Premier League milestone as Rooney ends goal drought

Does Wayne want to play as a number nine?

But van Gaal’s men managed to find the route to goal once more thanks to Rooney’s third league goal of the season as relief flooded around Old Trafford.

Swansea had won the last three meetings against United by a 2-1 scoreline but the hosts soon restored their lead as Martial burst away down the left and Rooney turned in his low cross with a clever flick.

Rooney’s goal seven minutes later, his 188th in the Premier League and 238th for United in all competitions, secured the points for his side and a couple of personal landmarks into the bargain.

Although the play of Rooney and his first goal in quite some time will steal most of the headlines, it was the overall performance of Anthony Martial that was the true difference in the match.

“If anything, we are all playing for our own futures as well”, United defender Chris Smalling said, with the team having fallen five points adrift of the Champions League places.

“How many players have had the chances to score and why they didn’t score?”

United responded to that in the opening stages of the second half by making a quick start, breaking the deadlock within two minutes when Anthony Martial nodded Ashley Young’s cross past Fabianski.

– Mariano Sanchez (@Marianitoh144)When LVG said he bought Darmian as a backup to Valencia we were abusing him.

Van Gaal could name an unchanged team from the Chelsea clash, with Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and Jesse Lingard still on the sidelines. “That is why I am happy we scored the two attractive goals”.

It cannot be ignored that a Swansea team with one win in 10 games equalised through Gylfi Sigurdsson and could have claimed a point when goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski headed inches wide from a corner in the final seconds.

But Rooney scored 13 minutes from time with a superb backheel flick from Martial’s cross to send United up to fifth.

That should remind those complaining about the lack of progress under Louis van Gaal that it could be a whole lot worse.

“I think we played a very risky system against Swansea because they had a shape with four midfielders in a diamond”, Van Gaal told BBC Sport after the game.

However, Manchester United sprung to life in the second half with Ashley Young playing as a de facto right-winger as he caused all sorts of trouble for the Swansea defence.

Van Gaal said: “This is an achievement – fantastic – but it’s more important for me that he scores now – and he scored today”.

Van Gaal hopes this win will kick-start United’s season too.

Also, West Ham rose to sixth in beating Liverpool 2-0, with Andy Carroll – still Liverpool’s most expensive player ever – heading in the second goal against his former club. I give trust to the players.