LVG must drop Rooney and play Martial up front

Wayne Rooney's stats in Sunday's derby were, quite simply, absolutely woeful and I am among the legion of United fans now calling for decisive action from LVG. 

No shots, no key passes, no crosses and a miserable 55% pass accuracy. 

His body language was poor, he seemed to be lacking in confidence and the match bypassed him too easily.
In a match of the magnitude of Sunday, your captain should be leading from the front and roaring and cajoling at his team mates to make that vital difference in a game of such fine margins. 

There was none of that- indeed the only thing that Rooney did all day was get his head stapled after injury. 

He simply did not make any impression at all and, captain or not, Louis van Gaal needs to be brave and give the skipper a few games away from the spotlight.

United host Middlesbrough in the League Cup on Wednesday and that game is the perfect opportunity for LVG to do just that (for the record, either 'Mike' Smalling or Bastian Schweinsteiger should be given the armband as both have shown superior leadership to that of Rooney). 

Rooney has lost his fire and- as harsh it may seem- he should be stripped of the captaincy to make him work harder, find his form and get that fire back. 

LVG dropped Di Maria for underperforming and Falcao and RVP too, so is it merely the fact that Rooney is captain that is making him seemingly undroppable. 

Even just recently, both Memphis and Daley Blind were taken out of the firing line in the wake of Netherlands Euro 2016 elimination. 

A similar ruthless stance needs to be taken with Wazza. No precedent should be set. 

Rooney's tally of six goals in 14 games may not look so bad, but it's distorted by the fact that three of these came against the understrength runners up in the Belgian league and another against a Championship side.

Two league goals from nine games (and one of those was against a side who were at the bottom of the table at the time) from your main striker is just not good enough.

Van Gaal has tried playing him in the number 10 role, he has tried playing him as a lone striker but nothing seems to coming off for Rooney.

I don't like criticising players but it's got to the point where I think Rooney's position and status in the side is untenable at present.

He is awful at the moment and the only solution is for Van Gaal to drop him and play Anthony Martial up top.