Rooney critical of Man United after defeat
Wayne Rooney was critical of Manchester United and fears for their top-four chances after losing to Sunderland.
Rooney played the full 90 minutes at the Stadium of Light, registering just one shot as United struggled to break down the worst defence in the Premier League.
Sunderland were the better side, with Wahbi Khazri and Lamine Kone cancelling out Anthony Martial’s equaliser to earn a crucial three points in their battle against relegation.
“We didn’t create enough chances, we weren’t aggressive enough and it has cost us not defending set pieces so it’s a disappointing result,” Rooney told MUTV after the game.
“We didn’t play well today, we know that, we didn’t win enough second balls and all that coming together has cost us and it is not good enough.”
United remain six points behind fourth-placed Manchester City in the race for Champions League qualification, and captain Rooney admits that making the top four is now “difficult”.
“It will be difficult to qualify for the Champions League and the top four now, we know that, so it’s a sad day in terms of losing three points and we have to somehow move on,” Rooney told BT Sport.
“You don’t know how this Premier League works right now, but we know it will be difficult to finish in the top four and [winning] the Europa League might be the best chance [of qualifying for the Champions League], but that is a long way away.
“It’s a competition we didn’t necessarily want to be in, but we are and we want to win it. Every game is a big game for us and we have to start again on Thursday.”