Gushiddink, i think you have touched on some very interesting points, i myself have wondered this for a while now and it saddens me to think these parts of his game which i loved so much are only a shadow of what they used to be.
I remember in his first few seasons when he would burst past anyone with amazing explosiveness, like a bulldozer, and always create the angle to have a great accurate shot, he used to always run at people and his enthusiasm to get round an opponent always prevailed. His used to have so much more confidence in his dribbling i feel.
Its really hard to say whats wrong and how it happened, because if it was that easy to put our finger on then surely ferguson would have spoken of this to rooney and corrected it. The only things i can suggest are that maybe oppositions defences have become accustomed to rooneys game and are able to counter it a bit easier and restrict his game,in shooting from distance he doesnt seem to get the room or the angles, although gerrard still always manages to score from long rang, but he plays from the midfield and has more space, but thats not to say defences dont try and stop him.
There is also the confidence issue and i think wayne has suffered a lot here too, maybe he hasnt got to a level that he excepted of himself and this mentally has taken its tole, there is the ronaldo rise and this maybe effects him. My last point is that maybe rooney isnt as fit as his used to be as a 17-18 yr old, He seems to fatigue more and breathe a lot heavier after exerting a lot of energy and isnt able to expend the same amounts as ronaldo can who is a natural athlete so he has the capability to just keep dribbling and taking people on, where as rooney seems to need to release to ball because he seems to tire easier.
These are all just suggestions might i add and im not saying this are the defintive reasons just suggestions.
I think i got my points across with a bit of a ramble, but this really gets me thinking because rooney is my favorite player and to see him getting back to explosive and animal like best i know and love would be a dream. I think it is within his means to do so though, he just needs to think less and be more confident in his own natural ability and start to take people on because he can do it, he just seems a bit hesitant.