Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney has insisted that the result was the only thing that mattered in his side’s Premier League showdown with Liverpool this afternoon.
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Rooney struck after a header by Marouane Fellaini rebounded straight to him off the bar with the United skipper giving keeper Simon Mignolet no chance with his ferocious strike.
United beat Liverpool 1-0 on Sunday with a late strike from Wayne Rooney, leading to manager Luis van Gaal to suggest that his side have what it takes to win the league.
“We are getting chances, we are creating chances but we just couldn’t finish them off against United for whatever reason”.
The three points against the Merseysiders, coupled with Arsenal’s goalless draw at Stoke, leaves them seven points behind the Premier League leaders.
“I think long term Liverpool will be OK but I think Manchester United’s problems are terminal”.
“We have a lot of matches to go”.
“A striker who scores is always very important and now he is scoring in a row and we are winning”, he said.
Manchester City are a point behind the leading pair after they beat Crystal Palace 4-0 on Saturday, while Tottenham Hotspur complete the top four with 39 points following their 4-1 home win over Sunderland also on Saturday.
“When I see this game then I think we can still improve but it was still good enough to win at Liverpool away”. “We need to continue the start we’ve made to this year, it’s a massive victory for us”. “We won and a we have won a lot of games in 2016 now and have not lost yet”.
Liverpool’s search for goals is likely to be Klopp’s main concern as the season wears on, with Sunday’s defeat leaving them ninth in the standings and eight points adrift of fourth place and the final Champions League qualification spot. The goal was to defend and we didn’t do it. That is our responsibility.
Liverpool tried to claw something back late on, as they would replace Kolo Toure with in form Benteke, but even the wonder striker himself couldn’t salvage any points for the team.
“To be honest, I don’t care too much about the situations where we tested De Gea, I think more about the situation where we could have had chances but didn’t”. “It is frustrating – we lost a game that we should not have lost”.
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Van Gaal admitted that his side were fortunate to still be level after an unconvincing first-half display, but was delighted with how they responded after the interval.
