A lot of Manchester United fans have been looking for Wayne Rooney to be dropped for some time now.
The calls became deafening following three United defeats in eight days, to Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford respectively, but many have felt the club captain should have been dropped to the bench a long time ago.
However, few expected United to perform as well as they did against Leicester City in Rooney’s absence. By half-time, Jose Mourinho’s side were leading the Premier League champions 4-0 and it looked as though Rooney would soon be sitting alongside Bobby Charlton for games at Old Trafford.
Manchester United thrash Leicester, but everyone only wanted to talk about one thing https://t.co/9dw7SinVcI
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) September 24, 2016
It wouldn’t be fair to put United’s rampant performance solely down to Rooney’s exclusion, as Leicester were a shadow of the side that shocked the world last season.
However, there were numerous areas where United looked better a side without their captain.
Juan Mata excelled in the number 10 role, Rooney wasn’t being shoehorned into midfield, so Ander Herrera got the nod and didn’t disappoint, and with his teammates playing at a higher level, Paul Pogba appeared more relaxed and finally showcased some of his immense talent.
Another area where United appeared to benefit from Rooney’s absence was corner-kicks.
According to Football365, before Saturday’s game, Rooney had taken 16 of United’s 23 corners in the league, and the team hadn’t scored from any of them.
Daley Blind was on corner-kick duty against Leicester, and United scored from three of them. The Dutch defender set-up Chris Smalling and Pogba for goals, while Mata squared the ball for Marcus Rashford to tap-in following a corner.
It could be a long way back for Rooney into Mourinho’s starting XI.
Catch up on the first episode of Football Friday Live…
