The inevitable has arrived: Wayne Rooney dropped by Jose Mourinho. It's been coming for a while: Rooney has looked a very old 30 this season, but since he burst upon the scene as a 16-year-old, he's clocked up as many miles as your average 35-year-old pro.
United have looked dreadfully pedestrian this season, and Mourinho confirmed that Lingard and Rashford were selected for today's game against Leicester as they had the pace that is needed to deal with the champions.
Despite this, the hysteria surrounding Mourinho's decision has been quite something. There is a weird narrative surrounding Rooney - captain of both England and United - that, regardless of how he performs, Rooney should be guaranteed a place in the team. On a recent Monday Night Football, Phil Neville criticised Wayne Rooney's weekend performance before adding that he had to be in the team.
Keith from Wilmslow garnered online attention this week by ringing MUTV and telling Sammy McIlroy that Rooney deserved to be dropped as he hasn't been performing. McIlroy responded that Rooney will come good, citing evidence from what he has given United over the past few years.
It's a weird reverence of both the captaincy and the past, and also entirely irrational. Richard Keys - shock, horror - showed that he was a man who has quite the allegiance to the past, too, tweeting that he was "shocked" at the decision to bench Rooney, citing the fact he had "credit in the bank" to deserve better treatment.
I'm shocked. OK @WayneRooney has been a little out of sorts but surely he's got more credit in the bank than to be treated this way?
— Richard Keys (@richardajkeys) September 24, 2016
What nonsense. Leaving aside how much "credit in the bank" a man who has tried to engineer moves to Man City and Chelsea has, many United fans are capable of realising that Rooney has been a great servant, and will still have much to offer - the assist against Hull being an example - but the days of Rooney being an automatic starter are gone.
Rooney 100% the right decision to be dropped. Im not entirely convinced we've the players to come into that position though. We'll see today
— Michael Barton (@mrmichaelbarton) September 24, 2016
I think it's the right decision to drop Rooney he's being playing poorly for ages now, but id like to see Pogba play well #MUFC #Rooney
— Maz (@Mazobrien23) September 24, 2016
Of course, not all of the English media have reacted with this strange Wayne-worship. Oliver Kay of The times has got it bang on, here:
Shouldn't be big deal that Rooney is rotated/rested (i.e dropped). If it is, it's b/c mgrs so fearful of doing so previously, which is weird
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKay) September 24, 2016
He's at stage of where he can still contribute a lot, but can't be guaranteed a place. Leaving him out now & then *shouldn't* be a big deal
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKay) September 24, 2016
Mourinho said pre-game that this is a normal decision in a country where the football media are normal.
This hysteria is not just reserved for Rooney: it was similar over the past couple of years, that Steven Gerrard "deserved better" than sitting on a Bernabeu bench in his final season at Anfield, or that John Terry "deserved" a contract at the end of last season, for all he has given to Chelsea in the past.
Often, in football, deserve ain't got anything to do with it.
