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Wayne Rooney we are 'fighting' for Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal

Club captain says criticism is 'tough' to deal with
Tom Sheen @Tom_Sheen Thursday 24 December 2015 12:04 BST

Wayne Rooney says the Manchester United players are "fighting" to turn it around under Louis van Gaal.

The Dutch coach is under huge pressure and is believed to have just two matches, against Stoke City on Boxing Day and Chelsea on 28 December, to save his job.

He walked out of a press conference on Wednesday, furious with journalists at the way he has been treated in the media.

United have not won in any of their last six matches and have won just three of their last 13 overall and were dumped out of the Champions League group stage earlier this month.


"We're fighting for the manager and trying to get results to turn this around," Rooney, 30, told Sky Sports News.

"You have a lot of people talking about things they believe are happening when in reality the people writing that stuff don't know anything that's happening."

He added: "We all have families and sometimes things get written, which is not nice for your family to see.

"It's tough but it's part of football and part of being a footballer.

"It's not nice when you're getting criticism every week. It's tough for the players to deal with. We hurt. We're proud people and proud to play for Manchester United.

"We haven't won games in the last few weeks so it's normal confidence will be a bit lower.

"We need to try to get it back because we've got some tough games coming up and need to be at our best to win them."