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Old Trafford's lost fear factor - Rooney

Wayne Rooney: "It's not good enough" © Getty Images

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Wayne Rooney says opposition teams no longer fear playing at Old Trafford after Manchester United suffered a sixth home league defeat of the season for the first time in 36 years.

David Moyes endured the latest in a long line of disappointing nights at Old Trafford as his United team lost 3-0 to neighbours Manchester City.

It was the most devastating home defeat of what has been a long and painful debut season for the United manager.

The last time United lost six league matches at home was in 1978 and that is a statistic which Rooney finds hare to take.

"It's not good enough," Rooney told MUTV. "We can't lose six homes games in a season and we have to put that right, and make this a place which teams fear again."

'Fellaini's not been great, has he?'

Marouane Fellaini escaped a red card for a challenge on Pablo Zabaleta © Getty Images

• Former Manchester United and England midfielder Paul Scholes has offered a damning verdict of David Moyes' £27.5 million summer signing Marouane Fellaini after his latest poor display.
• "He's not been great, has he?" Scholes, who won 11 league titles with United, said on Sky Sports. "You have to admit that. For a central midfielder at Manchester United for £27m, I'm expecting a few goals at least.
• "He did have problems with his wrist and I know he missed a lot of games but, for the money they paid for him, I'd be expecting a lot more, to be honest with you."
• Fellaini endured a torrid evening against Manchester City and was lucky to escape a red card when he was only booked for thrusting his forearm into Pablo Zabaleta's face.
• Asked if Fellaini should have been sent off, Scholes replied: "Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. It's a proper bang into his jaw. How do you get away with that? I've no idea. The referee's stood five yards away."

Edin Dzeko scored after 43 seconds and added another early in the second half, before Yaya Toure struck in stoppage-time to seal a win which will no doubt raise further questions about Moyes' future.

Fans yelled expletives at Moyes and Sir Alex Ferguson after Tuesday's loss, according to multiple reports.

Now Rooney has again pleaded with the United fans for patience despite what has been a dreadful season, echoing his sentiments after Moyes' side were beaten 3-0 at Old Trafford by Liverpool earlier this month.

He added: "They were great again tonight. As a team, we need them to be strong and to understand there has been a big change at the club.

"We have to step up and start giving the fans something to cheer about with some good performances and wins."

United went into the match full of confidence after back-to-back wins against West Ham and Olympiakos. But the wounds that were inflicted by Liverpool the previous week have now been reopened.

While City push for the title, seventh-placed United's very slim hopes of a top-four finish must now be gone with Arsenal 12 points ahead and only seven games remaining.

Rooney acknowledged United did not do enough to take anything from the game.

"It's a bad night and we didn't deserve to win," Rooney said. "We weren't clinical enough and we didn't create enough chances.

"No-one likes to lose a derby game - they're big games and they're great to win, but when you lose it's not a great feeling.

"It's probably been the story of our season so far that we've got a couple of good results and then one which sets us back a bit."

United have a home game against Aston Villa on Saturday which is followed by a daunting double-header against Bayern Munich - who wrapped up the Bundesliga title in record time with seven games to spare last night - in the Champions League.

Rooney wants the team to bounce back quickly to avoid further embarrassments such as the one they endured on Tuesday night.

"We know we have to respond," he said. "It's a bad night for us all but we have to move on.

"We've got two big games coming up against Bayern Munich but first we have to focus on the Villa game and try to end the season on a positive note."

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