Reds star is not all about goals — Jones

PHIL Jones doesn’t believe Wayne Rooney has to score in order to make a positive contribution to the Manchester United cause.

Rooney bagged his first Premier League goals since September as United romped to a 4–1 victory over Wolves in front of their biggest crowd of the season at Old Trafford.

It was a positive end to an eventful week for the 26–year–old, who managed to get his Euro 2012 suspension reduced to two matches from three, clearing him to face co–hosts Ukraine in the final Group ‘D’ game in Donetsk on June 19.

But less than 24 hours before, Rooney missed the Red Devils’ best chance as they crashed out of the Champions League to Basle.

It would be easy to make a connection between Rooney’s disciplinary problems being dealt with and the freedom of his overall performance against Wolves.

But Jones feels goals should not be the only factor by why Rooney’s contribution is judged.

“Wayne was brilliant,” he said. “But he still has an influence on the team even when he is not scoring. The things he does off the ball are terrific as well. People sometimes don’t take that into consideration. They look at his goal tally and think he is not doing well but he has been terrific for us.”

Nevertheless, after scoring nine times in his first six league games of the season, Sir Alex Ferguson is hoping Rooney “goes on a spurt” over the congested Christmas programme as United approach the New Year’s Day deadline their manager uses as the marker for how they will be challenging for the Premier League title in May.

After the disastrous European experience in midweek, Ferguson will be pleasantly surprised at the ease with which his side brought some stability back to the season.

It gave him the opportunity of returning to the defence of his young players, heavily criticised by Roy Keane, among others, in his assessment of the defeat in Switzerland.