Wayne Rooney we are 'fighting' for Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal

Club captain says criticism is 'tough' to deal with

Tom Sheen
Thursday 24 December 2015 07:53 EST
Comments
(Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Wayne Rooney says the Manchester United players are "fighting" to turn it around under Louis van Gaal.

The Dutch coach is under huge pressure and is believed to have just two matches, against Stoke City on Boxing Day and Chelsea on 28 December, to save his job.

He walked out of a press conference on Wednesday, furious with journalists at the way he has been treated in the media.

United have not won in any of their last six matches and have won just three of their last 13 overall and were dumped out of the Champions League group stage earlier this month.

"We're fighting for the manager and trying to get results to turn this around," Rooney, 30, told Sky Sports News.

"You have a lot of people talking about things they believe are happening when in reality the people writing that stuff don't know anything that's happening."

He added: "We all have families and sometimes things get written, which is not nice for your family to see.

"It's tough but it's part of football and part of being a footballer.

"It's not nice when you're getting criticism every week. It's tough for the players to deal with. We hurt. We're proud people and proud to play for Manchester United.


Manchester United have won just three of their last 13

 Manchester United have won just three of their last 13
 (Getty Images)

"We haven't won games in the last few weeks so it's normal confidence will be a bit lower.

"We need to try to get it back because we've got some tough games coming up and need to be at our best to win them."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in