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Jose Mourinho was unequivocal when asked what he wanted from Wayne Rooney ahead of Manchester United's EFL Cup tie at Northampton.

“Goals,” said Mourinho, with that familiar dead-pan delivery and death stare designed to underline the weight of his words. “Goals. I hope he scores goals.”

To say Rooney failed to fulfil his manager's remit is an understatement. Rooney was so wretched, so out of sorts, so shot of confidence, that Mourinho now surely has to make the biggest call of his United tenure thus far and drop his skipper for the visit of champions Leicester to Old Trafford on Saturday.

There can be no other decision if Mourinho , who has endured a frustrating and unconvincing start to his time at United, is to retain credibility in the eyes of his club's fans and the wider football public.

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(Image: Laurence Griffiths) (Image: Reuters)

Sir Alex Ferguson was not afraid to drop Rooney, while David Moyes and Louis van Gaal were too in thrall to the England captain to spot the obvious signs of decline and bench him when necessary.

Mourinho must show he possesses the same ruthless streak as Ferguson when it comes to selecting players, choosing them on form alone, rather than perceived status, influence or reputation.

The facts do not look good for Rooney and do nothing to endorse his case to be an automatic starter under Mourinho.

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He has two goals in his last 18 games for United and, even though that poor return can in part be attributed to him being deployed as a deeper-lying midfielder by Van Gaal last season, when he was restored by Mourinho to his favoured role as a striker on Wednesday, he was found wanting.

Rooney's current travails are made even more glaring by the youthful zest, speed and fearlessness of his fellow United striker Marcus Rashford , who did more in his second-half cameo, scoring and setting up another, than his lumbering captain did in his all too painful to watch 90-minute ordeal.

(Image: Reuters) (Image: AMA/Getty)

Of course, Rooney is not the same explosive, belligerent forward who came to the world's attention with his goal for Everton against Arsenal as a 16-year-old and his heroics for England at Euro 2004, bulldozing anyone and anything in his way in plundering goals, his exploits earning him a £27million move to United that summer.

It is unreasonable to expect him to be able to play with the same verve and intensity as he did a decade ago, with the onset of age, allied to his stocky, physical build, which makes it impossible for him to perform with the undiluted energy, industry and hunger he had in his pomp.

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He has 604 club games to his name and 116 caps for England, the kind of miles on the clock you would expect from a player of 34 or 35, not one who does not turn 31 for another month. So, in that sense, Rooney should be cut some slack.

But time waits for no man and it has become abundantly clear this season that Rooney is more of a hindrance than a help to United's cause, a player whose plodding approach is at odds with the devastating speed of fellow forwards Rashford and Anthony Martial or the intelligent movement of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

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He did provide the assist for Rashford to score United's late winner at Hull and also scored at Bournemouth, but those isolated high points have come against the backdrop of too much mediocrity from Rooney this term.

The time has come for Mourinho to take Rooney out of the firing line and in doing so send a clear message to the rest of his United squad that none of them are immune to the chop if they do not deliver.

Dropping Rooney could have wider implications and may provide the jolt United's players need to help them rediscover their focus and winning mentality as they try not to fall further behind local rivals Manchester City, whom they already trail by six points, in the title race.

In many ways, sacrificing Rooney could prove to be a masterstroke by Mourinho and the defining moment of United's season. That is if the Special One remains special and has the balls to make that big call.