da supremo： Wayne Rooney’s return to the Everton starting XI for David Unsworth’s final game in charge was inarguably the caretaker manager’s greatest masterstroke of his entire time in charge.
da dobrowin： Since his return to his boyhood club, however, Rooney has almost been rejuvenated. Almost: because maybe if Everton had signed a striker and started the season well, he’d have hit form with the rest of the team. Instead, none of the Toffees side have played as well as they can.
But against West Ham on Wednesday night, something changed. Perhaps it was the fact that a new manager had been appointed that did the trick. Thus, the holding-on period in between coaches was ended, allowing the Everton players the freedom to actually play football rather than keep their fingers firmly placed in the leaking dam as they’d been doing since Ronald Koeman’s departure. And Rooney took full advantage.
His three goals from four shots naturally stands out about his performance, and a spectacular goal from his own half will be replayed time and again for years. And yet, the goals were really only the icing on the cake of a performance which should be seen as a rollback to younger Rooney – something we thought he’d lost years ago.
His 78 touches of the ball saw him head and shoulders above any other Toffees player in that department as he got on the ball where he could and looked to run the game, even though he was subbed off with five minutes plus stoppage time to go. It was reminiscent of the Rooney of old, who went looking for the ball in order to make things happen himself.
Indeed, it was this all-round play which could be so important to Everton under Sam Allardyce for the rest of the season, helping his defence out with four clearances as well as his contribution up front.
And yet, Rooney didn’t play any key passes throughout the game. That shouldn’t be seen as a blot on his copy-book, though. Unlike some of the criticisms of the former Manchester United man when he was young, Rooney knew his role in the team wasn’t to try to do everything himself, and left the creative play to the likes of Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Davies.
It was a mature performance from Rooney which would deserve praise even if he hadn’t scored three goals including one from his own half. It was the Rooney of old who showed up against West Ham, not the old Rooney we’ve seen over the last couple of years: a throwback of a performance in front of David Moyes at Goodison Park.
And the former West Ham boss Sam Allardyce could well be rubbing his hands at the prospect of being able to call on a true great of the English game in a potential sparkling twilight of a rejuvenated career.