Dropped by manager Jose Mourinho to the substitutes’ bench after a series of poor performances, Rooney made a cameo appearance after he replaced Marcus Rashford in the 83rd minute.
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Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was full of praise for Paul Pogba, but warned the Frenchman there is still room for improvement.
Put the two together and it was not just Rooney’s absence that contributed to the reigning champions of England taking such a beating against a team who would desperately love to go by that title again. The first part has been fantastic for the “Red Devils”, who have scored four goals.
And as the goals rained in, it was tempting to wonder what must have been going through Rooney’s mind in the dug-out.
Mourinho continued: “I knew the Rooney question was coming”.
The world’s most expensive player fired United to a stunning victory at Old Trafford on Saturday and capped off a fine display with his first goal for the club. “I hope that is not going to be the last”, Pogba said. “Hopefully it won’t be the last one”.
“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”.
“We were very focused, we knew it was going to be hard and we showed a very big performance today”.
“Obviously we all want more from him and the team”.
His brace was the second of the match, with defender Chris Smalling opening up the scoring.
There was late drama at Stoke City, where West Bromwich Albion forward Salomon Rondon rescued a point for Tony Pulis in his 1,000th game as a manager, whose opposite number Mark Hughes was denied a first league win of the season. We started very well. If we lose we lose, I can accept that, but maintaining our shape is our strength.
“Suddenly then we conceded a goal with a corner and that’s unusual because we’re strong on the corner”.
Mourinho was impressed with his side’s performance and relieved to get back to winning ways.
“It is not easy against them and not easy to win in the style that we did”, he added.
“The team was quicker to react when the ball was lost and we were very objective, we had lots of fast football”.
“It’s very odd because the first 20 minutes we started well, moved the ball quickly and put them under pressure”, Ranieri said.
We were very focused, we knew it was gong to be hard and we showed a very big performance today. To be back home and beat the champions is good. “Today it is about the security and the happiness of the fans, I don’t know when the last time that they had such a scoreline at half time”. But the Portuguese insisted his captain can still be a key figure for United.
Paul from Bleacher Report and Rantcast spoke to us after Manchester United 4-1 Leicester City and told us Ander Herrera is the flawless man to play alongside Paul Pogba! He is my man.
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“At that time the match was gone and I preferred to reserve them for the next match on Tuesday against Porto”, he told Sky Sports.
