Wayne Rooney has urged Manchester United boss Michael Carrick to drop Luke Shaw and Andrey Santos from his starting line-up to face Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Newly-promoted Hull City caused a huge upset on Saturday as they eased to a 2-0 win over the lacklustre Red Devils thanks to goals from Semi Ajayi and debutant Nobel Mendy.
In a game where Man Utd‘s attacking play was largely blunted, despite having 71 per cent of the possession, the weekend clash against Ipswich now takes on a new importance even this early in the season.
Unfortunately for Carrick, he will not be able to field the club’s latest new signing, £70million Carlos Baleba, who is currently on the road to recovery from ankle ligament damage.
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Carrick could opt to make changes for the clash, particularly given the struggles of new midfield pairing Santos and Youri Tielemans, with Rooney calling for the former to drop down to the bench.
“I think players need to take responsibility on the pitch because when you play against a Hull City or Ipswich, the next game, you can set up however you want to set up and a lot of the time it’s decisions,” Rooney told The Overlap as he reflected on United’s weekend display.
“You can stop and start training sessions and say, If the ball goes here we have to come across or make sure your winger is in with you”, or whatever that is.
“But it’s decisions from players on the pitch which make the difference.”
Rooney calls for Dorgu position switch
While Patrick Dorgu was taken off for Marcus Rashford at the halfway stage of the contest at Hull, Rooney feels Shaw should be the man sacrificed against Ipswich, with Dorgu switching from the wing to left-back.
“I’d change Luke Shaw and I’d play Dorgu at left-back, be a bit more aggressive,’ Rooney added.
“I don’t think we can rely on him [Shaw] to play all the games so when you’re playing against a newly promoted team at home, I’d play Dorgu at left-back.
“I would have kept Dorgu on and put him at left-back in the Hull game.
“I’d play [Matheus] Cunha off the left and I’d play Rashford up top.
Asked how he would change up United’s midfield engine room, the Red Devils legend replied: “Mainoo probably, yeah. I’d bring Mainoo in for Santos.”
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