United purred without Rooney. He has to get used to that and accept it’.
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“He is a big player for me, a big player for United and a big player for this country”, Mourinho told Sky Sports.
Mourinho pledged to “fight hard” in spiky programme notes and that showed as United ended a disappointing Premier League run by thrashing Leicester 4-1 thanks to a rampant first-half performance.
But Mourinho claimed his side are still developing from last season’s struggles under his predecessor Louis van Gaal, although the current manager insisted he had no regrets about setting their targets high.
Zieler had to scramble across to prevent an exceptional 30-yard strike from Pogba going into the top corner, but the champions’ goal was now under siege and United netted three goals in five minutes towards the end of the opening period. “He is happy”, Mourinho said. “If he is on the pitch, if he is at home, he is my captain”.
Mata feels Manchester United finally showed the quality they possess, and believes when his side are in a mood to play they are hard team to stop. “It went well for us”.
Paul Pogba scored his first goal for United and looked a class apart in midfield, where he was paired with Ander Herrera, who endured a hard season under Louis van Gaal but impressed Mourinho. Rooney faces strong competition in those areas, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rashford preferred as striker and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Paul Pogba and Mata as options in the No. 10 role.
Leicester held their own early on with Robert Huth lashing a shot just over but it was United who edged in front in the 22nd minute after some neat play wide on the left had forced a corner.
“You prefer always to ask why somebody is not playing”, Mourinho said.
“I don’t regret that because this is the way you have to think”.
“Sometimes when I read you I feel like I know nothing about football but there is one thing I know – the rules of the game”.
The 31-year-old England skipper – who on Thursday had said he didn’t pay any attention to outside criticism of his form – has failed to sparkle and was anonymous in the two Premier League defeats United suffered last week.
On Friday, Mourinho made a direct correlation between Rooney’s poor form and perceived media criticism the striker received after his England performance on September 4 against Slovakia.
With nine goals in its first two home games, a new-look Anfield is becoming a fortress for Liverpool under Juergen Klopp.
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And as the goals rained in, it was tempting to wonder what must have been going through Rooney’s mind in the dug-out.
