I scored 34 goals in a season as Manchester United's No.9 - but I didn't enjoy it

Wayne Rooney recounted his experiences leading the line for Sir Alex Ferguson's Man United in the late noughties.

Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney during their time at United.

Often in football, the statistics don't tell the full story.

A quick glance at the career stats of Wayne Rooney will tell you his most prolific seasons at Manchester United came in 2009/10 and 2011/12, when he hit 34 goals in all competitions in both. United missed out on the Premier League title by a single point to Chelsea in 2010, yet Rooney walked away with the Players' Player and Fans' Player of the Year prizes at the PFA awards, as well as two more gongs at United's own end-of-season ceremony.

By 2010, Rooney had become the spearhead of Sir Alex Ferguson's side, filling the boots of Cristiano Ronaldo who had been sold to Real Madrid a year earlier. With Carlos Tevez also gone in a controversial move to Manchester City in 2009, one of the great United attacking triumvirates had been disbanded. Rooney was left to carry the can, usually playing in a central striking role supported by the likes of Antonio Valencia, Nani and a resurgent Ryan Giggs. Rooney scored goals galore.

It wasn't a surprise that he flourished under the weight of responsibility. For a player so talented, so tenacious and usually so selfless - pressure was never a burden. But years later he revealed his dislike for the No.9 position despite how many goals it yielded.

Asked about the post-Ronaldo period in an interview with BT Sport, Rooney reflected: "Them two seasons (2008/09 and 2009/10) were the two seasons I played as a No.9 on my own. I played there in and out in different games but I played for the whole season in them two years. I actually didn't enjoy the games as much. I've always been a player that wants to get involved in the game.

"It took me seven or eight years to learn how to play there and to learn to play with your back to goal. It's the hardest position to play. You've got big centre-backs coming through the back of you and you're on your own.

"I wasn't enjoying it, but it was my best two years of scoring. I remember coming off the pitch and scoring two goals and saying, 'I was awful. I didn't play that well today. I didn't have that many touches of the ball.'"

Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo in action for Manchester United in 2008

It says so much about Rooney's work ethic that he actually preferred being sacrificed out wide in the period between 2007 and 2009, to being made the main man up top after Ronaldo left. In a more recent interview with Gary Neville's Stick to Football podcast, Rooney – who is United's all-time record goalscorer – admitted he relished the challenge of being given more defensive duties.

He said: "Obviously, if I played out wide, I would do my job, I would get back and help out defensively where Cristiano probably wouldn’t do it, and then he’s a threat [going forward], he pins back their full-back."

For Rooney, his best position was always central but in the pocket behind the striker where he could combine his immense ability with that tigerish attitude. Some would argue his best days at United came in that No.10 role – early in his career when he actually wore the No.8 – and then later when he dropped deep behind Robin van Persie.

Rooney added: "I wanted to play in my [best] position, but that’s where the manager probably got it right in terms of the team winning and being successful, we probably needed that. I wouldn’t say I was a natural goalscorer, I just wanted to get on the ball. If I was more selfish, I potentially could have scored a lot more goals, but I just wanted to play. The number of times I had midfielders telling me to go away or, 'I’ll play it through to you, you need to stay up front'."

The story goes that Rooney went to Ferguson in the summer of 2011 and requested to play as a No.10 the following season. He'd previously asked to leave the club in 2010, irked by the lack of big signings in the wake of the Ronaldo and Tevez exits, wanting other forwards to join him in a star-studded attack rather than remain the main source of goals.

Yet many would disagree with Rooney's assertion that he wasn't a great goalscorer. His tally of 253 goals for United will take some beating and it's the standalone memories as much as the numbers that tell the tale of a fine striker in his own right.

The two headed goals in an enthralling 3-2 win at AC Milan in the Champions League in 2010. The talismanic displays against Bayern Munich at home and away in the same season. That bicycle kick in the Manchester derby in February 2011.

But Rooney's mantra means he will never look back on his centre-forward days with too much fondness. It's just not his style. "I wasn’t really interested in individual awards, I always wanted to win with the team, that was always my goal."