O’Leary: United can still have say in title race
Rooney produced another dazzling performance for the Red Devils and scored his 10th of the season against an inept Aston Villa on Saturday.
Villa boss O’Leary is a big fan of the former Everton star and is also aware that Alex Ferguson’s side tend to become stronger after Christmas. United have now taken 19 points from their last seven matches as they strive to ensure the battle for the title is not a one-horse race.
O’Leary said: “United are a class act and I think Rooney is getting better and better. It’s an absolute pleasure to watch him when you are not involved in any game he is playing in.
“I have never known a lad at such a young age be like him. If he plays well, Manchester United play really well. You also look and think if he’s not in the England side then they are not as good.
“It was a similar scenario over the years with Arsenal when Vieira or Henry were not in the side. The amazing thing is that with Wayne Rooney you are still talking about someone who is a young kid with years and years ahead of him.”
O’Leary added: “There’s a number of players, like Roy Keane, who love playing and would do it for nothing. They will run all day. They’ll train in the morning, they’ll train in the afternoon. Wayne is the same.
“The biggest turn on in life is they love playing football. If you took him off with five minutes to go he would have his dummy out because he’d want to play that last five minutes.”
As for United’s chances of winning the title, O’Leary added: “Manchester United always used to get better and stronger in the second half of the season and I think last year shocked them because Chelsea started well and didn’t slip away.
“You can’t start slow now. You can’t give Chelsea a lead. United went on a really brilliant run last season but couldn’t pull them back.
“You can’t deal with Abramovich and his millions but I think United will be still saying ‘we want to win the league and if we can’t, we want to finish second and win some cups’.”
Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen pulled no punches about Villa’s below-par performance which has left them just hovering above the relegation zone.
He said: “We have to be disappointed with the whole game. We didn’t show the good attitude that we had in the previous four games.
O’Leary has been told by chairman Doug Ellis he will have no money to spend in the January transfer window.
O’Leary must also wait until mid-January to find out if he will be able to sign Chelsea centre-back Robert Huth on loan to bolster a back four decimated by injuries.
Ellis confirmed: “It’s true that there is no money to spend in the transfer window. The manager knows this. He has been told.
“The factual figures are that in the summer we spent £10.5 million (€15.5m) on Milan Baros and Wilfred Bouma. Then we brought in Stuart Taylor and Kevin Phillips.
“In this day and age, you just can’t quote the amount you pay over to the other club. You have to include their contract and what we paid out came to £16.9m (€24.9m) net. That also takes into consideration the fact Nolberto Solano and Darius Vassell left the club.”
Opta Fact: Villa have won none of the last 21 Premiership matches against United and have scored only five times in those games.
Opta Fact: United have scored more first-half goals (14) than any other side in the Premiership this season.