Wayne Rooney is expected to return from injury to play some part in Manchester United’s home game against Aston Villa on Saturday afternoon, even though Louis van Gaal appears to have hit on a winning formula in attack with Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in good form.
The United manager stated a few days ago that Rooney enjoyed special privileges by virtue of being team captain, and as long as he is fit – coming on in the 90th minute in Wednesday’s FA Cup replay against West Ham did not really prove anything – he is unlikely to be left on the bench for too long. “Changing a winning team is not difficult, you just have to follow your philosophy,” Van Gaal said. “The only difficult part is communicating your decision to the players and making sure they understand the reasoning.”
If Van Gaal wishes to ease Rooney back gently Villa would seem to present the ideal opportunity. They have lost their last eight games and will be relegated by the time the teams run out at Old Trafford if Norwich claim a point or more from their early kick-off against Sunderland. United put in one of their most convincing performances of the season at West Ham, just when it appeared they had run out of ideas again at Tottenham a few days earlier, and go into Saturday’s game seeking a fifth home league win in a row.
Yet if Van Gaal has steadied the ship somewhat since the rocky period around Christmas, and introduced a new crowd hero in the 18-year-old Rashford, he is still waking up to headlines insisting he will be gone by next season and was tetchier than ever in his pre-Villa press conference, even insisting at one point that there was no evidence David de Gea was close to a move to Real Madrid last summer.
“I always said De Gea was staying; it was the media who said he was about to leave,” Van Gaal said. “How do you know? Now the media wants to know how long he is to stay with Manchester United? Come on!”
Van Gaal flatly refused to discuss his Manchester United future – “Why should I? I don’t read any reports about other managers’ positions in the media” – though it is likely he is aware a top-four finish is the minimum requirement for his continued employment, regardless of what happens in the FA Cup.
“At Manchester United you have to get results,” he said. “I am aware of that because I have always worked at the top of European football. I understand what can happen. A club like Manchester United has to show its ability and qualities at the highest level, and that means the Champions League. Of course a trophy would be fantastic, especially the FA Cup because we haven’t won it for so many years, but I have said many times before that for the club a top-four finish is much more important.”
