Marcus Rashford can help save Louis van Gaal - and end Wayne Rooney's Old Trafford reign

As of one week ago, Manchester United are winning games, scoring goals and entertaining the fans. The common denominator is not only that Marcus Rashford is in the team, but also that Wayne Rooney, critically, is not.

I wonder whether Louis van Gaal now has the courage to make a big (£300,000 per week) decision and continue to leave Rooney on the sidelines when he does return from injury. In his absence, United have looked a much better team. Van Gaal has been shown another way to do things - a better way.

On Sunday, Arsenal were threatened by Rashford; they were scared of his pace and his determination to run behind. The 18-year-old forced Arsenal back and that had an important effect: it gave Manchester United more space when they attacked.

It was no coincidence that Memphis Depay had his best Premier League game of the season. Juan Mata had the chance to run at people, we saw more from Jesse Lingard and the midfield also performed to a higher standard. Ander Herrera was one to enjoy himself. On the evidence of Sunday, using Rashford up front has a multiplying effect on the team; everyone improves because of the space he opens up.

That is not to say Rashford should now start every United game. The more important point is that having a player of that type in your team – quick, direct, dangerous – makes opponents cower and gives your team more space to operate. And Rooney is not that kind of player. Not anymore. It is telling that he doesn’t ever get caught offside because he is never in a position to do so.

When you’ve got a striker who can’t run in behind, teams squeeze up the pitch and shut you down; they’ve nothing to fear in defence. Rooney doesn’t make those kind of runs and he doesn’t play with the ball into feet either because he doesn’t hold it up.

Experience doesn’t come into it. Experience doesn’t matter when you have a young player who brings real threat to the attack. And don’t forget: no one was too experienced for Sir Alex Ferguson to drop – not Mark Hughes, not Andrei Kanchelskis and not, eventually, Roy Keane. He left me out for Gary Neville as soon as it became apparent that he was ready for the first team.

Ultimately you have to side with talent, and the effect which players have on your overall team dynamic. For me, using those two considerations, there is only one answer for Van Gaal when he has everyone fit. Wayne Rooney can’t go on forever, and a player like Rashford gives Van Gaal a new model to use.

He has been judged on his goals so far with four in two games and you cannot argue with the impact he has made. It has been astonishing. There’s lots to like about Rashford, particularly for the fans as he is a local boy from Wythenshawe.

He has seized his chance spectacularly well. Injuries to Anthony Martial and Rooney have been a great bonus for Rashford. So often, players get their chance thanks to a stroke of luck, and he has taken full advantage.

There is no doubt Rashford’s emergence has been a godsend for United: they needed a centre-forward and they have certainly discovered one. Rashford looks completely at home in the centre. He doesn’t drift wide a lot or drop off deep, like Harry Kane. He just wants to get in the box and score goals.

His pace is an obvious asset. His movement has been talked up as well but I think Arsenal’s abject defending maybe flattered him a bit on Sunday. He actually pointed where he wanted the ball when the cross came in from Jesse Lingard for his second goal but Gabriel and Laurent Koscielny missed it and let him run free. Whether he’s got a sharp football brain or not will become apparent in the coming years, but certainly you can say he has the right instincts to find space, attack the ball and score.

When Martial is back he might drop down to the bench, and that’s no bad thing: sometimes kids come through too quickly. And I would sound a notice of caution that Manchester United have had so many false dawns with young players, who haven’t matured quite as the club would have wished. Jonny Evans was probably the last academy graduate to have a lasting impact on the team and even he couldn’t make the grade ultimately.

People have mentioned Federico Macheda, who also had such an explosive early impact on United, but James Wilson is another young player who has been talked about without really making the breakthrough. Will Keane too. It’s very hard.

Rashford’s emergence has been a huge lift for Van Gaal. In truth, it’s got him out of jail a bit. It’s an over exaggeration to say he has saved his job already, but there’s no question that Rashford’s goals have eased the pressure on the manager’s shoulders and it could prove a turning point in his reign.

Perhaps the vitality of youth has changed something in Van Gaal. For most of the season he has sat on the bench, studiously making notes; on Sunday he was leaping around and throwing himself to the ground. It was the most animated he has been in a year-and-a-half.

Maybe Rashford’s impact has made Van Gaal realise that he can tweak his approach; use players in different ways to get different outcomes. Rather than players doing everything he wants all the time, maybe they can express themselves a bit more. Some of these players are at a club like Manchester United because they are capable of expressing themselves; they aren’t just statues, or robots following commands.

Van Gaal has to change as much as the players have to change. If Rashford is the catalyst to force it then great. Maybe he will rescue his job after all.