Wayne Rooney has the Midas touch, says Gianfranco Zola

West Ham arrived at Old Trafford on the back of two successive morale-boosting victories but they were clinically despatched by Rooney leaving Zola to hail him as "one of the best strikers in the world at the moment".

"I described Wayne as a King Midas," said the Hammers manager.

"Everything he touches now turns into gold. He's in the type of form where every opportunity can turn into a goal. I thought he had a normal game against us but he still scored two goals and could have got another one. That says a lot about the player.

"Even a player like Rooney cannot do everything on his own, though. He can certainly make a big difference to the team, although there have to be other players supporting him. Manchester United and England both have those players so they will be successful."

Zola's fulsome praise of Rooney contrasted sharply with criticism of his own team.

"I'm not very pleased to be honest," he said. "I think that we were okay until they scored the first goal and, after that, we should've done more.

"We have to do much better than this and refocus straightaway because an important game for us is coming up next week against Bolton.

"I thought that tonight was a fantastic opportunity for us because in our previous two matches we built up a good platform to come here and play with more freedom, without being under too much pressure."

Zola was spot on with his assessment for after a satisfactory first half an hour, West Ham surrendered meekly. While goalkeeper Robert Green and his overworked defence coped as well as they could, the rest of the team rarely functioned as an attacking force.

Carlton Cole demonstrated that two matches in the space of four days remains a step too far in his bid to regain full match fitness following injury while strike partner Guillermo Franco was equally ineffectual and was replaced by Mido at half-time.

By then, they were already a goal down with Rooney heading home from Antonio Valencia's cross and the pair combined again to make it 2-0 just 10 minutes after the break.

To rub salt into West Ham's wounds, Michael Owen, who replaced Rooney late in the game, scored the third goal after being on the pitch for only two minutes.

United's only concern was the absence of Rio Ferdinand, who sat out the match after feeling a twinge in his back.

He will miss Sunday's Carling Cup Final against Aston Villa and is a doubt for England's friendly with Egypt next week when he is supposed to captain the side.