Wayne Rooney has admitted his last
two Manchester United performances have not been good enough.
After serving a three-match domestic ban and missing all three
England games so far this season, it was little surprise that
Rooney should be off the pace in last week's Champions League win
over Celtic.
Much better was expected against Arsenal at the weekend but, again,
the 20-year-old struggled to make an impact.
Eventually, to his own frustration and the astonishment of many
United fans, he was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Rooney looked clearly unhappy as he watched the remainder of the
Old Trafford defeat from the home bench.
However, he now accepts his recent displays have been
below-par.
'I am disappointed with my own form in the last two games,' he told
MUTV.
'It has not been up to the standard I normally play. I am
disappointed with that but I will keep working hard and hopefully
my game will come back again.'
Sir Alex Ferguson has no fears on that score but, like many of his
players, the Scot felt Rooney suffered at the weekend as a direct
result of the effort expended in beating Celtic in what proved to
be a titanic tussle.
Rooney accepts there may be some truth in his manager's assessment,
especially given his brief post-match chat with Paul Scholes, who
had spent a similar amount of time on the sidelines.
'The Celtic game was quite tough,' said Rooney.
'It was a big game and there was a lot of pressure on us to win it.
I spoke to Paul afterwards and we were both quite tired.
'Nevertheless, losing against Arsenal was a big blow. We have made
a good start to the season and we wanted it to continue.
'Even a draw would not have been too bad but to lose in the last 10
minutes was devastating.
'I suppose if you look at the league table, we have made a decent
start and we are still in front of the other title
contenders.
'But Sunday's game was one we could have won and we let ourselves
down in that regard.'
At least the United camp have a full week to recover before heading
to Reading and their first competitive encounter with the Berkshire
outfit at the Madejski Stadium.
Ferguson will hope the brief lull in fixtures offers Nemanja Vidic,
Alan Smith and Gabriel Heinze the opportunity to work on their
match fitness.
Vidic in particular will fancy his chances of a recall given the
recent problems which have surfaced in Rio Ferdinand's previously
watertight partnership with Wes Brown.
The Serbian's willingness to get stuck into the less glamorous
parts of defending should certainly help stabilise United's
rearguard and Ferguson is looking to have both Vidic and Heinze
back in his side.
'Some defenders would prefer to be known as football players but
the guys who have a vocation for it, like Vidic and Heinze, take
great pride in their work, they revel in it,' Ferguson told the
Scotsman.
'They love defending. They see it as an honourable
profession.'
In all likelihood, it is on the backs of players like Vidic and
Heinze that United's championship hopes will rest.
A squad containing the likes of Rooney, Louis Saha, Cristiano
Ronaldo, Scholes and Ryan Giggs is well capable of scoring the
goals required to win a title providing the opposition can be kept
out at the other end.
Rooney can certainly see a major improvement in the Red Devils last
season.
And, having wondered all his life what it would be like to win the
league, he feels this year he could finally find out.
'As a young boy it was a dream of mine to win the league and that
is my main aim,' he said.
i agree but now man utd have too many
scorer like scholes,giggs,ronaldo,saha,baby-face-assassin
so it is okay for him not to hit good form now
