PAUL SCHOLES BELIEVES Wayne Rooney is too “nice” to the opposition and needs to regain his aggressive edge.
The Manchester United captain has enjoyed a good start to the 2014-15 season, scoring three goals and providing two assists for Louis van Gaal’s side, but will miss the upcoming matches against Everton, West Brom and Chelsea due to suspension.
Rooney was sent off in the 2-1 win over West Ham for kicking out at Stewart Downing but Scholes believes the striker is “better when he’s on the edge,” and has called on him to return to the way he approached games when he made his first-team breakthrough in 2002.
“I don’t think Wayne Rooney’s tackle on Stewart Downing was the kind that hurts an opposing player,” Scholes wrote in the London Evening Standard.
“From what I could see of it, Wayne tried to trip him and ended up catching him higher up the leg than he had intended. It was the position on the pitch that puzzled me. It was not as if Downing was in on goal.
“In recent years I think he’s been too nice to opponents. You see him helping players up after challenges. He’s better when he’s nastier. That was the way he was when he came on to the scene 12 years ago. He was the player who was aggressive and did not try to hide the fact that he hated losing.
“As for myself, I did not spend too much time giving opponents a hand up after I had fouled them — well, only if I thought it might change the referee’s mind about a card.”
Scholes also believes there are too many niceties in modern football, and has bemoaned the apparent friendships of rival players in the Premier League.
“On a separate note, I do find it bizarre how much shaking of hands and embracing goes on before games now,” he added. “You should shake hands after a game, not before. Players, and fans, feed off the big rivalries, like Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira.
“I see some players greeting opponents before the game like long-lost friends. I got the impression when I played that a lot of it was for show and they didn’t really know one another. These days, people seem too keen to be nice to the opposition.”
