Wayne Rooney calls out Man Utd star who 'can do better' after Man City loss

Wayne Rooney was not impressed with Man Utd’s attack (Photo: BBC)

Wayne Rooney was left deeply unimpressed with Manchester United’s attackers after the defeat to Manchester City , singling out one player whocould have saved the game.

A controversial Erling Haaland goal saw City win the Manchester derby 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday, despite Phil Foden’s early red card .

While much has been made of the contentious VAR decisions, it was another woeful and toothless performance from United, who have now won just one of their opening four Premier League games.

The Red Devils managed just three shots on target against Gianluigi Donnarumma, with their best opportunity coming in the 94th minute when Bryan Mbeumo found himself in the box with space and quickly took his shot but was denied.

It was an important save by the Italy goalkeeper, but Rooney believes Mbeumo ought to have equalised, criticising the Cameroon forward’s lack of composure

‘This was the one bit of quality Manchester United had in the second-half,’ the United and England legend said on Match of the Day.

‘It comes from Bruno Fernandes , no surprise, really good pass into Mbeumo and it’s a good save but I think Mbeumo can do better here.

Bryan Mbeumo missed a great chance to equalise in the final seconds of the derby (Photo: Getty)

‘If he just slots it in the near post, he’s got a much better chance of scoring but it’s a wonderful save from Donnarumma .

‘This is where you hear people talking about the composure and the forwards having composure in the penalty box, that’s what they need. Mbeumo’s waited all game for that opportunity.

‘So, whether you play for Manchester United, whether you’re left-footed or right-footed, once you get that opportunity, you need to be aware of the goalkeeper, what his strengths are.

Man utd have won just one of their opening four Premier League games (Photo: Getty)

‘Donnarumma is a big lad, he’s got big arms. If you play it at height, he’s got a good chance of saving it. If you play it low, near the corner, you’ve made it very difficult [for the keeper].’

It was not just Mbeumo who was poor of course, with Rooney calling out the entire forward line for poor decision making and resorting to fanciful attempts from range in the closing stages.

Asked if United were selfish or lacked tactical awareness or were just panicking, Rooney replied: ‘It’s probably a bit of everything. I said when the transfer window closed that Michael Carrick had been left a bit short, especially up top.

‘You’ve got Benjamin Sesko who’s done well the last couple of games but whether there’s that trust in him there to play from the start. Then you’ve got Matheus Cunha who’s coming too deep, he’s never really in the penalty box.

‘So, they’re having half opportunities from the edge of the box. When you’re starved of chances at goal, if you see the sight of goal, whether you’re from 18 to 30 yards out, you end up thinking, “you know what, I’m going to take my chance and try and score”, when really it’s a low percentage of scoring.’