mobile app bar

Rooney blames Mourinho for negative strategy at Manchester United

Sudarshan Venkatesan
Published

Rooney on Mourinho

The club’s leading scorer breaks silence on Jose Mourinho’s tactics and his relationship with the players.

Wayne Rooney was delighted with the performance of Manchester United on Saturday in their 5-1 win over Cardiff City away from home. The former Red Devils striker says that the club has made a right decision to relieve Jose Mourinho from duties and appoint a person who knows the club really well.

The Portuguese International was shown the exit door following the 3-1 loss in Northwest derby to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool last weekend who currently leading the table with 48 points. They looked off the pace from minute and were never able to match Liverpool’s speed and tenacity.

Additionally, he puts his fingers to the former Manchester United manager for having a negative impact within the club and possessing a poor relationship with the players. So, the current MLS Star has said that the English outfit are right to move on from Mourinho “Something had to change, so it was the right decision.”

“I stay in touch with a lot of people at the club, I speak to them quite a lot. To be a successful club you need to have everything right. That relationship between some of the staff and players wasn’t great.”

Ole Gunnar Soskjaer spent eleven years as a player at the club, and another two years coaching the reserves between 2008 and 2010, before taking up a job at Molde. On the other hand, Mike Phelan was crucial to Sir Alex Ferguson’s success as a first-team coach and assistant manager.

“Bringing Ole and Mick (Phelan) in, that will change things. The staff are smiling and happy and that rubs off on the players. I think it’s a good move for the club and gives them more time to get the right man in the summer.

“The only thing that brings smiles is winning football games and being successful. Ole knows that. It’s a big opportunity for Ole to show how good of a manager he is. Some of the players need to step up.”

It is easy to point out that the problem lied with both the players and Jose Mourinho. The players were not pleased with his negative tactics to defend deep after taking a lead.

Rooney has pointed out the difference between the managers “The difference with Mourinho is he gets one goal ahead and he tries to hold on to it. Now we see them taking a lead and going for more.

Despite winning two trophies including League Cup and Europa League, it is no doubt that they were sliding down as a whole club under the management of Mourinho.

The leading goalscorer of Manchester United said “Manchester United is a big part of my life and it was not nice watching what was going on. Once Ole got the job, I dropped him a message of congratulations.
 I gave him my feelings on what needed to change, speaking to some of the players.

“The first thing as get the lads enjoying playing football, that’s what they wanted. Ole’s the guy to get them doing that.

“It wasn’t just the players, it was the whole football club. I’m sure Ed Woodward was the same as the staff, the kitchen ladies, the kit man, everyone, they were not enjoying it.”

The next Premier League action for Manchester United will see them facing Huddersfield Town at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

About the author

Share this article