Louis Saha is defending Wayne Rooney on recent criticism of his inability to score goals for Manchester United saying he should be looked at more than the goals he scores. He says that Rooney creates a lot of opportunities that make the defense work hard on him.

I have no doubt that Wayne Rooney runs and positions himself enough to scare the opposition but in the end, he will always be judged on the number of goals he has scored. Goals are where the money is and not on the psychological effect on the opposing team. Wayne Rooney who is said to become the best Manchester United player ever (article here) has not yet recovered to his usual goal-scoring performance from the injury he suffered a few weeks before the start of the World Cup.

Saha has this to say: I look at Wayne in the same way as I look at Thierry Henry.
If he is not scoring or providing two or three assists in a game, everyone thinks he is playing badly.

But I know from experience, that just the way he moves provides a threat for the opposition teams.

He creates massive problems for every defender who plays against him and we all know the quality he has and the impact he can have on a game when he is on form.

What Wayne Rooney provides today is an added value that is attached to being a superstar, but as I said, his real value is the number of goals he scores.

Unless he scores a ton, intimidation is not seen on paper and he better get back in form and contributes to the team before someone outshines and outmuscles their way on him.