The two Manchester rivals were then paired against each other in the fourth round draw that also pitched Liverpool against Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United against Chelsea.
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However, the United manager’s winning start came to an abrupt halt after the worldwide break as the home defeat to rivals Manchester City was compounded by losses at Feyenoord and Watford.
While manager Jose Mourinho could risk the ire of his players by leaving out a key figure such as Rooney-and dropping him would seemingly confirm the validity of the recent criticism-it’s hard to see the Red Devils building any real momentum with him in the side.
Despite that, Rooney is focusing on himself but admits Man United have some work to do overcome the bad week we’ve just had. “I don’t have to win to be sure of myself”.
“I don’t know now (exactly what the issue is)”. I know that some football Einsteins, they tried to delete 16 years of my career and delete an unbelievable history of Manchester United and focus on a bad week and three bad results. The Special One answered his critics by referring to them as “football Einsteins.”
Mourinho boasts the luxury of having a squad brimming with world-class options in midfield and attack, so one would think he can devise a suitable formation to spark his best players into life.
Herrera said: “We had a bad week and we want to be positive”.
“It’s always important”, he added. More than lose, what can we do there? Why? We want to be at the top of the table and we have to win; we are Man United. We are Manchester United.
But despite being an admirer of Claudio Ranieri’s champions he reckons they will find it hard to retain the Premier League title.
Ranieri is unconcerned about the speculation, although a bit surprised, and insists he has no desire to sell Drinkwater, who committed his long-term future to the English champions during the off-season.
When asked about the fractious nature of their exchanges over the years, Ranieri said: “Yes, but it’s prehistoric, not now”.
“It [the issues] were a long time ago, I’m okay”.
“He’s a fantastic manager, clever, intelligent”.
“I think it’s good for us”, Herrera told MUTV. If he offers, I’ll go and drink with him.
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The news agenda has been dominated by quotes attributed to Mourinho in a new book by Rob Beasley, alleging the Portuguese privately threatened to “break” the face of Arsene Wenger after publicly criticising the Arsenal manager in 2014.
