With another two-goal effort following his midweek brace against Milan, Wayne Rooney is simply lighting up the English game, and as a result, Manchester United have never looked more dangerous than right now.  Will anyone be able to stop, nay, contain this all-around phenom and derail United’s quest for more glory?

Enough to make any defender sick, Rooney’s double over Fulham sent United top.

If you follow the English game, you how the British press are all atwitter over Manchester United’s number 10. And why not? Soccer has never been a statistics game, but the 32 goals Rooney has put up this year are nonetheless jaw-dropping. He has 24 in his last 22 matches, and at the rate he is going and the electric form he is in, he could surpass Cristiano Ronaldo’s record-breaking 2007-08 haul of 42 goals (bear in mind, also, that Rooney rarely takes free-kicks and is not United’s main penalty-taker). One should not compare the two seasons, for Ronaldo’s is that much more impressive because he was scoring goal after goal from predominantly an outside midfield role, although he was allowed the freedom to pop up anywhere on the pitch. Acknowledging that is not to undervalue Rooney’s current campaign, not at all. Ronaldo had Rooney in his starting XI, whereas the latter is without another elite attacker in his side. Rooney is literally carrying United on his shoulders to the remarkable position they are in.

This was to be the season that saw Manchester United come back down to earth after securing the previous three EPL titles. Selling Ronaldo was supposed to sting and take the wind out of their sails. Without their talisman, United looked a good squad, but not overly intimidating simply because analyzing their starting eleven revealed no true matchwinner. As the league and its followers watched the young Portuguese winger become the world’s greatest star, Rooney almost became a forgotten man. Those awe-inspiring performances from early in his career had faded to memories past. United had become Ronaldo’s team, and without him most pundits across the globe felt Alex Ferguson’s side would slip to third behind the new Chelsea of Carlo Ancelotti and the deadly duo of Torres-Gerrard at Anfield. Not so. With Rooney’s brace against Fulham, United find themselves back on top of the league, albeit with Chelsea having played one fewer match.

Rooney’s most remarkable achievement this season has been his marked improvement in the heading department. Before this season, this was the one goal he couldn’t really score. He knew it, so he practiced the hell out of it last summer. The results have been unbelievable. At one stretch over the past month Rooney scored eight consecutive goals with his head, a feat that no one could have foreseen. It is a scary notion indeed that whatever this kid puts his mind to he can do. Rooney an elite header of the ball? You bet. There is now no goal he cannot score. He can poach a goal in the six-yard box, rise high for the header, sit on a center-half’s shoulder and time his run to perfection to go one-on-one with the keeper. He can fire in a thunderous volley from 30 yards, he can drop deep then run onto defenders to create his own goal, or he can make a perfect run from deep to latch on to a cutback pass to slot home. You name it, he can score it.  There are few strikers, if any, who can claim as much. Perhaps Didier Drogba is the only other.

The sickest thing about Rooney is his unparalleled football IQ. His tactical awareness and positional sense are sublime and any fan or manager’s dream. It is not difficult to envision him excelling (or at the very least being above-average) at any position on the field. How many times have we witnessed him track back 50+ yards from a center-forward position because he senses danger. When he played a wider role in the last couple of years, he would always track back to defend. Like Gerrard, Rooney could play in a central midfield role and be brilliant, he could play out wide and give fullbacks fits, play second striker and pull the strings of attack, or hold the midfield together with his positional acumen. It cannot be overstated: he has arguably the greatest football brain in the game, is never out of position and rarely, if ever, giving away possession. On top of that, his vision and field awareness are off the charts.  He spreads play when need be, or slots through a precision pass to slice up a defense. Not to beat a dead horse, but there is nothing he cannot do (except perhaps put on the gloves and play keeper, but then again, who knows?).

All of this could make a non-United supporter pretty sick. Still battling on two fronts, Manchester United could very well win their fourth consecutive English title, and nick a second European Cup in three years entirely due to Rooney. Don’t think so? Who is going to stop him? Mark your calendar for April 3 when Chelsea travel to Old Trafford to quite possibly decide the league. John Terry’s form does not exactly inspire Chelsea fans that his defense will be the one to halt the wunderkind that is Wayne Rooney.