Wayne Rooney is kept onside at Manchester United with starting role against Chelsea

To use an analogy England’s cricketers would recognise, David Moyes decided it was better to have Wayne Rooney inside the tent aiming his hose out than outside aiming it in.

Clever, that. You would almost think he had planned it. Afterwards Jose Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, told him it was make-your-mind-up time, almost inviting him to submit a transfer request.

The alternative to choosing Rooney , though, was worse: start a circus around his omission and invite a television camera to stay trained on his face all night. The sulk-ometer would have been busy.