Rooney says INEOS have let Carrick down after ‘toothless’ Man Utd defeat to Man City | OneFootball

Wayne Rooney has hit out at Manchester United’s “toothless” display in their defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.

A game steeped in controversy saw Phil Foden sent off midway through the first half for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes, who was perhaps fortunate for not also being shown a red card in the same flashpoint.

And then Erling Haaland scored the winner after a long VAR delay, which adjudged the striker to be onside, and Enzo Fernandez, despite it looking as though the Argentina international was interfering with play.

Rooney was impressed by the way in which City locked United down after they went down to en men.

He told BBC Sport: “I thought Manchester United were the better team and dominated City up until half-time, but they gave away too many free-kicks and allowed the game to be slowed down which suited City perfectly. Once City got their goal they managed the game brilliantly and United just couldn’t find enough quality, especially in the final third.

“Haaland’s goal should not have stood, it was offside, but as soon as City went ahead they used all their nous and game management to frustrate United. They restricted them to pretty much one chance and didn’t look in any danger at all.”

Rooney points finger at INEOS

The result means Enzo Maresca has maintained his perfect start to life as Manchester City, winning all four of his Premier League games, while Michael Carrick is already coming under pressure having been handed the permanent reins in the summer, with the Red Devils now 13th in the table on four points from four games.

United’s INEOS owners opted to revamp the midfield in the summer, having overhauled the forward line the year before, with Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba brought in for around £160m.

And Rooney believes Carrick’s been let down by the club after the Red Devils boss turned to his bench and had few options to change the game in his side’s favour.

“United are already eight points behind City and Michael Carrick will be disappointed how they’ve started no doubt about that,” Rooney added. “There have been some good moments but one win from four league matches tells its own story.

“When the transfer window closed I felt United still needed better players, to not only to provide competition for places and cover across all competitions, but to come on in games and provide that extra quality and change games. You were just waiting for someone to be brought on and make an impact today, but you looked at the bench and there weren’t many attacking threats to call on. It was all a bit toothless.”