Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera says that the team can heal the wounds of their derby defeat by getting a win in their Europa League opener against Feyenoord.
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Rooney was one of a number of first-team regulars to miss out on the trip to Netherlands for the match, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jesse Lingard, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw also left out.
He offered an honest assessment of the continent’s second-tier club tournament. “It is not a competition I want, it is not a competition the players want”, Mourinho said, as quoted by the Guardian. Every player wants a great atmosphere.
“We must find the motivation I have found myself already”.
Rooney joined United from the Blues in June 2004 for a fee worth around £27m, and has gone on to win 17 trophies during his 12-year stay in Manchester.
He was also, however, honest about the comparison with the Champions League.
“I don’t want to go in that direction”, he added.
On his squad selection, Mourinho said, ” My message to the players is that I bring a very good squad. So I bring almost everybody to give them the right message.
“At the same time, it is a kind of attacking position where he is playing where I have lots of solutions in the attacking position and people that are working hard to have a chance”.
Paul Pogba, United’s £89 million ($117.9 million) summer signing, plays better football higher up the pitch, but moving Pogba might reduce or even wipe out Rooney’s function in the United team.
And the Spanish playmaker has insisted that his new manager is making every player feel completely comfortable at Old Trafford. I am thinking of two matches at the same time but that’s just me. We have to respect the competition. We want to win the competition. “It is a competition where we are and that’s the reality”.
United didn’t improve much after the break and frustrated by the lethargic performance he had seen in the opening hour Mourinho made three changes in the 63rd minute minute with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Memphis Depay and Ashley Young introduced in place of Rashford, Martial and Juan Mata.
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And they were duly punished by a Feyenoord side flying this season, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s men sitting top of the Eredivisie having won five from five.
