Wayne Rooney has not had a very good first couple of games for Manchester United this season. The Red Devils were good enough to get a 1-0 victory over both Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa, but both matches were unsightly. You can’t argue with getting six points from the first two games, but most of the football pundits rightfully declared both matches to be snoozefests.
The United individual player ratings on Friday, via ESPN FC, were very low. Very few 7s, no 8s or 9s, and mostly 6s. Wayne Rooney stood out, with his 4! Ouch.
The Old Trafford skipper got ripped to shreds by Sky Sports’ Phil Thompson.
“Rooney may be in the comfort zone with nobody challenging to take his place,” Thompson told Soccer Saturday.
“The manager has told him ‘you are my number one striker’ – there’s nobody there. Hernandez, I think, is still injured and then you’ve got (James) Wilson.
“Nobody’s going to put him under pressure and his performance was dreadful last night.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network.Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country. Catch him Tuesdays on KOZN 1620 The Zone.