English Premier League: Losers of the fourth league weekend – Part 2
Rooney, Wayne Rooney. Manchester United’ star striker was absent not only from their starting line up for the weekend’s match against Everton but he was also not on the bench. All in all, Rooney was left out of the squad altogether and didn’t travel with Manchester United to Everton, to face his former employees.
Last couple of weeks have understandably been horrible for Wayne. The news that he cheated on his wife with a vice girl came out in the open as the woman in question told the Sunday Mirror in a interview that she allegedly spent time with the English national team striker in a hotel room. This news came just before Rooney joined the English national team squad for their EURO 2012 qualification match against Switzerland. It was a big blow the English striker who had recently returned to goal scoring form with Manchester United as he converted their penalty kick into a goal against West Ham United.
Under criticism since his abysmal performances for the national team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, this scandal was the last thing Rooney needed, who is not only now one of the senior members of the Manchester United squad, a member who is destined for captaincy one day but also a father now to his son Kai Wayne.
Ferguson in the past has dealt with such incidents quite competently; he has managed celebratory status that surrounded the likes of Ryan Giggs (in his early days) and David Beckham (1998 onwards). He also kept a lid on Rio Ferdinand’s exploits and is one of the best man-managers in the game. His decision to leave Wayne Rooney out said a lot about what Rooney will have to face at United now, his unprofessional behaviour off the field has resulted in loss of trust as far as Sir Alex is concerned.
The fact that Fergie came out before the Everton match and said that he didn’t include Rooney in his plans due to the amount of abuse he suffers at the hands of his ex-club’s supporters is frankly unbelievable. The main reason for his exclusion is because he is not in the right state of mind to play football and secondly, it is was a sign of the standards that Ferguson has set for all the players associated with Manchester United, Rooney fell below those standards and was duly axed from the game against Everton.
Even without featuring for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team, Rooney has lost a lot but he would do well to learn from what he has faced this weekend. If Wayne does not act more maturely in the future then he can be sure that more consequences will follow. United’s draw against Everton cannot be attributed to the fact that Rooney didn’t play for them but it can to some extent blamed on the kind of defending that went on inside their penalty area in the last five minutes of the match.
The man who has been playing for United in their central defence, Johnny Evans has been suspect so far this season. He was bullied by Bobby Zamora in United’s encounter against Fulham at the Craven Cottage and now against Everton he was pulled apart by Cahill and Fellaini. In both of these performances, the young centre half who showed promise last season has failed to live up to expectations, his performances were below par and Ferguson will be glad to bring back Rio Ferdinand into the starting line up for United’s Champions League opener against Rangers.
Rooney and Evans have been two of the biggest losers in the English Premier League’s fourth weekend i.e. the fourth round of matches; one because his on-the-field blunders and the other due to his off-the-field issues.
Tags: