Manchester United's captivating 2-2 draw at St James' Park was a match of roaring competitiveness. There was, however, a muted figure in the middle of the storm and his subdued performance was one key to the visitors' mysterious failure to win. The Sherlock Holmes story Silver Blaze popped into the mind. "The dog did nothing in the night-time," says the usual dullard of a Scotland Yard man. "That was the curious incident," replies the great detective witheringly.
Wayne Rooney may not have been as quiet as all that, but it is a credit to the leaders that they have been performing with such zest while the attacker has merely been pottering along. An extraordinary creative talent does not relieve him of a duty to score regularly, but it is one he has been unable to discharge this season. Each of Rooney's eight goals for United in the campaign has come in the Premiership but the bare statistic overstates his influence.
A pair on the opening afternoon of the programme merely converted a routine win over Fulham into a 5-1 rout. His hat-trick at Bolton inflicted a 4-0 drubbing of Sam Allardyce's team. Though he hit the opener in the 3-1 win over Manchester City last month, there has been just one occasion when his scoring contribution has demonstrably been indispensable. In November, his side were a goal down at Sheffield United and Arsenal, defeated there at the weekend, will confirm how trying a situation that can be. Rooney took two touches to equalise and was more economical still in volleying the winner.
The losers had to pay tribute to skill of that magnitude. "Rooney is the king," said Neil Warnock afterwards. Goals are far from being the only yardstick for the forward, but it is starting to be more of a concern than a novelty that he has not hit the net in a competitive fixture for England since Euro 2004. Steve McClaren's job security would have been utterly beyond dispute if Rooney had struck here and there in the European Championship qualifiers.
A prolific United might appear much less dependent on him, and on many occasions they are. There have been periods, though, when the team badly needed inspiration in either marksmanship or creativity, and Rooney could not muster it. Their prospects of securing a better draw in the Champions League last 16 were in question when 1-0 losses at Copenhagen and Celtic put them in danger of not topping their group.
United's two defeats to date in the Premiership have come by that identical margin. After they succumbed to West Ham, a former Premiership manager mused that Rooney might get called into Sir Alex Ferguson's office for a one-to-one rebuke. This sounded harsh since the player had not floundered conspicuously at Upton Park. None the less, the vigorous counter-argument insists there is major underachievement whenever someone of Rooney's gifts allows himself to be mundane.
Responsibility always comes in proportion to ability and, on that principle, the 21-year-old has a burden to shoulder. There are certain technical issues to be resolved within the United line-up. Rooney, Louis Saha and Paul Scholes all love to take up a position just outside the area and there have been matches in which the side would have benefited from having someone who yearns to be nearer the goal-posts. If picked, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer or Henrik Larsson should haunt the six-yard box more consistently.
Rooney never seemed to have a great rapport with Michael Owen, but the predator may have been pulling opponents away from the then-teenager who threatened to win Euro 2004 single-handed. All the same, technicalities and tactics do not explain why Rooney skewed a chance wide at a critical moment against Newcastle. A great prospect only becomes a great footballer if he can deal with adulthood. Rooney waved team-mates out of the way because he knew it was his destiny to convert a free-kick for a hat-trick on his United debut, but that brash and mesmerising intuitiveness gets eroded with time.
Although there are constant signs of potential greatness, Rooney has spells of looking laboured and burdened. Ferguson remains fortunate to have a person who should prove to be the finest English player of his generation, but a mature consistency is essential to the club's prospects. Even if no great harm was done at St James' Park on Monday, Rooney will have to show he can be a mercurial match-winner if United are to regain the Premiership title.
