Wayne Rooney’s 78th minute winner for Manchester United against Liverpool was important on a number of levels. As well as helping United to a huge victory over their bitter rivals, the England striker’s goal was his fourth in four games and it was the first time he has achieved the feat since 2012.
After a tough couple of years, Rooney finally looks to be rediscovering his best form in front of goal, and the former Everton man clearly enjoyed scoring at Anfield to help United move within seven points of the top of the table.
The most notable result of Rooney’s goal was that it moves him ahead of Thierry Henry’s record of most Premier League goals scored with a single club. The Arsenal legend notched up 175 league goals during his time in north London and that was a record which stood until Rooney scored his 176th goal for United since moving to the club from Everton as a teenager.
While Henry managed to score his goals in 100 games less than the United skipper, Rooney’s goals have helped his club win more trophies than the Frenchman. With five Premier League winner medals from his 12 years at Old Trafford, the Englishman’s record significantly outweighs that of Henry, who won just two league titles between 1999 and 2007.
“Wayne Rooney” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by nasmac
The winning goal against Liverpool took Rooney to 242 goals in all competitions for United, edging him closer to Sir Bobby Charlton’s club record of 249 goals. But after such a disappointing run of form for the club over the past couple of years, scoring his fourth goal in four games has gone some way to quietening those critics who have been hounding the England striker this season.
While there have been a string of United players who have failed to stand up and be counted this season, it’s been Rooney who has come in for the worst of it until recent weeks. Despite the club being priced as short as 5/6 with the Premier League betting to finish in the top four at the time of writing, Louis van Gaal’s men have stumbled their way through much of the first half of the season, and now find themselves in with a great chance of achieving their target.
With the game poised at 0-0 with just over 10 minutes to go, United had spent the majority of the match with their backs against the wall, thankful to goalkeeper David de Gea for keeping the game goalless in the face of countless Liverpool attacks as they secured a 1-0 win. But with 12 minutes left on the clock, Rooney latched onto a rebounding Marouane Fellaini header and smashed the ball home to give United the lead, with what was the visitors’ only effort on target in the game.
For Rooney, the question is now whether he can build on this recent run of goalscoring form and fire United towards a top-four place. The 1-0 win over Liverpool might not have been vintage Manchester United, or even decent Manchester United, but it did show that Van Gaal’s men can grind out crucial wins when they aren’t playing anywhere near their best – as well as reminding us as to just why Rooney is so valuable to both club and country.
