Manchester United boss claims Wayne Rooney needs more game time
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says that striker Wayne Rooney is “rusty” and needs more game time to get back to his best.
Ferguson made the claim despite England international Rooney scoring the only goal in the UEFA Champions League group stage match against Scottish Premier League champions Rangers at Ibrox on Wednesday 24 November.
The 25-year-old netted from the penalty spot in his first start for his club since September after Rangers attacker Steven Naismith was judged to have fouled Red Devils defender Fabio da Silva.
However, Ferguson claims that Rooney still has a way to go to fully recover from his ankle injury and says that the forward still has to play more competitive football in order to get back to his best.
He told reporters: "He needs games. The way we are going to do that is to keep him on the pitch for 90 minutes. That will continue now as we try to get him to his level. He is rusty, that is obvious, but it is a start for him."
Rooney had been on the sidelines for several weeks before making his return as a substitute in the 2-0 win over Wigan Athletic on Saturday 20 November.
The attacker, who has been with United since his £25.6m switch from fellow EPL side Everton in 2004, has made just eight appearances in all competitions for his club this season and has scored just two goals.
Meanwhile, Ferguson took the opportunity to hail United's strong away record in the Champions League over recent years. They won the competition in 2008 and reached the final again the following year. United also made it as far as the quarter-final last
term, but were dumped out by eventual finalists Bayern Munich with a late goal.
He said: "Our away form in Europe has been very good over the years. But for that injury-time winner Bayern scored against us we would have had an unbeaten (away) record that stretched over three years."
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