“For them what really is more hard is the fact that myself and Mr van Gaal think about football in a different way so it is normal that in their football brains there are still moments of contradiction between what they were used to do and what I want them to do”. Marouane Fellaini was also relegated to the bench, with Ander Herrera asked in to step alongside Pogba in midfield.
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“I think the team played very well, you score four goals, and the striker doesn’t score a goal and I think the striker plays phenomenal”.
Most of all, though, United played with an enterprise and spirit that was missing for two joyless years under Louis van Gaal.
Smalling added, “Regardless of whatever the situation is, whatever game, whether he is on the bench or playing or whatever, he is always that same type of character and that’s why he is England’s main man and our main man”. “He is often one of the most vocal and he was the same before the Leicester match”, revealed Smalling.
And the very nature of the display exemplified the difference between the rather immobile No.10 that Rooney has become and the more fluid attacking style which can be instigated by the inclusion of a player like Mata.
With a £300,000-a-week contract until 2019, it remains to be seen what the long-term future holds.
The midfielder went on to say that the team needs to “carry on” from this performance into the next games as they try and get back to where they want to be after a couple of bad performances.
“The thing we did well was we did great without the ball”. “There has been a lot of talk about the team in recent weeks but we scored four different goals and showed what we could do”.
On a day of 29 goals in eight games, both Manchester sides were outscored by Liverpool, who crushed Hull City 5-1 to take their tally to 24 in the past eight games. It’s been down in training.
“It was a good performance, the intensity of our pressure, our counter-attacks, the way we reached when we lost the ball”. It’s just a case of realising how lucky we are.
It could be a long way back for Rooney into Mourinho’s starting XI.
Smalling and his teammates clearly got the message, enjoying the occasion after a taxing period.
This time it does seem as though the clock is ticking on a man who is set to break Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time scoring record of 249 goals for United this season.
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After Saturday’s game, Rooney was all smiles as he had a kick-around with his two sons on the Old Trafford pitch.
