Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney once again let his frustration get to him today, receiving a red card against West Ham United.
Manchester United needed a win against West Ham United today after last weekend’s shock defeat to Leicester City at the King Power Stadium. Despite leading 3-1, Louis van Gaal’s managed to collapse defensively, conceding four goals in just twenty minutes to lose the game 5-3.
A response was required from the Red Devils, and youngsters Luke Shaw and Patrick McNair were handed starts in defence as Dutchman van Gaal looked to tighten up his back line, but it was United’s attack which once again stole the headlines early on as United raced into a 2-0 lead in the first 22 minutes.
Wayne Rooney opened the scoring before Robin van Persie made it two, but it wasn’t the easy afternoon that many expected from that point on – partly because of Rooney.
The 28-year-old has long been known for suffering from temper issues on the field, and the striker has seen the red mist descend a number of times in his career. Today, we saw it again as Rooney kicked out at Hammers winger Stewart Downing and was shown a straight red card by referee Lee Mason; as pictured above.
The petulant act has once again raised question marks over Rooney’s suitability to be the Manchester United captain. The former Everton star was an unpopular choice to begin with given his desire to leave Old Trafford in recent years, but his lack of true leadership qualities make him a questionable choice.
After harshly lambasting youngster Tyler Blackett against Leicester, many believed that Rooney wasn’t willing to shoulder the responsibility of being the captain given that it was he who lost the ball, forcing Blackett into a last man tackle. Today’s incident hasn’t done much to dampen that talk, but van Gaal made it clear – Rooney is virtually undroppable.
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