Only two weeks ago there was talk that Dutchman Louis van Gaal was going to be sacked and replaced by Jose Mourinho but now he has come out and said the club are still in the title race.
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Van Gaal bit the bullet and left his talisman out after seeing him score just one league goal since the end of September.
Earlier, Rooney – who made his name playing for Liverpool’s city rival Everton – marked his latest return to Merseyside by scoring the only goal of the game at Anfield.
“Liverpool are a very high-pressing team and we knew if we kept a clean sheet we would have a chance to win the game”.
Victory took United to within two points of the Champions League berths and allowed it to reclaim fifth place from West Ham United, leaving Liverpool six points back in ninth place, its top-four hopes fading.
“To beat Liverpool is always important”, he added.
“They got the three points and they’ll look at where they sit in the table and feel if they get a run of eight, nine, ten wins they can be in with a great chance”.
“We want to win every trophy we can whether it is the FA Cup, Capital One Cup or Europa League”. We can overcome that so that’s what I’m thinking about.
“David De Gea played exceptionally well and was key in keeping them in the game, and when you have a world-class player like Rooney, something can happen, and it did”.
“I think the smallest of our problems was our centre-forward”, he said.
“I think this game shall give a big boost to the players, to the fans, to everybody in the environment of Manchester United”.
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney celebrates scoring their first goal with Daley Blind and teammates. “When I see this game then I think we can still improve but it was good enough to win at Liverpool away”, the manager said.
“I really believe we have a good squad of players but we need to be winning”.
Rooney was isolated for much of this game, feeding off scraps, but took his chance well with a true strike after Fellaini rattled the crossbar with a header following a short corner. We have to make sure we are fully concentrated and defending set pieces well and stop conceding.
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His first at Anfield in 11 years, the goal also moves the 30-year-old to within seven of Sir Bobby Charlton’s club record of 249.
