Are Wayne Rooney's team-talks behind Manchester United's recent revival?
The Red Devils look nailed on for a return to the Champions League
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United have turned their season around and it seems much of the credit should go to their captain, Wayne Rooney.
After an innocuous start under Louis van Gaal that saw defeats to Leicester and Swansea and elimination from the Capital One Cup at the hands of MK Dons, the Red Devils have slowly but surely been on an upward curve.
Whilst performances weren't always easy on the eye, results were positive. But in recent weeks, Manchester United have looked something like the once dominant force of English football that they were under Sir Alex Ferguson. A 3-0 win over Tottenham was following by victory over Liverpool at Anfield. United then cruised past Aston Villa before most recently dispatching Manchester City in style.
Van Gaal, much criticised earlier in the campaign, has taken many of the plaudits. Some have looked to the performances of particular individuals - Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Marouane Fellaini in particular. But should the credit be going to team-talks by their captain?
It was revealed after the match with Tottenham, the first of the recent string of impressive performances, that Rooney had used his "captains' privilege" to hold a team-talk without the manager present.
"The players knew this game was massively important," explained Van Gaal. "So the captain did something to help the players, help the manager and help the club."
Fellaini said of that speech: "I think it affected the team and I think it was an important speech."
It seems Rooney was at it again prior to the 4-2 derby demolition at Old Trafford at the weekend.
"Everyone knew how important this game was, not only because it's a rat race in the last games, but also because of the history of the last four games," said Daley Blind, referring to the string of defeats United had suffered at the hands of their geographically closest rivals prior to Sunday.
He continued: "Wayne Rooney mentioned that in the dressing room before the game to all the players and it is something that you have in mind when you go on to the pitch. You saw how everyone was fighting for each other.
"Maybe after the first five minutes we were a bit like, 'What is happening here?' but after that we picked it up again and we did very well. And with the crowd behind us, it was amazing."
Manchester United are eight points ahead of fifth-placed Liverpool with six games remaining.
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