ROONEY STILL SEARCHING FOR FORM
Sir Alex Ferguson is so fiercely protective of his players it came as little surprise that the Manchester United manager should adopt his most impenetrable stare when the questions resurfaced about Wayne Rooney.
Ferguson's intention is to stifle rather than prolong the debate about Rooney's perplexing form but, deep down, it is inconceivable that he does not share some, if not all, the concerns about England's most talented footballer.
Everyone at United is entitled to be concerned because, by his extraordinary standards, Rooney's form has been close to wretched in four of his five games this season, the nadir being Tuesday's win against Benfica when his body language was as poor as his touch.
His failure to fulfil basic duties such as tracking back and keeping possession brought admonishment not only from Ferguson but also John O'Shea and Gabriel Heinze. Another time, Rooney would not have tolerated being singled out. On this occasion, he accepted the criticisms.
Rooney was playing out of position, Ferguson deploying a right-footed striker on the left of midfield, but that does not explain why a player of his culture and finesse had difficulty executing the simplest of tasks such as trapping the ball.
The issue for Ferguson is finding out what it is wrong and it a flawed argument when he blames the forward having played "only six games in six months".
Apart from that not being statistically true, the 20-year-old looked as bright as ever when United demolished Fulham 5-1 on the opening weekend. It is since his three-match suspension for being sent off in pre-season that he has become a peripheral, unhappy figure.
Perhaps Rooney is simply discovering that form, as Ruud Gullit put it, is like a bird that passes by. Sometimes it just flies away and you don't know when it will return.
Rio Ferdinand publicly backed his team mate yesterday:
“I don't think he's really playing badly but he's set his standards so high people sometimes expect too much from him.
“I'm not worried about him, I don't think the rest of the team are worried and neither is Wayne, as far as I know. It's only a matter of time before he's firing on all cylinders.
“All that's missing is a goal because if he'd scored against, say, Reading last Saturday the onus wouldn't be on him having a bad time. Believe me, there's no need to worry.
“Wayne's always been good at coming back with an answer if there's criticism in the media. I can remember one day there was something uncomplimentary about him in the papers and he went out and had an unbelievable game, scoring one and setting up another. Some people can do that whereas others crumble under pressure.
“He was asked to play a certain position for the team and because of that he had to sacrifice a lot of his attacking game. If someone - it doesn't matter who - has a bad touch then another player is bound to have a go at them. But that happens to everyone. It's just being highlighted here because people are looking closely at Rooney because of the way they perceive he's playing.”