Rafael: Players Are United

Rafael believes life after Sir Alex Ferguson was always going to be testing but insists his United team-mates are unanimously behind David Moyes.

The Reds were roundly criticised in the media following a run of three consecutive defeats in all competitions at the turn of the New Year, a sequence of results that was broken by Saturday’s morale-boosting 2-0 win over Swansea City at Old Trafford.

Speaking to the media after the weekend's match, Rafael explained that his colleagues are sticking together through this difficult time of transition.

“We are together,” Rafa said. “We knew there would be a change. The manager had just left after 27 years. It was always going to be hard. We have to take the mentality David Moyes has given us and use it on the pitch. It is quite a big difference. David Moyes has a strong mentality. He is doing his own job. We have to use that in a positive way.”

When asked if the players need to take responsibility for United’s form, Rafa was typically honest: “I agree 100 per cent. We are the ones who have to take the responsibility. We have to show that, like we did in the second half on Saturday. I don't know why everyone is looking at the manager. It is the players who have to do the job on the pitch. Of course, we have spoken about it a lot [in the dressing room]. We have to show our quality. People are saying United don't have a good squad. We have to show that is not true.”

Going forward, Rafael wants to help the Reds build on Saturday’s comfortable 2-0 win over Michael Laudrup’s Swans and achieve consistently good form in the crucial next few months of the campaign.

“I am very happy with this win. To have three losses in a row - and two of them at Old Trafford - is not normal. Today we showed our real quality."

Expanding on his point, Rafa continued: “We have to be consistent. We have been up and down a lot. To win a title or to get in the top four we have to play every game like we did in this one.”