Rooney runs riot again

ALEX FERGUSON suggested on Tuesday that his side were coping admirably without Cristiano Ronaldo this season. If Wayne Rooney continues to play like he played here in this 5-0 victory, Ronaldo is likely to become little more than a footnote in the club’s recent history.

When he purchased Rooney from Everton five years ago, Ferguson can barely have dreamt he would transform into the talisman he has been this season and particularly in recent weeks.

The United manager called for others in his side to pick up the slack left by Ronaldo’s departure to Real Madrid and no player has responded more magnificently to that cause than 24-year-old Liverpudlian.

Against Hull City on Sunday he was immense and if anything he was even better against Wigan as he engineered a total rout against a side that looked painfully short of substance and style.

And do not be fooled into thinking that any classy player can shine against Hull and Wigan. Rooney would have demolished any side in the world with performances like the one he gave at Old Trafford last night.

United were strangely quiet in the opening 20 minutes but then finally and ominously sprang to life.

Firstly, Titus Bramble made a stunning penalty box tackle on Dimitar Berbatov which somehow stopped him from getting his shot away before teammate Paul Scharner followed that example 30 seconds later when he cleared a Nemanja Vidic effort of the line.

And if Wigan thought that was it, Wayne Rooney then hit the post from an impossibly tight angle just a minute later.

But luck will only get you so far and last so long, particularly when faced with a player of Rooney’s sheer and impeccable class and his incessant probing and vision was bound to pay off eventually.

And pay off it did in the 28th minute when he scored his 14th Premier League goal of the season to again underline that the burden of replacing Ronaldo sits comfortably on his shoulders.

He got the final touch onto a Rafael Da Silva cross to poke past Chris Kirkland at his nearpost which was a precursor to Michael Carrick grabbing a second four minutes later which made the result a formality.

Carrick cleverly slid the ball through a busy box into the corner and although the clock suggested there was 60 minutes remaining, no-one doubted the outcome.

Da Silva was given too much time and space in Wigan’s box in the countdown to half-time and slotted into the corner while Berbatov also did the same immediately after the re-start and it was becoming little short of embarrassing for the visitors.

Martinez replaced Kirkland with Mike Pollitt at half-time and he had the task of somehow trying to keep United at bay.

That never seemed remotely possible, even when Ferguson substituted Berbatov and the probing Evra with 20 minutes to go. That said it all; Wigan were a shadow of anything resembling a Premier League side.

That was cruelly underlined even further by United as Antonio Valencia grabbed a fifth for the home side as the end drew near.

He ran into space down the right wing before brilliantly clipping home what had been a stunning through ball. Who had delivered it? It had to be United’s engine, inspiration and heart. Rooney.

Old Trafford rang out to the sound of “There’s Only One Wayne Rooney” during this encounter.

How Ferguson and Fabio Capello must wish they can find 10 more.

MAN UTD (4-4-2): Kuszczak ; Rafael Da Silva, Brown, Vidic (Anderson 68), Evra (Fabio Da Silva 68); Valencia, Carrick, Fletcher, Park; Berbatov (Welbeck 68), Rooney

WIGAN (4-2-3-1): Kirkland (Pollitt 46); Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa; Thomas (Edman 71) Cho ; N’Zogbia (Sinclair,67) Scharner, Gomez; Rodallega

Referee: Lee Mason (Lancashire)