Rooney back in the groove

AMONG the many banners on the Stretford End the small one that says ‘Not arrogant, just better’ is looking more and more like summing it all up as Manchester United further underlined their dominance of the title race with Wayne Rooney looking back on song last night.

Some may argue about the arrogant bit but with each passing week there is more evidence that they are indeed better, although their lead at the top remains at five points after Arsenal came from behind to beat Everton.

Rooney’s two goals put them ahead at half time, Darren Bent pulled one back before Nemanja Vidic curled in a powerful effort five minutes later to put United back in charge.

The England striker scored from open play at Old Trafford for the first time mid-March, the game before he suffered an ankle injury at Bayern Munich, and this performance took him right back to those free-flowing, free-scoring days.

It was as much about the way he was chasing down left backs and counter attacks as his goals but the two that he scored were also quite something.

His first was skill at full speed and his second was the kind of predatory strike, from a cross from the outstanding Nani, that he became renowned for last season.

“Goals always help strikers. He still has the appetite to play and that’s the important factor in it all, that he never stops trying the lad,” Ferguson said. “It’s an in-bred thing in the lad. He can’t be criticised when he gives that effort. He gets his rewards eventually.

“You get in the run in and you’ll find that if we win games and keep knocking them off, we’ll run out of games and that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve just got to keep winning.”

Just not losing might even be enough. Last night United equalled their longest-ever unbeaten run in the league, matching the 29 games they went without defeat in 1998/99 when they won the treble.

That they have largely done that with Rooney either not playing or struggling for goals should only add weight to their claims, particularly if the England striker is able to recreate this kind of form on a consistent basis.

There has been a flood of assists and improved displays in recent weeks but this was the Rooney of last season all over again.

With less than a minute gone, Edwin van der Sar spotted the Villa defence had pushed up and sent a clearance 70 yards downfield.

Once Richard Dunne was running back towards his own goal, there was only going to be one winner and Rooney arched his ankle to take one touch before putting his laces right through it to put the ball in the top corner.

An error from Dunne almost allowed United to score a second when the defender slipped and the ball fell for Nani. The Portuguese played into Rooney, whose attempted pass came back off Collins for Nani to hit a powerful shot that was pushed away by Friedel.

But Rooney succeeded in doubling the lead when Nani clipped a fine cross to the far post and the England striker stabbed in on the half volley.

It started to look a little worrying for them just before the hour when Downing got in behind the defence and crossed for Bent to tap in for his second goal in as many games for the visitors.

But five minutes later, Vidic restored United’s advantage by crashing into the top corner from a lay-off from Rooney.

Although Aston Villa’s manager Gerard Houllier insisted he preferred Bent, when asked if he thought Rooney was on a par with Fernando Torres, he did rave about the United man.

“He made a difference,” Houllier said. “They managed to win a lot of games and remain unbeaten without him. And with him… he has everything. On Sky you can press a button to follow a player and kids should do that with Rooney.”

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-2): Van der Sar 8; O’Shea 7, Ferdinand 6, Vidic 8, Evra 7; Nani 8, Fletcher 6 (Anderson 34, 7), Carrick 6, Giggs 7; Berbatov 7, Rooney 9.

ASTON VILLA (4-5-1): Friedel 7; Walker 6, Dunne 5, Collins 7, Clark 7; Young 7, Albrighton 7 (Heskey 70, 6), Makoun 6, Petrov 5 (Agbonlahor 75, 6), Downing 7 (Reo-Coker 80, 6), Bent 7.

Referee: Chris Foy