Wayne Rooney's poor form is a consequence of Louis van Gaal's playing system, says "Sky Sports" show "Soccer Saturday" expert Charlie Nicholas.
W. Rooney has not scored a goal in 10 matches, despite being moved back to the attacking position after experiments in the "false nine" and central midfielder roles.
However, despite the poor performances of the "Manchester United" captain in the Premier League, C. Nicholas believes that W. Rooney is a victim of L. van Gaal's playing system.
"The problem lies in van Gaal's system," C. Nicholas said before the Champions League match against "Club Brugge."
"I remember many years ago, when Arsenal played against Barcelona at Wembley stadium, and the Barcelona coach was L. van Gaal. He deployed Rivaldo on the left, (Patrick) Kluivert in the center, and Figo on the right end. He likes to expand the game. He plays like that because he wants more space in the middle, but in such a scheme, the center forward is often quite isolated.
"Until L. van Gaal finds out who are his main central midfielders - whether it be (Ander) Herrera, or (Juan) Mata, or someone else, the situation will not suit Wayne," C. Nicholas added.
"It's the system's fault, not the player's."
"If the team doesn't quickly support him, but only passes the ball forward once in a while, W. Rooney drops out of the game," he concluded.
"He tries as much as he can, but the system doesn't suit him."
