Rooney Ready For Defining Moment

Following a run of six games without a win, Wayne Rooney believes Manchester United will “stick together and fight” through what could become a defining moment in the season.

Louis van Gaal’s men exited the UEFA Champions League with a 3-2 defeat in Wolfsburg earlier this month and have since fallen out of the Barclays Premier League top four after losing consecutive top-flight matches against Bournemouth and Norwich City.

United travel to Stoke City on Boxing Day requiring a positive result and, during an exclusive interview with MUTV on Christmas Eve, Rooney provided an insight into the squad’s mood.

“I think confidence is obviously low and that is understandable because we have had some bad results, but we need to pick it up,” the captain explained. “We have some important games coming up now, we need to stick together and fight our way through this. We need to try to get maximum points in the next two games because it could be a defining moment in the season.

“We obviously need to go into the game with more confidence and with the attitude that we know we are going to win the game. Sometimes that is doing the simple things right, which can help you a lot, so we have had a good week of training and hopefully we can take some of the sessions into the game, perform well and get the three points against Stoke.

“Through all of the preparation, we have known – as well as the manager – how important this game is. We all have to stick together and we can’t look too far ahead of the next few days. We have two big games coming up [Stoke and Chelsea] and we need to prepare and be ready for them both.”

Rooney returned from an ankle injury during United’s last match against Norwich City to register his 500th appearance for the club. Before that outing, the 30-year-old England international was presented with a commemorative award from club icon Sir Bobby Charlton.

“Yeah of course it was a significant moment,” Wayne told MUTV on Wednesday. “To make 500 appearances for Manchester United is a great honour. Only 10 players have achieved that now and I am obviously proud to have done that.”

Anthony Martial was also presented with the Golden Boy award prior to facing the Canaries, a prize that is given to the best Under-21 player in Europe and one that Rooney himself won in 2004.

According to the skipper, his team-mate is a worthy winner: “I think Anthony is a fantastic player, a young player and it is great for him that he has achieved that. I think he fully deserves that award.”