Wayne Rooney has slammed the lack of leadership in the Manchester United dressing room and singled out Marcus Rashford for criticism.
It’s been a difficult season at Old Trafford with Erik ten Hag’s side finishing a lowly eighth in the Premier League – their worst performance in 34 years.
They failed in the Champions League too but achieved some salvation when they beat Manchester City in last weekend’s FA Cup final to make next season’s Europa League.
It has put Ten Hag’s job under severe scrutiny as part-owners INEOS consider whether to replace the Dutch coach, with Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Tuchel, Thomas Frank and Roberto De Zerbi names in the frame.
United legend Rooney – the club’s record goalscorer – questioned which players are actually driving the team forward.
Wayne Rooney has questioned Manchester United’s lack of leadership on The Overlap
Rooney said Marcus Rashford was ‘never a big talker’ and demanded senior United players get more out of the forward
United captain Bruno Fernandes and manager Erik ten Hag with the FA Cup last weekend
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EPISODE 89: Why Manchester City aren’t the reason the League is boring -
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EPISODE 87: Why United must tear down Old Trafford and move to Wembley
‘I would say you need five players in a dressing room that can lead a team,’ Rooney told The Overlap, brought to you by Sky Bet.
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‘One thing I would say with Manchester United now is, look at the team and you’re still asking questions about who the leader is. I know Bruno [Fernandes] is captain, but who are the leaders there.
‘I said this a few weeks ago, when Marcus Rashford was getting stuck for his body language, I think he has always been like that.
‘I don’t think he has ever been a big talker on the pitch. When he is going through a tough moment, or you want him to work a little bit harder, that is where the senior players have got to demand that from him. That’s the one thing I’d say that I don’t see.
‘Every time Manchester United concede a goal their heads go down too quickly and you almost think there is no way they’re getting back into the game. ‘
Such moments were all-too-common in a season that saw United lose 14 league games and finish with a negative goal difference.
Rooney, 38, meanwhile has just been appointed manager of Championship club Plymouth Argyle and credits ex-United boss Louis van Gaal for getting him into coaching.
United legend Rooney was speaking to Gary Neville in the latest episode of The Overlap
United endured a tough season with a lack of dressing room leadership cited as one factor
‘Towards the end of my career, probably under Van Gaal, is when I started thinking about my career after football,’ he told former team-mate Gary Neville on The Overlap.
‘Even when I was younger, I always felt that I wanted to stay in the game from a coaching point of view, but I started thinking more seriously about it when Van Gaal came to United.
‘I used to sit with Ryan Giggs and he used to analyse the opposition for Louis. I used to sit there a lot and got into it a little bit, and always felt from there that I wanted to do it.’
