The Independent look at Rooney’s performance last night
‘Pushed left, initially, before going right, briefly, Rooney had six contacts with the ball during that time. Which was more an indictment of his deployment and his team-mates' inability to find him than Rooney's own performance. For when he had the ball he threatened, he improvised, he thought one step ahead, sometimes two. More than that his delivery from corners and crosses was precise. From one he planted the ball onto the head of Louis Saha, from the other he found midfielder Darren Fletcher.
‘Too often, however, he was charged with tracking back, running from deep, keeping to those margins, covering the Chelsea full-back Paulo Ferreira as United matched their hosts' formation. Nevertheless, Rooney threatened with a clever jink, and then a controlled volley before twisting and flicking the ball narrowly past the far post. Suddenly he was alive. On 38 minutes he came even closer, the closest the game had come in fact.
'Again he created it, drifting out away from the play and then checking back in, reaching Fletcher's cross and smartly, with a controlled, snapped header forcing a fine save from Carlo Cudicini. It cried out for Sir Alex Ferguson to let him further off the leash. He needed to be given his head, to work nearer to goal and gradually the United manager recognised that, pushing him alongside Saha.
‘Last night was not the Rooney of last summer. It was not a Rooney worth £27.1m which, if anyone needed reminding, was more than Chelsea, despite their spending, have parted with for any single player. But he remained the most originally threatening, and most direct, player on show and that will not have gone unnoticed. And nor will his prodigious work-rate.
‘Into the second-half the effectiveness of his contributions grew. Rooney was pumped up, but with a purpose. The catcalls of abuse from the home crowd grew - Rooney's weight, his appearance - but they were also a sure sign of rising concern. His contest with Ferreira continued and he showed admirable stamina and alertness to keep pace with one of the Premiership's quickest defenders.
‘It was not one of Rooney's best performances, of course. That, perhaps, was too much to ask. But it was one of his most mature, one of his most-disciplined and alert without losing his aggression.’
Henry Winter in the Telegraph:
‘Operating from the left of a five-man midfield, Rooney found it initially difficult to unsettle Chelsea. Apart from a 20-yard run that was ended by Claude Makelele's tackle and a shot from 12 yards that went wide, Rooney was a peripheral figure in the first half-hour.
‘Rooney dropped deep at times to help his defence and get into the game as Chelsea pressed forward. Ten minutes before the interval, from Cristiano Ronaldo's right-wing cross, a disguised volley by Rooney had Carlo Cudicini scrambling across his goal, the Italian grateful that the ball went wide.
‘Then a snap header by Rooney led to Cudicini making a superb diving save to tip the ball for a corner. It was a reminder that even when he is having a quiet match Rooney is capable of a moment of inspiration few players can produce.
‘After an anonymous start to the tie Rooney was slowly but surely making his presence felt, his power forcing the home defence on the back foot.’