Revitalised Wayne Rooney Inspires Manchester United to Victory Over Aston Villa
I have been a vocal critic of Wayne Rooney in recent weeks. He has looked disinterested, off the pace and completely without threat in front of goal. All the while, Javier Hernandez has been looking rough around the edges, but sharp, clinical and, most importantly, looking like he could score at any given moment.
By the time I came to write my earlier preview of the Aston Villa game, I had given up hope of him playing himself back into form. I felt it was time to give Hernandez an extended run in the first team, just as reward for the goals he has been scoring when called upon.
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Perhaps the shock of being dropped from the first team for the first time since his return from injury and scandal would kick him into gear. To be honest, I didn’t really care if it did or it didn’t, so long as Berbatov, Hernandez and Nani kept scoring.
That would then give us the chance to bring him back into the fold alongside Antonio Valencia, who created so many of his headed goals last season. Maybe Tony’s return would be the catalyst for a Rooney revival.
Or perhaps there never would be one and, like Michael Owen before him, Rooney had slipped into terminal decline.
Rooney’s performance against Aston Villa showed why I write a Manchester United blog, but Sir Alex Ferguson is paid millions to give me something to write about.
Alert, alive and confident, Rooney latched onto a huge van der Sar clearance to hammer United ahead. Remember when he used to score goals like this every other week?
If we have learned anything from the past few years, it’s that Rooney is a confidence player for whom goals come in waves. Although this is his worst ever dip in form, he has had droughts before and exploded seemingly at random once more a few months later.
It only took him 45 minutes here and the second goal gave us a preview of what we can look forward to when Valencia returns from injury.
Ghosting off Collins and confidently hammering home on his weaker side. A few weeks ago he wouldn't have missed that chance, he wouldn’t even have been in the right place to get it.
Villa rallied briefly after Bent scored. It’s not like Evra to go walkies, although he is having a bad season, but unfortunately, it is like John O’Shea to go missing.
Look what happens when you present Darren Bent with a chance in the penalty area.
We can only assume that Rafael hasn’t quite shaken off his concussion, and will be back by the weekend. John O’Shea is really a poor quality replacement.
Still, a buoyant Rooney was alive to create the third for United, receiving a Vidic knockdown and laying it back to the Serb to brutally lash home. If Bent’s goal was typical of the man, then this is just as atypical from Vida.
As brutal as you would expect, perhaps, but not the typical towering header.
So, once again, no sooner do I start to question Fergie does he shut me up. And Rooney, I will never feel the same about him. I, like many, was fooled into thinking he was different. He was doing it for the love of the club and the game, not the money and the fame. But I guess he was right all along.
Once a blue, always a blue.
