Man Utd's Rooney: Fletcher head and shoulders over anyone on the pitch

Manchester United livewire Wayne Rooney was delighted with victory over Arsenal.

Rooney said he was happy to take over penalty duties at Old Trafford.

He said: "No-one really knew who was our penalty taker. Then we got one at Burnley but Michael Carrick unfortunately missed it so from then on I said I'd take them - and thankfully I scored today."

On the match, he continued on Sky Sports News: "It was a good game.

"I thought we were much better in the second half. Arsenal had a lot of possession in the first half but didn't really hurt us - apart from the goal.

"The second half we knew we had to be better and thankfully we were. I tried getting on the end of the ball and I've done so and the goalkeeper took my legs from me - so I've had no option.

"Last season our record against the big teams wasn't great and Arsenal have started the season well, so we needed to win today.

"Forwards, if they score goals, tend to get man of the match awards - but I think Darren Fletcher was head and shoulders over anyone on the pitch today."

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Comments (16)

ref ***** bias
man u get ***** luck wins..

then we are agreed that since Rooney was in no position to score, Almunia should not have made the lunge in the first place? =] I've seen penalties given for similar accidents, and whilst the one vs Gomes last season was a bad decision as Gomez had got the ball, Almunia did not so it was simply a bad bit of decision making from the lad.

True, the ref was a bit biased towards United, but I did feel that in the first half Arsenal were going down far too easily. As someone said before me, football is a contact sport. The Premier League in particular boasts physical prowess as well as speed and technique and Arsenal just did not deal with that, end of.

P.s. Fletcher was absolutely brilliant and the only dangerous tackle he committed was the one on Arshavin. It could have gone either way, depends from the angle you see it I dare say. For me he got the ball as well as Arshavin, and taking into account that the Russian was back on his feet to score a few seconds later, it wasn't as dangerous as people are making out. I did feel that the fourth official was unprofessional with Wenger at the end of the game ... it was an amazing game but it ended disgracefully...

do u play football?if yes maybe u understand how the striker react in that situation...u see rooney got the ball but there was no chance to score after he touch the ball..right?if u see the slow motion he just dive after touching the ball and trap almunia with that..but...thats the football.....anything can happen...