I was at the game and I hadn't seen this subs reaction till now but wow.

The only attackers that played better than him are the ones who were subbed on. Zlatan, Mata, Martial all had worse games overall. Heck even Pogba was very poor. But people have collectively pinned the blame on Rooney. In fact I'd argue that Rooney was our only starting attacker who didn't have a bad game overall.

It feels like both r/soccer and r/reddevils made up their minds when he turned into Sanogo for around 2 minutes and gave the ball away 3 times in that time period. Then blocked out everything he did before and after that. Being the pessimist I am, when I saw him do it I immediately assumed he'd continue all game and I'd be in for a shitshow. But it seemed to stop there.

IIRC, didn't he perfectly set up both Zlatan and Martial too?

At least I can think of think of moments were Mata and Pogba had their brilliance that people could use to justify their performance. Even though I'd disagree. I understand that an argument could still be made supporting them. But Zlatan and Martial did nothing right. Zlatan spent 90 mins having the ball bounce off him over and over again. I can't think of a single talking point I can use to praise them.

I know it can't be completely performance related because no way can watch that game and select him as the one who needs to leave the XI based off it. Even ignoring today, Martial has been worse than him all season. So what has gotten people so angry this game? Or is bashing Rooney post-match protocol at this point? It almost feels like some users were annoyed that he got an assist. I know a guy in the stands behind me was.

Happens to many other players too. People seem to pick one player they don't like before the match. Then use confirmation bias to reinforce opinions.