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Mourinho offers hope to dropped Rooney

MANCHESTER — Jose Mourinho said that his decision to drop Wayne Rooney against Leicester City was done in order to give Manchester United pace and width on the wings through Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, and tried to play down the significance of leaving out his captain.

Captain Wayne Rooney was dropped for the first time since Jose Mourinho took over at Manchester United. Photo: Reuters

Captain Wayne Rooney was dropped for the first time since Jose Mourinho took over at Manchester United. Photo: Reuters

MANCHESTER — Jose Mourinho said that his decision to drop Wayne Rooney against Leicester City was done in order to give Manchester United pace and width on the wings through Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, and tried to play down the significance of leaving out his captain.

The United manager dropped Rooney for the first time since taking over at the club, with England manager Sam Allardyce watching from the Old Trafford directors’ box.

Rooney came on as a late substitute for Rashford and Mourinho attempted to frame the argument that it was a purely tactical decision.

“My captain is my captain if he is on the pitch or at home. He’s my captain, that’s not a problem,” he said. “We thought against Leicester the way they defend and the profile of their defenders, we thought the best solution was to play with the two fast kids and (Juan) Mata in a position where he can interact with the young kids. It went well for us.”

Pushed on Rooney’s form and why he, in particular, had been left out, Mourinho reacted with irritation: “If I don’t play Rashford, you ask me why. If I don’t play Lingard, you ask me why. You prefer always to ask why somebody is not playing. Sometimes when I read (media reports) I feel I know nothing about football. But there is one thing I know: The rules of the game. And I can only start with 11. Until ... there is a change to that, I can only start with 11.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

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