Jose Mourinho says there are 'no privileges' for droppable Wayne Rooney

Manchester United manager also says captain affected by England criticism
Mourinho considering leaving Rooney out of Leicester match on Saturday

Posted Saturday, September 24, 2016 by theguardian.com

Rooney missed a good chance as Manchester United got back to winning ways against Northampton.

Jose Mourinho has blamed Wayne Rooney's disappointing form on the criticism he attracted when playing for England against Slovakia and said his Manchester United captain can be dropped.

Mourinho is considering leaving the 30-year-old out of Saturday's game at home to Leicester City and made it clear that Rooney no longer enjoys the special privileges as captain that he did under the previous manager, Louis van Gaal.

The Portuguese said: "He is my captain, he is the club captain, the players' captain and that is difficult because sometimes you are the club captain because you have lots of years in the club, sometimes you are the manager's captain because the manager likes you very much, sometimes you are the players' but not the manager's one.

"Wayne is the captain of the club, the manager and the players. He is trusted by the players, he is trusted by myself and he represents the club in a fantastic way as a player and person and what is now socially.

"Football is a different story. Football, everyone is the same and if he has to go on the bench, he goes on the bench; if he has to stay at home, he stays at home. But that doesn't mean that you don't trust him or you have a problem. Not at all. We have no problems. He is our captain, but of course, no privilege – he is like anyone else."

Mourinho traces Rooney's drop in form to England's 1-0 victory in the World Cup qualifier in Trnava this month. Given a free role by Sam Allardyce, the captain constantly dropped deep into midfield and drew widespread negative analysis. By then United had won their opening three league matches plus the Community Shield and Rooney had scored at Bournemouth. Following the last-gasp win over Slovakia, United lost three games in a row – two in the Premier League – before Wednesday's EFL Cup win at Northampton Town.

"Honestly, I think there was a Wayne before the Slovakia-England and a Wayne after the Slovakia-England," Mourinho said. "And I am not blaming Sam, not at all. I am blaming the people who after the England–Slovakia were, in my opinion, too strong with somebody that is a very important player in the history of English football, is the captain of England, is the record of goals, is almost the record of matches. I think it was too much but I still think, a big boy like he is, he has to face it in a strong way."

Mourinho expects Rooney to use this to drive him on. "That's what he tries every time," he said. "When he is on the pitch he always gives 100%."

The manager, who said Luke Shaw faces a late fitness test but that Anthony Martial is out "because of a contusion in the calf and in the ankle area", is relishing the difficulty of challenging for the title. "You know already who is going to be the champion in Germany, France, Scotland," he said. "You know the champion in Spain is one or another. In Portugal, a little bit more because there's three for one, but this is the country where a lot of teams are working for the title and, more important than that, every team plays to every game. Anyone can beat anyone, so it's difficult.

"We are playing against good teams. Every team is good, many of the teams are stable, many of the teams have stability from years of the same manager, others with stability with the same players. Others also with important investment so this is the Premier League and I think that's why people love the Premier League."