Wayne Rooney discussed his time leading the line for Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in the late 2000s.
Statistics in football frequently fail to tell the entire story.
A brief look at Wayne Rooney’s career numbers reveals that his most prolific seasons at Manchester United were 2009/10 and 2011/12, when he scored 34 goals in all competitions. United lost the Premier League title to Chelsea by one point in 2010, but Rooney won the Players’ and Fans’ Player of the Year honours at the PFA awards, as well as two more awards at United’s own end-of-season celebration.
By 2010, Rooney had established himself as Sir Alex Ferguson’s captain, taking over for Cristiano Ronaldo, who had been sold to Real Madrid the previous year. With Carlos Tevez’s controversial departure to Manchester City in 2009, one of United’s great attacking triumvirates was broken up. Rooney was left to carry the load, frequently playing as a central striker alongside Antonio Valencia, Nani, and a resurgent Ryan Giggs. Rooney was a prolific goal scorer.
When asked about the post-Ronaldo era in an interview with BT Sport, Rooney said: “Those two seasons (2008/09 and 2009/10) were the two seasons I played as a No.9 on my own. I played there intermittently in various games, but I spent the entire season there for two years. Actually, I didn’t enjoy the games as much. I’ve always been a gamer who wants to participate in the game.
“It took me seven or eight years to understand how to play there, especially with your back to the goal. It’s the most difficult position to play. You have massive center-backs going through behind you, and you’re on your own.
“I didn’t love it, but it was my finest two years of scoring. I recall walking off the pitch after scoring two goals and saying, ‘I was dreadful. I didn’t play particularly well today. I didn’t get very many touches on the ball.”
It tells a lot about Rooney’s work ethic that he preferred being sacrificed out wide from 2007 to 2009 rather being made the primary guy up front once Ronaldo left. In a more recent interview with Gary Neville’s Stick to Football podcast, Rooney, United’s all-time leading goalscorer, acknowledged he enjoyed the challenge of being assigned additional defensive responsibilities.
He went on to say: “Obviously, if I played out wide, I would do my job, I would get back and help out defensively where Cristiano probably wouldn’t do it, and then he’s a threat [going forward], he pins back their full-back.”
Rooney’s finest position was always centre, but in the pocket behind the striker, where he could combine his enormous talent with his tigerish determination. Some would say that his best days at United came in that No.10 role, both early in his career when he wore the No.8 and later when he slid deep behind Robin van Persie.
Rooney went on to say, “I wanted to play in my [best] position, but the manager definitely got it right in terms of the team winning and being successful, which we probably needed. I wouldn’t say I was a natural goal scorer; I just wanted to get on the ball. If I had been more selfish, I could have scored many more goals, but all I wanted to do was play. The number of times I heard midfielders tell me to go or, ‘I’ll play it through to you, you need to stay up front.'”
Rooney reportedly went to Ferguson in the summer of 2011 and asked to play as a No.10 the following season. He had earlier requested to leave the club in 2010, dissatisfied with the absence of major recruits following the departures of Ronaldo and Tevez, preferring to join other forwards in a star-studded attack rather than remaining the primary source of goals.
However, many would disagree with Rooney’s claim that he was not a great goalscorer. His 253 goals for United will be hard to beat, and the solitary memories, as much as the numbers, tell the story of a brilliant striker in his own right.
In 2010, the two scored headers in a thrilling 3-2 Champions League victory over AC Milan. The talismanic performances versus Bayern Munich at home and away within the same season. That bicycle kick during the Manchester Derby in February 2011.
However, Rooney’s motto ensures that he will never have good memories of his time as a centre-forward. It’s simply not his style. “I wasn’t really interested in individual awards, I always wanted to win with the team, that was always my goal.”
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