Wayne Rooney has accused Manchester United players of saving themselves ahead of the FA Cup final and this summer’s European Championship.
Erik ten Hag went into Sunday’s game against Arsenal without a number of players, losing 1-0 thanks to Leandro Trossard’s 21st-minute goal.
Lisandro Martinez has not played for Manchester United since March 30 and was very keen to play against the Gunners, but the same could not be said for some of his team-mates.
Bruno Fernandes was one of the players who missed out due to injury. They could have made the difference against Mikel Arteta’s side, and Rooney believes some players could have played on Sunday, perhaps in this summer’s FA Cup final against Manchester City. He suggested he was protecting himself so he could qualify for Euro 2024.
“There are some very good players in that team, but their performance has been well below par,” Rooney said.
“If you look at the injuries they’ve had, some of them are capable of playing. 100 percent.”
Rooney, who Sky Sports presenter David Jones told him was a hugely exaggerated claim, continued: The European Championship is coming up and the FA Cup final is coming up too.
“They’re getting a little bit better now so it’s easy for the players to miss a little bit and come back for the final and get ready for the European Championship.
“You’ve seen it. I’ve seen it myself over the years.
“I don’t think the injured players are getting any credit at the moment and the manager will take full responsibility for that.”
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Rooney’s fellow pundit and former Manchester United teammate Roy Keane added that he was worried that injured players were “desperate” to return as soon as possible.
“If players come back from injury and don’t want to play, that’s not a good sign,” Keene said. “There will always be players who are injured and you hope they are desperate to get back to playing football.
“There’s always some players at the club that are held back by injuries, but generally speaking, if you think about the players I’ve played with, if you give them a week or two off, they’ll be out for a week or two. You’re going to knock.’ Then it’s two down.
“At certain times in the season and when players are lacking confidence, they may not be in a hurry to get back into the team.”
Ten Hag have been forced to use Jonny Evans at centre-back alongside Casemiro due to injury, but Rooney has made it clear that plans for the latter to play in defense are not going according to plan, making it obvious that Ta.
“I don’t think Casemiro’s experiment in defense worked,” he added. But who else should United bring in? They have so many injured players that they are missing centre-backs, midfielders and strikers.
“Players get injured, but as a manager you have to be ruthless and take that option away from them. Unless there’s a major injury, you want to be on the pitch, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for me.”
Rooney added that Manchester United look like a “team of individuals” after failing to test Arsenal’s strong defensive structure.
“At Manchester United, there are times when they are incredibly open. The space and chances they are giving are incredible. I feel sorry for the players who are there.
“The team looks disjointed. It’s a team of individuals, so that’s a concern. Even when you look at the middle and bottom edges of the table, there’s a sense of togetherness and compactness.”
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