Rooney's best yet to come, says Ferguson
Sunday, 4 February 2007 10:05Manchester United mananger Alex Ferguson insisted that Wayne Rooney can only get better as his team target the Premiership and Champions League titles.
The United manager believes that the 21-year-old striker benefited from being left on the bench against Portsmouth recently before coming on as a substitute with devastating effect.
He replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Fratton Park and made sure of the three points with two goals in the final 13 minutes.
Rooney then hit final goal in Wednesday's demolition of Watford.
'I think he has taken encouragement from getting a rest,' said Ferguson.
'We left him out for the Pompey game and I think that was worth doing from his perspective because it gave him the opportunity to realise how important it is for us.
'Even just an hour's rest seemed to galvanise him. He came on as a fresh player almost, and I think that was important for us. These odd goals he is scoring give me great encouragement that he is coming into his best form now.'
Such is Rooney's superb goalscoring record there was talk of a mini-crisis earlier this season when he went eight games without scoring before responding to his drought by netting a hat-trick at Bolton.
'If he can get to that one goal per game thing then the odd goals and deciding goals make all the difference to our season,' added Ferguson.
'We haven't had that off him but if it comes it definitely gives us a massive chance.
'He is not a goalscorer who is going to stay in the penalty box. He wants to link the play and be in the box at the same time and because he is 21 he has not got the knowledge to do both things.
'The part we want to see the development in is where he starts getting these odd goals. It will make a hell of a difference to him as a goalscorer because he is a finisher, there is no doubt about that.'
