I agree with Donal. If Rooney were, say, Young or Carrick or whatever and on their wages, nobody would have been losing their trout over him this season. But he's a striker and on huge wages, so people are happy to nametag him as a scapegoat for any problems we have.

Also, to nitpick, Schweinsteiger has not been better than Rooney this season. Arguably worse. He gets more touches because he's in midfield, but he doesn't impact the games. Worth noting that I love Schweinsteiger, I used to watch him play for Germany/Munich and always wished he'd join us. I have mixed feelings when he's picked as a starter because I've yet to see him do anything of note and on occasion he just doesn't play well. I'm still optimistic he'll get right though.

Likewise, I really hoped Wilson would prove himself worthy of a return to the first team but he sucked against Middlesborough. It wasn't until Rooney started dropping into midfield that we started playing really well.

Despite all that, Rooney wouldn't make my team on form at the moment. But I've always been of the camp of "Form is temporary, class is permanent" and hope that Rooney will come right. There will be a point where his form becomes too bad to play him but I don't think we're at that point just yet.

Personally, on form my first choice team would probably be...

- - - - - - - - - - Martial - - - - - - - - - -
- - - Young - - - Herrera - - - Mata - - -
- - - - Schneiderlin - - - Carrick - - - - -
Shaw () - Blind - Smalling - Darmian
- - - - - - - - - - De Gea - - - - - - - - - -

Valencia, Rooney and Depay as planned subs. Fellaini, Romero, Schweinsteiger and Jones for the other subs available for tactics/injuries.

Blind vs. Jones was the toughest call. And for Shaw, Rojo would naturally take his spot since he's injured.

I would really love to see this team play for science.

- - - - - - - Martial - - Rooney - - - - - - -
Young - - Herrera - Schneiderlin - - Mata
Shaw () - Blind - Smalling - Darmian
- - - - - - - - - - De Gea - - - - - - - - - -

Some might see playing with two up front as rather old-school, but with how many defenders swarm Rooney when he gets the ball, I would be interested in seeing a defence mark both Rooney and Martial simultaneously.