Herrera: We Have To Help Rooney

Ander Herrera has vowed to support the in-form Wayne Rooney with more goals from the Manchester United midfield, with the Spaniard insisting the Reds have a wealth of players who can score and who are working hard to do so.

Rooney has been United’s star man of 2016 so far with five goals in the opening four games of the year, including last weekend’s winner against Liverpool at Anfield.

Herrera has nothing but praise for his captain, but insists it’s vital that the team don’t only rely on Rooney to produce the goods in front of goal.

“We are lucky because we have a world-class player like Wayne Rooney and when we create chances he scores them all right now," Herrera told MUTV.

"That’s great, but we have to help him by creating more chances and scoring goals ourselves.

“I think we have the players to do that and we have the quality to do it. We have the midfielders who can score goals, Juan [Mata] can do it, Jesse [Lingard], [Michael] Carrick, Anthony [Martial] when he plays wide, [Marouane] Fellaini has very good timing in the box and Morgan [Schneiderlin] and Bastian [Schweinsteiger] are the same, they both have a very good shot, so we have to score more goals and I think we will.”

Herrera has supported Rooney in attack, from the no.10 role, in the last two games which have yielded four goals for the Reds. The midfielder maintains he will play wherever he is needed and says his best position on the pitch varies according to the tactics of both United and the opposition.

“Everyone has asked me this [about his favourite position] in the media, but it always depends on the game,” he declared. “If you’re playing against a team who has everyone behind the ball and has the whole team defending, maybe it’s easier to play as a no.6 or a no.8 because you are more in contact with the ball. But when you can find the spaces like against Newcastle it’s better to play as a no.10.

“So it depends on the game but I will help the team wherever the manager wants me to play. I always say the same, I am a team player. I am happy because I want to play but I always want to help the team first.”