Angel Di Maria’s form a worry for Man United

Manchester United 2 Sunderland 0

While former United defender Brown was clearly dismissed in error by Roger East, despite the referees’ union making a ham-fisted, revisionist attempt to explain why he and not John O’Shea had been red-carded prior to Rooney’s second-half penalty, it was the dire performance of Angel di Maria that dominated post-match analysis as far as the home team was concerned.

The Argentine looked anything but an €82m record signing when Louis van Gaal mercifully cut short his afternoon at half-time, after a display not expected of a player for whom United abandoned their previously cautious transfer policy last summer.

“Of course he has, today was one of those days that every footballer has,” said Rooney when asked if di Maria has the talent to recover from this nadir. “He is a great player, he has shown that and you don’t lose your talent overnight. Hopefully he will get back to his best and start giving some great performances for us.

“He has got a lot of experience and I think he will figure it out, we all have to do that sometimes. There is nothing worse than when everyone keeps going on to you. You have to come to it in your own way and I am sure he will be a big player for us between now and the end of the season.

The contrast in confidence currently between di Maria, whose adjustment to English football has not been assisted by off-field problems that include a burglary at his family home, and Rooney could not be more stark.

Just 24 hours after his manager bemoaned United’s lack of a “guaranteed” 20-goal-a-season forward on their books, Rooney was on the scoresheet twice, taking his season tally to 11 despite having spent the bulk of it playing far deeper than normal in van Gaal’s constant tactical reshuffles.

Pushed far further upfield than in recent weeks, Rooney was on hand to covert the penalty awarded after John O’Shea — not Brown — had fouled Radamel Falcao and then headed in a late rebound after Costel Pantilimon blocked an Adnan Januzaj shot. “Everyone knows I’ve played midfield for the majority of the season but my record shows I score goals so I’m not worried about that at all,” said Rooney. “I was obviously pleased the manager played me up front and delighted to get the two goals but the victory was the main thing today, because after last week it was important that we bounced back.

“That’s down to the manager. I’ve said before that it’s his decision where he sees me playing and I respect his decision wherever he wants to play me. I’ve played there throughout my career so obviously I know how to play up front. So I’m ready to play there if and when he wants me to do it.

“But I haven’t really set myself any targets. I rarely tend to do that. I take each game as it comes, I’m happy to score two today and hopefully I can kick on from here.”

Upon closer analysis, van Gaal’s complaint about his lack of natural goalscorers at Old Trafford seems all the more absurd given Rooney has averaged well over 20 goals a season in his 11 years with the club, not that the Dutchman was prepared to concede he might have erred by playing Rooney so deep for so much of the season

“It depends, because today he played more at number 10 than in the striker’s position,” said van Gaal when asked if Rooney can be his 20-goal man. “It depends on where he plays and also on other aspects of the team. The team is much more important than an individual player.”

For the broader football public, the more relevant talking point from Old Trafford surrounded the officiating. Unfortunately, for East at least, the incident came on the day that FIFA ruled out the possibility of experimenting with video replay, for another year at least, even though the most cursory glance at a TV monitor would have allowed the officials to dismiss the right Sunderland defender.

“Wes is confused because the referee said he sent him off because he made contact with Falcao, but he didn’t,” said Sunderland manager Gus Poyet. “That’s the problem. He sent him off for something that didn’t happen. It was nothing to do with John.

“It’s tough, it’s tough. The problem we have lately in football, and I’m not just talking about us today, is after the game we’re talking about a bad decision, not a game. If he gives the penalty, which apparently was correct, then perhaps we would not be talking about anything apart from the game afterwards.

“I want to be fair with players. I sat and watched it on the computer on the way back to analyse everything. We have to wait as well for the report, although it needs to be as quick as possible with another game on Tuesday.”

MANCHESTER UNITED (4-2-3-1): De Gea 6; Valencia 6, Smalling 5, Evans 5, Rojo 6; Herrera 7, Blind 6; Young 7, Rooney 8 (Mata 85), Di Maria 5 (Januzaj 46, 7); Falcao 5 (Fellaini 67, 5). Subs (not used): Lindegaard, Carrick, McNair, Wilson.

SUNDERLAND (4-2-3-1): Pantilimon 7; Reveillere 6, O’Shea 5, Brown 5, van Aanholt 6; Cattermole 6, Gomez 7; Johnson 6 (Fletcher 81), Larsson 7, Wickham 5 (Graham 66, 5); Defoe 5 (Vergini 66, 5). Subs (not used): Bridcutt, Coates, Mannone, Watmore.

Referee: R East 4.