United short of strikers after James Wilson loaned out

But United’s manager was again unequivocal in his backing when asked whether Rooney would still be picked if he was not skipper.

United legend Roy Keane slammed Rooney following the 0-0 Champions League draw with PSV Eindhoven, but Van Gaal is delighted with his skipper’s all-round contribution.

I am going to make a bold prediction here and say that Leicester City are going to win.

Former United midfielder Paul Scholes bemoaned the lack of goal threat, saying United is missing the attacking strength to be a threat in Europe this season.

He said: “Of course, because the fans have to be happy”.

On a day when Old Trafford paid tribute to the late George Best on the 10th anniversary of the great winger’s death, how United fans wished they had a player to produce similar wizardry or excitement in the current team.

“You can like or dislike him, and like or dislike his team’s playing style but football does not have just one way of getting results – I think every coach has the right to work with his own philosophy if he gets the desired results”.

“But you have to see how our opponents are playing against us and when you see how they play then you know the difficulty to disorganise that opponent – it is very hard”. United are without long-term absentees Luke Shaw (leg) and Antonio Valencia (foot), while they will check on the progress of Michael Carrick (foot), Ander Herrera (hamstring), Phil Jones (ankle) and James Wilson (knee) ahead of the game. In addition to this, United have been a little poor away from home and this will be a concern so they will also want to prove a point by beating the league leaders on the road.

The focus has been on the red-hot striker and his manager feels the 28-year-old has thrived on the attention.

The likes of Depay, Martial, Rooney have all struggled to perform at their best under Van Gaal. It is part of the development of a player.

‘With the amount of chances that we created, we should have probably won the game, especially in the second half when it came open. United headed towards the tunnel with the scoreline, goalless in their last seven games in all competitions. “That is why we are second in the league and second in our Champions League group”.

United have lost two and drawn one of their last six road league fixtures and were beaten 5-3 in this fixture by Leicester last season. He scored and provoked a penalty and now he is scoring 10 games in a row. You let players be creative with their own identity.