Wayne Rooney maybe Manchester United top goal scorer, but he has only managed seven goals in his last seven games after a dry period of over two months and Andrei Kanchelskis blames it on Louis van Gaal and his team mates.
Kanchelskis, the United legend who played for the Old Trafford club between 1991-95, making almost 150 appearances, somewhat blames the Dutchman’s formation for restricting Rooney.
“The reason Wayne Rooney has scored so many goals for Manchester United and at international level is because he got good service. Now he gets the ball in the middle of the pitch and it’s difficult to score the goals," Kanchelskis told 888sport.com in a recent interview.
“If you get the ball out wide with wingers and play more aggressive there is more chance of scoring goals. Now it’s normal for Manchester United to keep possession, pass, pass, back pass. There is no attacking.
“This is a different system and now it is cautious. We played 4-4-2 with wingers – myself, Ryan Giggs, Ronaldo, David Beckham. There were so many good wingers. But Van Gaal doesn’t want to play with wingers.”
But on Wednesday Jesse Lingard was insisting that the club’s poor form was down to the players and couldn’t be blamed on Van Gaal.
It was Lingard’s headed goal that put his side ahead in the 14th minute during Tuesday’s match against Stoke. It also happened to be the first time any of the team had scored within the first half of a Premier League match at Old Trafford since September.
Anthony Martial scored the second from a Rooney assist doubling the score by half time, again it had been a long time since fans had witnessed this at Old Trafford - in fact not since they played Manchester City back in April.
Rooney went on to score in the 53rd minute, it being his 224th goal overall for United.
The work the Reds put in during the match meant the result was a deserved and welcome victory for not only the team, but also the fans.