Manchester United not good enough to win Premier League says club legend

Earlier, Rooney – who made his name playing for Liverpool’s city rivals Everton – marked his latest return to Merseyside by scoring the only goal of the game at Anfield.

Wayne Rooney’s powerfully struck 78th-minute victor lifted United to 37 points, seven behind Arsenal and Leicester City, the joint leaders.

Van Gaal said that United had pinpointed Liverpool’s weakness as being a team of short players, with Marouane Fellaini’s aerial presence proving critical to the goal. “We have a lot of matches to go”.

“He is a very calm guy but on the pitch, he is very much talking to us as a unit and we know his game inside out. That’s not so easy… but we can do it”.

Arsenal, missing injured playmaker Mesut Ozil, failed to capitalize on Leicester’s 1-1 draw at Aston Villa on Saturday, and dropped four points this week after also drawing at Liverpool on Wednesday.

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.

As Daniel Storey noted in 16 Conclusions, the Brazilian – once again chosen ahead of £32.5m striker Christian Benteke – created five chances in a 1-0 defeat which featured 19 shots but only four on target for Liverpool.

Rooney appears back to something close to his best form after a disappointing first half of the season.

Rooney took his league tally for United to 176 a record by one player for one club in the Premier League era. United’s win against Liverpool was a huge confidence booster but the team still has to be much better, particularly if they are harbouring title ambitions.

“I think everyone knows the importance of this game, regardless of positions”, he said.

“In this remarkable season of the unexpected, Manchester United are now seven points off the top”, Redknapp begins.

De Gea would keep United in the game however with two superb saves from Jordan Henderson and Emre Can. I have to say he is always reaching a very high level so I’m very happy but I can not say he has done a lot. “That’s two positives from the game”.

I think we did that in the second half.

“It was an important win for us”, he said. “He had a few good moments”, Klopp added.

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.