Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has revealed that he dropped Wayne Rooney against Leicester City on Saturday, because he needed more pace in his attack.
The England captain was left on the bench, as United defeated the champions 4-1 at Old Trafford.
Stand-in skipper, Chris Smalling, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba scored for Mourinho’s men, as they ended their three-game losing streak.
Rooney was eventually introduced with seven minutes left in the match.
“When our main striker is Zlatan, we need fast people surrounding him,” Mourinho said afterwards.
“If he (Rooney) is on the pitch or at home, he is my captain. But we thought against a team like Leicester, the best solution for us was to play with the two fast kids and Mata in a position where he can interact with them. It did well for us.
“It was a good performance, the intensity of our pressure, our counter-attacks, the way we reached when we lost the ball. The young kids were fast and pressing and attacking spaces. Zlatan played very well in organisation of the attack.”
Club legend, Gary Neville, also believes Rooney has to accept a reduced role at the club.
“His form hasn’t been good and the fact he has been left out is the right decision. Rooney can have the same end to his career as Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes. He has to get used to that and accept it.”
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