Gary Neville: Rooney Needs More Freedom

Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville believes Louis van Gaal needs to give Wayne Rooney more freedom if he wants to see the Manchester United captain back to his best.

Despite hitting a hat-trick last week in the Champions League against Club Brugge, Rooney has failed to score in the Premier League this season and has not found the net in the league in 14 hours and 24 minutes.

The England captain has featured as a lone forward in all of United's four league games this season but Neville, who described United's formation as "rigid," believes Rooney needs to get back to playing the game he knows best.

Louis van Gaal wants him to play in between the two centre-backs and not move," Neville told Super Sunday.

"That is not Rooney's game. It hasn't been his game for 11 years. You see him charging into channels. You see him hunting back and you see him all over the pitch. You can't contain him.

"That is not how Louis van Gall wants his central striker to play. It's probably the reason Ander Herrera doesn't play in midfield all the time because he always crosses over. He wants people to stay in their positions in quite a rigid format."

Neville, who was speaking after United's 2-1 defeat against Swansea, called on Rooney and United to take more risks.

He added: "Rooney is not a safe player. He's not good when he's safe. He should be on the half-turn, turning at people.

"Every time he gets the ball into him, he has to go back. Whether it's a lack of confidence or whether it's because there are no runners in behind him it's safe.

"It's the same with [Juan] Mata. He's not a safe player either but they've got to stop playing safe.

"The biggest word watching Manchester United over the last 20 years is risk. You have to risk to win football matches."

Jamie Carragher thinks Rooney is sacrificing himself for the good of the team, but says United won't see the best of the 29-year-old until they add pace to their squad.

Carragher said: "He's sacrificing himself for the team in terms of staying in that position. They don't play forward quick enough. There's too much sideways passing and going back.

"With the lack of pace in the United team, if you're going to have Rooney, who hasn't got great pace, at centre forward you've got to have people running in behind him," he added.

"If Rooney playing in that centre forward role has got no runners, there's no point in him being there because you are not going to get anything out of him. They are not using him enough."

Credit: Skysports.com