Rooney Gunning for Liverpool

Wayne Rooney will be chomping at the bit to score against a team that has fans who always get on his back.

Rooney scored a sublime goal in the 2-1 defeat away at Chelsea and he is looking in better form with every game that comes and goes. United will need him up for this match because Liverpool games against United at Anfield always create a massive atmosphere.

Rooney is a player who always gets a lot of verbal abuse when he goes to Liverpool. This is because he is from Merseyside and started his career playing for Everton. The saving grace that Sir Alex Ferguson can enjoy is that Rooney seems to thrive on this and it makes him a little more determined and a little less tired during games.

Rooney may have to adapt his style for this game owing to what the manager wants to do. It would be very easy for Ferguson to deploy a 4-4-2 against Liverpool with an attacking mentality. However, Liverpool won’t sit back on their own ground and Rooney will be forced to play down the right of a 4-5-1 at times if both he and Dimitar Berbatov start in attack.

This shouldn’t make too much difference to Rooney’s effectiveness in the match because he’s a great attacking player from any position on the team. He can run at any part of the defence, get by the defenders and zone in on goal. He can also hold the ball up and bring others into play.

He may also be limited to the sorts of chances that he scored his goal against Chelsea from. Liverpool will be very determined not to let United have a sniff in and around the penalty area which could force United to rely on some of their long range shooting options. Rooney’s 25 yard goal against Chelsea showed he’s as good as anyone else at the club in this area.

Rooney has the potential to dominate this game if he wants to. He is good enough to carry the United team through the fixture so long as his temper and his aggression don’t get out of hand. United fans should relax because he’s way past the point of letting verbal abuse at away grounds bother him.