Manchester United manager José Mourinho insists that captain Wayne Rooney is still a big part of his plans at Old Trafford, despite dropping him to the bench against Leicester City on Saturday.
Without Rooney, the Reds ran riot against the reigning champions at Old Trafford, scoring four goals in the first half as they eventually won 4-1. Rooney came on for a brief seven-minute cameo towards the end of the second half.
Juan Mata, who replaced Rooney in the side for the Leicester clash, scored one and assisted another, but Mourinho maintained that the 30-year-old still has a major role to play in his tenure as United manager.
Speaking in the aftermath of the Leicester victory to Sky Sports, Mourinho said:
A big player for me, a big player for United and a big player for this country. I have nothing else to say, he is my man, I trust him completely, he is happy as I am in this moment.
Mourinho also refused to single out individual performances after the win, instead stating that the whole team played well and deserved the three points:
Who shone? The team. The team played very well. If you score four goals, your striker doesn’t score a goal, and I think Ibrahimovic played absolutely fantastic in the way he was key in our attacking football and our pressure. My team as a team played very well.
Today we had intensity, movement, good dynamic, defensively we were very strong against a team that is easy to analyse but difficult to cope with. This time we analysed and coped.
I think we started well for the first time, I can say, usually our second halves are better. We prepare for the games in the same way, with the same professionalism.
With the win against Leicester, United bounced back to winning ways in the Premier League after defeats to Manchester City and Watford. Here’s how the league table looks:
[statsfc-table key=”n3hIsXGmdJ6AnSMKzUo6i09cnqzZIPNpYYb7QNmF” competition=”EPL” type=”mini” highlight=”Manchester United” date=”2016-09-25″]
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