Manchester United against Everton - why was Rooney dropped?
Wayne Rooney is rarely out of the headlines, be it on or off the field. Manchester United played Everton on Saturday at Goodison Park and were brushed aside 3-3 in a shocking result. After this unconvincing start to the season, the outcome hasn’t augured well for Manchester United fans.
Various critics have cited Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision of excluding Wayne Rooney from the team as the main reason for this defeat. Ferguson believed that due to the off-field controversy surrounding Rooney, he knew that the striker would face extensive abuse from the crowd at his childhood club. So in order to protect his ace striker, he left him out.
However not everyone has agreed. The Sun has reported that Ferguson used it as a punishment for Rooney in order to make clear that such behaviour would not be accepted at the club.
Wayne Rooney was seen training with the squad just 24 hours ahead of their match against Everton and it was believed that he would be part of the team. However surprisingly he was left out in the end.
Mike Phelan, Fergusson’s assistant manager believed that there was no truth in such conspiracy theories. He added that Ferguson had left out Rooney only because he wasn’t mentally ready to play in such a big match. More importantly, it was a match at his former club so it was obvious why he was not part of the team.
But Rooney’s former boss David Moyes has a different point of view. He believed that an aggressive crowd at Wayne’s former club wasn’t a proper justification to leave Rooney out. Moyes said, "I don't think you should put it all on the crowd.
"The manager there (Ferguson) knows what he's doing and I'm sure he did what he thought was right. Maybe he was just making sure everybody realises if you play for United you have to conduct yourself in a certain manner and the football club doesn't really care who you are."
Sir Alex Ferguson shunned all such allegations and maintained that there was no chance of punishing his young striker. Ferguson believed that whatever happened was concerned with his private life and as long as Rooney continued to perform on the pitch for the club and kept knocking in the goals, he had no problems.
A British tabloid newspaper ‘News of the world’ had earlier reported that Rooney was involved in a sexual relationship with a well known prostitute while his wife was pregnant. The newspaper came up with a number of firsthand accounts to claim the authenticity of the report. Wayne Rooney at the time was playing with England for the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
England manager Fabio Capello, who had taken the arm band from John Terry following revelations about his affair with Wayne Bridge’s girl friend, took no such action against Wayne Rooney. The England manager had said that he is only concerned with his Rooney plays on the pitch, and included him in the starting line against Switzerland. The striker repaid his faith by opening the scoring in the match.
So as Ferguson continues to defend his decision, it is still unknown as to why Wayne Rooney was not part of the team. Ferguson reiterated that the striker would be part of Manchester United’s starting line in the Champions League match on Tuesday.
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