SPORT:City and United lacked the strikers to win the Manchester derby

MANCHESTER, England -- The question eventually
had to come, and it provoked more tension than
the majority of a largely dull 0-0 Manchester
derby. Louis van Gaal was asked about Wayne
Rooney. He wasn't happy about it.
"Sir, I have to talk every week about Rooney," the
Manchester United manager so formally
responded before posing a question himself.
"Why?"
There's a rather obvious reason why, even if the
United manager seems to be one of the few who
can't see it. Rooney is a £300,000-a-week striker
and has recently been lauded as one of the finest
players in the history of club and country due to
his goal records, but, despite notionally hitting his
prime at the age of 30, he isn't living up to any of
that. He again looked so badly off the pace, and
that in itself raises questions about the ongoing
arms race between these two clubs.
Much was made before this game of the collective
cost of the starting XI, with that estimated at well
over £500 million. It's all the more remarkable,
then, what both teams are reduced to doing with
the most prized position of all: the No. 9. United
persist with a player who, at best, needs more
rest; at worst, may well be past it. City meanwhile
must tactically improvise without Sergio Aguero
and attempt to accommodate an option in
Wilfried Bony, who is useful but probably not
good enough to be starting regularly for such a
team.
In the end, one of the most relevant numbers to
do with this match was not the money spent, it
was the amount of passes wasted by the two
primary strikers. According to
WhoScored research, both Rooney and Bony had
possession rates of 55 percent.
These were by far the lowest on the pitch and
were a large part of why we didn't see a shot on
target until the 82nd minute, why Manuel
Pellegrini admitted he had to go more defensive
because his team couldn't keep the ball and why
this game ended goalless. Both teams just looked
toothless.
For all that, there was a flicker -- and a significant
reminder -- of something else in the 70th minute.
That was the moment when the effervescent,
young Jesse Lingard fed Rooney into the area
with an angled ball. It was the type of play that
used to be perfect for Rooney, and it was hard
not to imagine his 2009-10 self immediately
wrapping himself around the ball and whacking a
high, first-time shot that at the very least tested
Joe Hart.
The eventual action did not recall 2009-10,
though. It instead reminded everyone that
Rooney had just turned 30 on Saturday. Rather
than even get a shot off, the England captain
strained to just stop the ball going out of play
before playing a feeble pass across the area.
It was just so meek and tentative, and it was
remarkable to think that this was the player who
first made his name on breaking through at 16
precisely because of his physical power. He was
then explosive.
He's now a damp squib.
There are two deeper questions out of this. The
first is how it got to this, to a player who now
looks so laboured and limp.
It is possible that this is all an inevitable
consequence of the fact he did first break
through at 16, considering he has played so
much since such a young age. The exact same
has happened to similar power- or pace-based
players who started early like Michael Owen and
Fernando Torres. Ryan Giggs is an exception to
that, but that's because he so conspicuously
changed his game to something more measured.
Rooney has not yet changed his game, other than
becoming so much more ineffective.
The second question is how he keeps getting so
much football, despite his only goals in the league
this season coming after United had already
scored in two separate 3-0 wins, against
Sunderland and then Everton.
It is all the more surprising because the excellent
Anthony Martial offers such an obvious
replacement at No. 9. He offers all the spark that
Rooney used to, so thrillingly running between
the lines and then filling the rest with flashes of
brilliance like the lofted ball from which Lingard
hit the crossbar late on. Here, it seemed so clear
that Martial should go up front with Memphis
Depay, then taking the Frenchman's place on the
wing.
It never happened, although Rooney was left on
to offer his best moment of the match. That
typically came in his own area rather than the
opposition's, as he headed away a late corner.
It still lead to more questions.
"I don't give any more answers about Wayne
Rooney," Van Gaal responded. "I am sick of
them."
Those questions are going to come if the goals
don't.
There should be questions in this regard for City,
too, though. Bony is a good player and a useful
tactical alternative to be able to deploy, but there
is a huge chasm between his quality and that of
Aguero.
It's somewhat inevitable that any team is going to
be someway dependable on a player as good as
the Argentine if they have him, but for a team
willing to spend the money, it just seems so odd
that City don't have a superior alternative. Given
the inevitability that Aguero will spend a certain
amount of time out injured every season, too, it
seems poor planning to only have Bony, a striker
who probably needs another striker running off
him.
As such, Pellegrini was forced to improvise
Sunday, trying to get Kevin De Bruyne and
Raheem Sterling offering pace on either side of
the Ivorian. It didn't work and instead stunted
their recent good form. Sterling was barely in the
game, offering only one deflected shot and an
entanglement with Ander Herrera that might
have brought a penalty. De Bruyne just kept
giving the ball away.
It all meant City had to give territory and
possession away, too. Pellegrini admitted he went
against his own principles and played more
defensive in the second half for fear of losing the
match.
On this occasion, neither side had the striker -- or
the quality -- to go and win the match.


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