Wayne Rooney: What the Striker Needs To Get Back To Top Form

As we progress through the season, we will notice the players' form going through certain highs and lows, which is the natural process.

It's certainly disappointing to witness players with great ability perform below par, especially when so much is expected from them.

Nevertheless, clear examples of an individual going through a "grey patch" is England International, Wayne Rooney.

After a rather impressive season, hard fought and tough physically on any player, Wayne's form fell apart as a nation expected so much from him to perform at the World Cup. Followed by minimum preparation before another long season in the EPL, Rooney has started the season with failed attempts at reaching full fitness and getting back to his form of last season.

So the questions are, where to from here? What can he do to re-ignite his form? Or simply, is he fit enough?

My personal opinion, Rooney lack match fitness; he doesn't seem comfortable on the ball and being a striker he needs to score goals.

Taking the Liverpool game as a moderator, we can clearly see that he wasn't able to hold the ball, his passing was wayward, and when he did have the ball, his control wasn't as it usually is and he failed to make headway.

Naturally, Rooney tends to play deep—he falls back and is there to assist the midfield and at times the defense. But that's not his role—he needs to get forward in the right positions and bang the ball in the back of the net.

A general characteristics of strikers who can't find the back of the net leads to them falling into midfield.

So whilst his physical fitness maybe questioned due to the high intensity of the English league (especially after a World Cup), not having a preseason, and the obvious expectations, the current issue that Sir Alex needs to deal with is his match fitness.

Rooney needs to start scoring goals—I don't believe his personal issues are the main course for his lack of form.

The perfect match for Rooney to gather some confidence and self belief would be in the Carling Cup tomorrow evening, when United face Scunthorpe.

Yes, they might be a lower division team, but scoring goals is what builds confidence and self belief, high esteem, and many other attributes that especially a striker requires.

Fergie might not play Rooney, allowing him to rather rest ahead of another tough encounter at The Reebok come the weekend. He might give Owen and possibly Macheda a run.

My view is: let Rooney have a kick tomorrow evening and let Berbatov and Hernandez lead the line on the weekend; this will also give Ferguson the option of having Rooney rested ahead of next week's tough Champions League fixture away to Valencia.

It also allows him to use the depth in his squad, at the same time keeping the players happy.

On the other hand, Rooney also needs to get enough support from his wide men, using the likes of Nani and Giggs effectively as he did last season, which saw him score many headed goals.

Scholes has been brilliant thus far in the center with Carrick sidelined. United need some of the other midfielders to start lifting their games, as they have a tough and long season ahead.

Fletcher has been good, passionate, and physical. He scores the odd goal, which is an incentive so togetherm United can be a major threat.

On paper, they might not lift the eyebrows unlike their London rivals Chelsea who have a celebrity lineup.

Berbatov's brilliance currently give Wayne some room to challenge himself and get back to his best form; while doing so, the likes of Hernandez, Macheda, and Owen need to chip in and assist the Bulgarian.

Although we might see Chelsea leading the log, take into consideration the fact that they have had the easier fixtures in comparison to United, so the challenge is there for United to keep the pace up and make sure they loose anymore points.