Rooney Praises Team Spirit

Despite such an excellent season, in which we gained countless plaudits for our energetic, fast, free-flowing football, Wayne Rooney has admitted that it was in fact the team`s spirit, and ability to react to defeat which helped most, when going in search of their 16th trophy.

In a season in which Rooney was left victim to senseless abuse for his performances on the field, the energetic forward actually experienced his best form for the team in front of goal, scoring 23 goals, making him joint top scorer along with PFA Player of the Year, Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite this, Rooney feels that the factor which best helped the team, was its “unbreakable” spirit.

Talking to Inside United, Rooney told how he felt the most important game of our season wasn`t the 7-1 drubbing of Roma, nor the 4-2 wonder-comeback at Everton, but was, in fact the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in late September.

‘One result that stands out in my mind is losing to Arsenal at home in September. We went on a brilliant run of victories after that. We lost that game and everyone was saying ‘the Reds are going to stumble’, but we kept on going and we were unbeaten until December in the league.’

The Englishmen went on to say that this defiance in the face of defeat was what he felt, was the team`s strongest attribute.

‘That’s one of the best things about this team, we’re defiant in defeat. We know we can’t afford to let it affect us. That comes from the togetherness of the team. We always bounce back after a loss.’

Wazza couldn`t be more correct, as unlike previous seasons, in which we suffered from long dry spells after a disappointing result, this season we were able to bounce back almost immediately, which is one of the reasons why Chelsea failed to catch us for so long, because as soon as we fell, e got straight back up again. It`s a credit to the team and the management, and I`m sure if the team can carry this attitude on to next season, we are certain to have another memorable campaign.