Is Wayne Rooney the new Paul Scholes?

For a long time now, if there has ever been one slightly wayward trail of thought around Old Trafford, it is that United’s poster-boy, Wayne Rooney will end up in Central Midfield at the fag-end of his career.

Rooney is the sort of player any and every manager would love to have in their starting XI; someone who wears his heart on his sleeve and gives it his all, no matter what. If one player deserved to wear the red of Manchester after the 1-6 demolition of United by City, it was him. But somewhat more importantly, Rooney is a team player. When asked to play on the left flank for most of 08/09 season when Ronaldo led the line – even when they lost the Champions League final 2-0 in Rome – he did, with minimum fuss at that. He’s the first person on the team sheet, be it for United or England.

Against his former employers Everton, on Saturday, Rooney started along with Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez in what seemed to be an adventurous attacking line-up, as Sir Alex looked to put behind the humiliation handed out to him by their cross town rivals. One would have imagined that it was a simple and traditional 4-4-2 with either Rooney or Welbeck on the left flank interchanging with Park Ji-Sung on the other. But that was not to be. Welbeck did start on the left but to everyone’s surprise Rooney was deployed in a deep lying midfield role with Tom Cleverley playing in behind Chicharito.

Rio Ferdinand and Nani, the casualties of the drubbing handed out by City put on a brave face on the bench while Anderson was axed from the playing 18 altogether. Captain Nemanja Vidic returned for his first Premier League game since August to help United stick, nay, return to the basics. Having conceded so many shots on target this season, Ferguson’s idea was to use Rooney’s willingness to run and his defensive instincts to curtail those very flaws and make United harder to break down.

Even if it meant curbing Rooney’s natural attacking intent – that affected the way United went forward – the unorthodox plan worked, defensively. Everton created a few half-chances, but nothing serious, except one sweetly struck Leighton Baines free-kick that smacked against the frame of the goal.

Rooney though, time and again, was picking out the full-backs or wingers with 60-70 yard cross-field diagonals that even the master of the trait, Paul Scholes would have been proud of. This is not the first time we’ve seen Rooney pick out an inch perfect pass. It was as if he was trying out for the role of the Scholesy, in-house.

Hernandez scored the winner for United in the 19^th minute after Cleverley’s reverse ball found Welbeck whose neat touch in return released Evra, whose cross found ‘the little pea’ who somehow telepathically knew where to be, and when. Everton showed gritty character to get back in the game even though they were missing the likes of suspended Royston Drenthe and Phil Neville, Sylvain Distin and Tim Cahill through injury, to no avail.

The Rooney we know, loves to play in the hole like every No. 10 where it is hard for him to be picked up, and even if he is, it leaves a gap at the back. Either that or he loves to make space for himself to curl one in or spray it out wide. However, he seemed to relish his new role, even if it was meant to help United defensively rather the role he’s usually more comfortable in. So much so that when Cleverley released Hernandez early in the second half, the Mexican looked around for support, only to see Rooney sticking to his post near the centre circle unlike when he scored the opener, when he made a late foray into the penalty box, which was rather reminiscent of Scholes.

Now it may be too early to come to any concrete conclusions but it is rather obvious that someday Rooney may just end up in the middle of the part, dictating play. The outcome may be different if United do go out and buy Wesley Sneijder or another midfield recruit. But for now, one thing is sure, Wayne Mark Rooney is not only a manager’s delight but on one of his well behaved days he is a player, fans and even opponents delight in.

Sir Alex really needs someone to sit up and take charge if he wants number 20. Who says it’s not possible, all we’re saying is, it’s not going to be pretty.