Manuel Pellegrini: Man City have no plan for Man United's Wayne Rooney

Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2014 by ESPN

Manuel Pellegrini believes the English League Cup is as important as any other competition, as Manchester City hope to improve results.

MANCHESTER -- Manuel Pellegrini has insisted Manchester City will not make special plans to stop Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney in Sunday's Manchester derby.

Rooney is United's record derby goalscorer and, if he is fit, is set to make his comeback after a three-match ban at the Etihad Stadium. The England captain is reportedly a doubt for the game after suffering an injury in training.

But the City manager, who rarely changes his tactics or alters his approach to counter the opposition, has ruled out man-marking the forward.

And he also believes Louis van Gaal has enough quality in his United squad to compensate if Rooney does not play on Sunday.

Pellegrini told a news conference: "We really don't change our way to play for some players, or other players. If it's not Wayne Rooney it will be Angel Di Maria, Juan Mata or Robin van Persie.

"They have so many creative players that they have a lot of different chances. We cannot prepare for a game talking about one player, because after it can happen that he doesn't play and we have to change all of what we do.

"We really have to try to play with a style of play every game. I am sure Wayne Rooney is one of the important players of Manchester United but I repeat: also other players are very difficult for us."

United helped City in their bid to retain the Premier League title by scoring an injury-time equaliser against leaders Chelsea on Sunday, stopping Jose Mourinho's side from going eight points clear of the champions.

Pellegrini, though, said that he had already turned off the TV before Robin van Persie levelled for the Red Devils.

Wayne Rooney is reportedly a doubt for Sunday's Manchester derby.

He said: "At that moment, I thought the game was finished and I went to drink a glass of water. When they told me after how the game finished I smiled."

City host Newcastle in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday when Pellegrini is likely to rest Joe Hart and select his second-choice goalkeeper Willy Caballero.

"Probably we start with Willy against Newcastle. At this moment we have two really good goalkeepers," Pellegrini said.

Pellegrini also came to the defence of Eliaquim Mangala after West Ham manager Sam Allardyce said he looked to target the summer signing from Porto when his side beat City 2-1 on Saturday.

The Chilean believes his club bought the right player and recalled another time one of his defensive recruits was also being questioned.

He said: "The same thing happened with Martin Demichelis last year -- remember all the criticism for him after he just arrived in the Premier League? Vincent was playing sometime with Martin, sometimes with Joleon Lescott, sometimes with Matija Nastasic. I think Eliaquim Mangala is a young player, and I am sure we bought the centre-back that we need in him."