'They have enshrined his debut No 8 shirt in the club's museum and they have blown the budget on his transfer fee, but Wayne Rooney found out yesterday that he still does not represent the answer to all Manchester United's problems. Tuesday's hat-trick was supposed to signal the beginning of the grand revival at Old Trafford, but it took a header from Alan Smith to rescue a humble point against Middlesbrough.
This was not the United team ravaged by injuries that Sir Alex Ferguson has had to patch and mend to try and keep Arsenal in his sights. Instead this was, with the exception of Paul Scholes, United's A-list. There was Cristiano Ronaldo on the wing, Rio Ferdinand in the centre of defence and Rooney alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy in attack, but if this is Ferguson's vision for the future then it still requires fine-tuning.
His players simply failed to break down a prosaic Middlesbrough side who defended with organisation but no flair and were so restricted by injuries that they were forced to give three 18-year-olds their Premiership debuts. Such innocents were once devoured at Old Trafford, but on this occasion Steve McClaren's players seemed to flourish as the pressure on their goal increased with United's desperation.
As for Rooney, he was tamed by a dogged, unyielding performance by George Boateng who offended Old Trafford with his rough treatment of the 18-year-old but never allowed the striker to settle. Twice early on, Rooney was ambushed in possession by the Dutch midfielder and was even moved at one point to clip his adversary's heels. But he was never allowed the space and range that was granted him by Fenerbahce.'
The most dangerous attacker in Ferguson's side was Rooney's fellow teenager Ronaldo whose thrusting forays to the byline were United's surest route to goal. He was the only performer in United's side to whom Middlesbrough had no convincing answer…'