Captain believes Red Devils can win league
Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney believes that his team can win the league this season.
The striker believes the team are ready to re-discover the title winning form they had for many years under Sir Alex Ferguson, after difficult periods at Old Trafford under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
New boss Jose Mourinho has put a lot of money into the squad, and his reinforcements have actually meant that Rooney has been dropped from the starting team due to poor form, something that may not have happened in the Alex Ferguson days.
United are currently 5 games unbeaten after gaining a point away at Liverpool on Monday night.
“I think we’ve got a great squad,” said Rooney. “I said before the season we’d be challenging – we’ve still got that belief, even stronger after working with this manager and the players over the last few months.
“I think we’ve got a fantastic squad, who are ready and capable of challenging.”
United have a testing run of fixtures facing them over the next couple of weeks, starting with Fenerbache on Thursday night, where Robin van Persie will be welcomed back to Old Trafford for the first time since leaving. Sunday invites United away to Chelsea, where Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte face-off for the first time since taking over at the two clubs.
The Liverpool game was a very defensive and disciplined performance, one typical of Mourinho’s style at big away games, and Rooney believes the style will help the team going forward, as they look to move on from the Van Gaal era.
“It is a different way of playing, but I think if you’re an individual it is easy to get [the old style of play]Â out of your head and learn what the manager wants,” he said.
“But as a team it is a bit more difficult so we knew it was going to take a bit of time.”
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
