Wayne Rooney will be back for the Reds this weekend against Arsenal in the FA Cup, and John O’Shea says the Reds forward is capable of giving United an injection of confidence.
The effect that Rooney’s suspension-enforced absence had on the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City was palpable. However, O’Shea refuses to use the lack of Rooney’s presence as an excuse for failing to make more of a fight of Sunday’s derby.
“Wayne can lift players around him,” he told MUTV. “He is infectious with his work rate. He gets the crowd buzzing.
“But we were missing other players as well. The team we had out was good enough to win that game. You can always say we’re missing this player, or that player. But we had the squad to cope. We’ve got so many talented players that you hoped one player would conjure something. It just didn’t happen at all for us.”
Whilst not wanting to gloss of one of the most disappointing results of the 2007/08 calendar, O’Shea insists the squad cannot afford to wallow in pity.
“We’re all just waiting for the next game to come around,” he added. “We’re still in a great position in three competitions. We can’t just forget a disappointing result, especially against our city rivals, but we do have a lot to be positive about. We’ve got to make sure we bounce back straight away and go on a long winning run.”
With Rooney back in the team, that seems a more achievable goal. But Sir Alex Ferguson would be keen to point out that United didn’t get to this position operating as a one-player team. And against an in-form Arsenal team at the weekend, the responsibility cannot fall solely on Rooney's shoulders.