Boss Praises Super Strikers

Dimitar Berbatov will grab all the headlines after his five-goal haul on Saturday, but Sir Alex said Wayne Rooney’s role in the rout of Blackburn Rovers shouldn’t be ignored.

The pair ran riot in the 7-1 victory against Blackburn, often making the match look more like a training ground exercise than a competitive fixture.

“Both Berbatov and Wayne were fantastic today,” Sir Alex told MUTV. “They were a constant threat with their movement and passing, their one-twos. It was a top performance from both of them.”

Incredibly, Berbatov had gone 10 games without a goal before Blackburn came to Old Trafford. But the Bulgarian scored five, the first time a United player has done so since Andy Cole against Ipswich Town in 1995.

“It’s a fantastic achievement,” Sir Alex said. “And he could have had six with that header at the end. Paul Robinson made a very good save.

“[Goal droughts do affect forwards]. Strikers don’t feel as though they’re doing the right job unless they’re scoring.”

The 7-1 win took the Reds top of the Barclays Premier League table and wiped out Chelsea’s previously superior goal difference.

“We’ve been searching for that consistency of performance in terms of our rhythm and tempo we’ve always been noted for. It came together today very well. Today it was back to normal.

“It was very pleasing, particularly because we’ve scored so many goals and improved our goal difference. It was a good team performance.”