WBA, Rooney and What Next...

Well the last few days have been quite topsy turvy in all things Man Utd with throwing things away against West Brom to today's bombshell that Sir Alex dropped in a press conference about Wayne Rooney's future or lack there of at the club. It's difficult where to start this week but I guess with the game last Saturday first with a closing section on today's major news.

2 - 2 West Brom 

Carrying on from my last blog... this game was there for the taking and one that we should be winning, no disrespect to WBA who have had a cracking start to their Premiership season with a convincing win at the Emirates and are sat in 6th in the league.
The big news before kick off was that Rooney was sat on the bench and Hernandez was making his first league start at Old Trafford but that was soon forgotten about as Chicharito scored five minutes into the game.
With the game being very open West Brom always looked dangerous but we looked like the better team as
the first half went on and this showed when after a fortuitous slip by Shorey, Nani gained possession and played a delightful one-two with Berbatov to make it 2 - 0.  Giggs went off just before half time with an injury with Gibson replacing as there was no out and out wingers on the bench.
After half time all could have been different as Vidic hit the post with a header but a couple of minutes later all went to pot as West Brom scored two in quick succession. The first an Evra own goal after a clever free kick left the defence all at sea with the Frenchman having the last touch before the ball went in, the second a major mistake by the normally solid Van der Sar as he dropped a catch from a cross that was tapped in.

As I said this is a game that we should have won and probably should have put to bed in the first half. No one is at fault for the result but the performance in the second half was that of a team struggling for survival let alone one with hopes of winning the title at the end of the season.
Van der Sar's mistake was a rarity so no blame can lie on his shoulders but the defending at times was awful, while trying to win the game we didn't close down the opposition and allowed them at times to practically skip pass and take a free shot on goal where usually were hounding down to force them into errors so we can slip in a late winner. Rooney came off the bench to try and get a late winner but lets all be honest... he looked terrible, his touch was off and his shot from the free kick after the back pass was below par for him.

Rooney

As I just mentioned he was poor on Saturday and has been since his injury back in March and now today Sir Alex has announced that Wayne wants to leave Old Trafford after a few weeks of speculation.
Ferguson stated that he was informed that Rooney wasn't going to sign a new contract in August, they haven't fallen out and the door is still open for him.  Now we have all seen high profile players leave the club including Beckham and Ronaldo but this is the first time I can remember of such an issue with a player seeking to leave Old Trafford.
Until we hear Rooney's side of the story it is all speculation, but chances are he will be leaving the club in January. I can't understand if there were issues over the summer why was the problem not dealt with and a sale conducted in the last transfer window.
Wayne's personal issues have not helped with matters and now questions arise of where will he go, who will replace him, can we afford a replacement etc. It will hit us all hard if he follows Tevez but the City of Manchester stadium is currently the bookies favourites for his next destination, I personally hope Wayne has more about him and will not make this move but we will have to wait and see.
As for a replacement Karim Benzema has been the top of Sir Alex's wish list for a number of seasons now so a swoop could be on the cards or we may not invest and keep faith in Berbatov, Hernanadez and Owen.
Rooney isn't going anywhere until at least January so here's hoping he will remain professional and regain some form and score a few more goals before he makes up his mind on where to ply his trade.