Jose Mourinho has to call time of death on Wayne Rooney's United career

After the Arsenal game, however, even one of the most loyal Rooney fans I have met refused to utter even a few words in his defence. How could he? Against the Gunners, Rooney's performance was shambolic, his game awareness non-existent, his decision making - let's call it questionable. He looked a pale shadow of the player who had ripped through a better version of the same team as a teenager. He had come up against an Arsenal defence that the current crop would shudder to stand alongside and the then Everton lad had come out on top. 

But it isn't just the Arsenal game that is a concern and let's get something straight right now - this is not a witch hunt in the aftermath of the Arsenal defeat. Rooney's performances for a few seasons now have been abject, to say the least and as Mourinho tries to navigate United into a new era, his captain is just deadweight that cannot be carried any longer. His numbers this season have truly reflected his performances. In 22 league appearances, the Englishman has scored just four goals and provided five assists. Even if the Watford game is excluded, where he had just six forward passes and no tackles, he has not really been a reliable player this season. One doesn't have to go back to the to glory days of Sir Alex Ferguson to realize what Rooney had to offer as he finished with 17 goals and 10 assists to his name during David Moyes' short stay at the Theatre of Dreams. 

Following the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid and Carlos Tevez to Manchester City in 2009, United were thrown into turmoil on the 19th of October 2010 when Sir Alex announced that the then 24-year-old Rooney had refused to sign a contract with just over 18 months left on his previous one. Knowing fully well that it would be difficult to rebuild the team from scratch again, as he had done in 2004, Sir Alex bowed down to Rooney's demands and made him the then highest paid player in England. Rooney repaid his manager with 34 goals in 43 matches a season later and all seemed well and good before Fergie benched him for the Real Madrid game in 2013 that led to another alleged transfer request. However, the incoming Moyes again needed to retain him as Manchester United got used to life without Fergie.

But it is not entirely his fault that he is not able to perform well on the pitch. Anyone who has followed Rooney's career from his early days at United will tell you that he needs a few steady games under his belt to get out of first gear and has always been a player who has scored goals in patches. While that is most certainly the case here, he is unlikely to get a run of 5-10 games under Mourinho's "ruthless" stewardship if he doesn't up his game drastically. The Portuguese manager has already taken the first and the most difficult step of removing Rooney from the starting XI, it is now his responsibility to ease him out of the club.