Rooney Can Make Example of Wigan

Wayne Rooney is a strong candidate to score against Wigan after a frustrating performance against Marseille.

Rooney looked very frustrated during match of the Champions League tie in France. His movement and energy was superb and what you expect from a main striker but the service just didn’t arrive and he was restricted to half chances at best.

The good news for Rooney is that fitness, motivation and form are no longer worries to a player who was quite clearly struggling in earlier patches of the season. There are far more intimidating places for United to go to than Wigan and Rooney should be chomping at the bit to get himself on the score sheet.

United have a very long run of difficult and challenging games after this Premier League fixture. All of these games will surely see top defenders marking Rooney so tight it’s hard for the striker to get any space or to create many chances. This should be enough motivation for Rooney to make an example out of Wigan before this long run in.

Wigan don’t have a midfield that is going to pass United off the pitch so there is no doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson will deploy a 4-4-2 formation that will have Rooney at the top of the team. He was forced to play wider against Marseille because the French team forced United into a 4-5-1 when they were going for their classic formation.

Whatever can be said or written about Rooney this season, he remains one of the only players in a United shirt who can score a goal out of nothing. His scissor kick during the Manchester derby is the perfect example of this, Nani is probably the only other player in the United squad capable of scoring the same goal.

Also bear in mind that Rooney is one of the players on set pieces in the United side. He takes the penalties and some of the free kicks around the box. There are few players who will argue with Rooney and take the ball away from him if he fancies taking a free kick.

Rooney is 4/1 to score first and 11/10 to score at any time.