"We had to get that goal that mattered," was manager Sir Alex Ferguson's reasoning on Friday for the decision to substitute the England striker in Wednesday's 2-2 draw at West Ham United.
"As far as taking him off the other night, it was simple: he wasn't playing as well as Shinji Kagawa was. In so many games Wayne Rooney is better than most players. But on the night Shinji was playing so well."
The worrying thing for 27-year-old Rooney is that this in not just a one-off as it followed Ferguson's decision last month to drop him for arguably their biggest game of the season - the Champions League last 16 second leg against Real Madrid.
The stats tell one story, with Rooney netting 12 league goals to new Old Trafford darling Robin van Persie's 21, but that could be explained away by Rooney's deeper-lying position as more of an attacking midfielder than a centre forward.
He grabbed the winner in February's 1-0 victory at Fulham and two goals in January's 2-1 victory over Southampton but has been outshone by Van Persie even when the Dutchman was enduring his own dip in form.
"I don't think there is anything in it at all," he said.
"It's difficult to say," he replied when asked if the deeper position would be the best for him.
Once described by Ferguson as a "genius", the superlatives have been lacking for Rooney lately with some of his other team mates the more likely recipients.
"He's doing very well for us now," Ferguson said. "He has fantastic composure on the ball and his decision-making is good. He has a good selection of passes; he seems to always pick the more sensible pass.
"And he made a terrific first goal [a
