FERDINAND INSISTS ROONEY DESERVES MORE CREDIT

Former Manchester United’s defender, Rio Ferdinand has insisted that current club captain, Wayne Rooney deserves more praise after the Red Devil’s draw at home with Liverpool in last week end’s game.

The 31-year- old striker, who equaled Sir Bobby Charlton’s 43-year-old goal scoring record at Man United last week, was introduced at half time against Jurgen Klopp’s side.

Jose Mourinho’s men, with Rooney operating in the No. 10 role, duly responded to a difficult first half with an impressive play during the later stages of the encounter, drawing level in the 84th minute thanks to star man Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s header.

Ferdinand, speaking to BT Sport after the match, noted that Rooney deserved more credit for his display at Old Trafford.

“Wayne gets more attention abroad than he does in his own country. We need to appreciate what we have and look for the positives rather than negatives.”

Rooney’s 45 minutes cameo elicited mixed reactions from supporters and pundits, with United on the other hand looking less troubled by the pressure from Liverpool. After manager, Mourinho tried to employ a more direct approach, placed him behind Ibrahimovic , but he struggled to produce much of the final deliveries.
It feels as if placing Henrikh Mkhitaryan at No. 10 position and using Marcus Rashford out wide instead would have given the visitors more problems in the second half.

With Rooney on the same level with Sir Bobby Charlton’s 249 goals for at least another week, the England international may have to wait until League Cup Semi-Final secong-leg clash in February with Hull. “Despite him (Rooney) starting on the bench we took bundles on him to break the record, and fans expects they won’t have to wait long to cash in on him re-writing the record books.”