These have been times of mixed messages for Wayne Rooney, whose past fortnight is up there with the most trying of his career.
A striker away at Northampton Town on Wednesday night when others were handed a rest.
A midfielder in the chastening defeat at Watford, his lacklustre performance indicative of their toil.
Jose Mourinho has nailed his trust in Rooney to the mast - said as much in Shanghai in the midst of a disastrous tour of China - and cannot be seen to go back on that proclamation so quickly.