Manchester United captain has come out with renewed confidence about the club’s chances for the Premier League title and hopes to make a statement with a Community Shield win over Leicester City at Wembley. Furthermore, under Jose Mourinho, Rooney feels the squad bears semblance to Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United and believes the dressing room feels like that of the old times.
Manchester United have been busy in the transfer market making vital additions such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba seems to be on the way to Old Trafford. However, Wayne Rooney feels it is not just the new signings but also the project involving successful young forwards that has turned it around for the club. The revival project is now spearheaded by new manager Jose Mourinho and it seems his directives are paying off.
"I think the players feel this is more like the old Manchester United. It’s not just the new signings, we’ve got Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford from last season who made such an impact," he told Daily Mail. "We’re in a very good spot now, we think we can challenge for the Premier League, and we want to put a marker down, in the Community Shield with Leicester.
2015-16 FA Cup winners Manchester United face Premier League champions Leicester City for the FA Community Shield on 7th August at the Wembley in what is seen as a chance for both teams to make a statement of purpose, early on in the season. Hailing the importance of the event, Rooney seems to have made his intentions clear, "I know it’s a one-off game, but we want to show we can win a trophy early on - we feel that’s an important event for us."
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Rooney continued to talk about the tactical changes Mourinho’s brought into the squad and how that has allowed him to fit into his preferred role. “He wants us to play with a lot of freedom, a lot of rotation in the forward positions, lots of opportunities to score goals – and I think I can do that, score the goals to help us be successful,” he said. “Getting that mentality back, from being a midfield player to being a goalscorer again is what I’ve been working on all pre-season.
Manchester United scored only 49 goals last season under Louis Van Gaal, their worst since 1989-90. From a philosophy dubbed boring, Jose Mourinho seems to have made amends to the team’s attacking intent and it was evident in the 5-2 friendly win against Galatasaray. With the addition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the players appearing inspired, Rooney has sent out a warning to Premier League clubs about the threatening and mouth-watering forward line-up.
