The Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has said that the former Premier league champions should be extremely tight at the back in order to win matches. It has been a strange season for Manchester United. Even though the lead in the table ahead of Manchester City and Chelsea, they have been behind in matches on a number of occasions. The brilliant comeback ability of Manchester United has come to the fore more than once this season. However, it has also faltered United on certain occasions like in the match against Norwich City. United were unable to come back in this match and conceded the top position to their arch rivals Manchester City.

The manager Sir Alex Ferguson has stressed that in recent weeks about the importance of not considering the first goal. Wayne Rooney, meanwhile, has pointed out to the number of goals conceded by the team this season. United have already conceded 18 goals in all the Premier league matches this season. They were extremely lucky to have won the matches against Chelsea and Aston Villa, despite having conceded two goals in both these matches. Rooney thinks that the base of a Premier league winning team should start with a solid defence more than anything else.

“Clean sheets are the foundation we hope for, we know we have players who can score goals and win us games. If we can get a clean sheet, then I’m sure we can get them at the other end and win games. As a team, we’ve played some good stuff at times but we’ve also ground results out as well. To lose three games this early is something we need to put right. We’re lucky that we’ve won all the other games and not drawn any,” said Rooney, who has been overshadowed by van Persie this season.