Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney celebrates his goal in the Premier League win over Liverpool at Anfield.
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Meanwhile, Rooney allowed himself a moment of self-indulgence after his late strike ensured United’s smash-and-grab win.
Rooney scored the only goal in Sunday’s 1-0 win at Anfield, and Van Gaal said afterwards that he believes United can still win the title.
It was a big win for manager Van Gaal, who has faced heavy criticism over United’s perceived negative style of play and inconsistency in the top flight this term.
Not many will say the Liverpool performance was bad as they created numerous openings but failed to capitalise – which along with their defending is a major problem for the side. It was three lucky points today. “It’s easy to say with another player we would have scored, but we should not think about it because we don’t have other players”.
“We have started the year very well, with a lot of wins, and I think this game will give a big boost to everyone in the environment of Manchester United”.
Rooney struck home his goal after Marouane Fellaini had headed an effort off the crossbar from a Juan Mata cross, with a corner kick having been played short to the Spaniard. I’ve been involved in those games against Manchester United and you know how much it means to everyone.
With Rooney back in the scoring groove, things look much brighter for the 20-time champions. On another day we would maybe have been one- or two-nil up and we can see the game out.
That United were able to keep a clean sheet was in no small part down to the heroics of goalkeeper David de Gea. “It is frustrating – we lost a game that we should not have lost”. “We have seen that today, but we can do it. We show every week that we can do it”.
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Jordan Henderson has said Liverpool do not neglect set pieces in training but that their concentration must improve as opponents target a persistent weakness in Jürgen Klopp’s side. Rodgers insisted United can triumph come May if they string together a run of victories in the second half of the campaign. I think at times it wasn’t pretty and I think in the second half we played a bit more direct, but we camped in their half.
