slump—either through motivation or a change in system to allow United to flow in the final third once again—or it may be that after playing so much since he was 16 years old, Rooney is burned out physically.

It could also be a combination of both.

What Van Gaal must also bear responsibility for is the lack of options beyond Rooney up front after allowing Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, Javier Hernandez and James Wilson to all leave the club either permanently or on loan while only bringing in Anthony Martial up front.

Letting go of Van Persie and Falcao was understandable given their ages and decline, but moving Hernandez on was inexcusable. As was failing to bring in more reinforcements—particularly when Van Gaal has relegated the one striker he did recruit to playing wide on the left.

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After the defeat to Stoke, it's likely Van Gaal will restore Rooney to the starting lineup on Monday.

With the skipper unlikely to find great motivation from the Dutchman, Rooney must use Boxing Day's omission to spur him on and recapture some of the fire of his youth in order to produce an improved performance against Chelsea.

As for Van Gaal, should he fail to stop the rot—both in terms of results and performance-wise—against the Blues, the ever-increasing pressure on him will mount further and every decision will be under more scrutiny.