A Springboard For Success

Wayne Rooney believes that silverware this season would set the current squad up to achieve big things over the coming years.

The Champions League may have gone for another year, but the Reds remain well placed to challenge for a domestic double.

Rooney insists the players are determined to ensure the season ends on a positive note and believes success this term would act as the perfect springboard for the future.

"We have a brilliant squad with a great mix of experienced players and young players who all have great ability and a real desire to win," the striker told this month's issue of Inside United.

"Being successful this season is really important because it would give us a great platform to kick on in the next few years. Once the young players get their first taste of silverware with the club they’ll realise how good it feels and they’ll want to keep doing it again and again. Hopefully they’ll get to taste it this season."

United will seek to maintain a 12-point league lead over Manchester City this weekend with victory over Reading ahead of a two-week international break. The gap at the top currently stands at 12 points but Rooney says the players are not taking anything for granted and are simply focusing on one game at a time.

"You have to just take it game by game and work on specific things for that match and then move on to the next. That’s what we’ve always done. We’ve never looked too far ahead," he explained. "There are big games coming up but you have to win the games before that to make sure you’re still in a good position when the big ones come round.

"[With the 12-point lead] you just want to either maintain it or try and extend it by keeping on winning. You never look at the situation and say ‘we’re this many points clear so we can afford to lose a game and draw one or two.’ It’s about winning and making sure you don’t drop any points. That’s always been the mentality here and our approach is always to win."