Wayne Rooney has recently asserted that there was a Manchester United manager in the past who he believes possessed greater tactical acumen than Sir Alex Ferguson.
Rooney, who amassed 559 appearances for United and scored 253 goals, notably played under the guidance of five different managers during his tenure at Old Trafford.
While he played under David Moyes, Ryan Giggs, Louis van Gaal, and Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson was his manager for the longest.
Following his arrival in 2004, Rooney departed the team under Mourinho’s leadership in 2017 to return to Everton, his boyhood club.
During an interview on ‘Stick to Football’, Rooney asserted that one of those Manchester United managers was, in fact, superior tactically to Ferguson.
Even though Louis van Gaal found it difficult to inspire players off the field, the former striker thought that his methods were really clever.
Rooney remembered that under van Gaal’s guidance, he was instructed to adopt a slightly different role than he had under Ferguson, one that necessitated the United striker to become significantly more engaged in the overall play.
Speaking on the podcast, Rooney said: “If I was more selfish I potentially could have scored a lot more goals. But I just wanted to play.
“The amount of times I had midfielders telling me to go away, Sir Alex would say to me you need to stay up front.
“I remember Louis van Gaal when he came in, I thought tactically he was the best I worked with, it was the stuff off the pitch that was difficult for players and how he worked.
“But I remember him coming in and saying he wants his centre forward to have 15 or 20 touches a game.”
Not many people would agree with Rooney on this because of what Sir Alex Ferguson achieved during his tenure at Old Trafford. He built career of young players and made them into some of the best players the game has seen, he consistently inspired the team with his style and tactics to achieve more success.
