Herrera: United midfielders must support Rooney, Martial

Manchester United’s midfielders must take some of the goalscoring load off Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial, according to Ander Herrera.

United have only scored three goals in the Premier League this season, with one coming from Tottenham defender Kyle Walker as an own goal and one from Adnan Januzaj, who is now on loan at Borussia Dortmund.

With Rooney yet to score in the league this term, attacking midfielder Juan Mata is the only player in Louis van Gaal’s squad to have hit the back of the net.

Herrera, who struck six times in the Premier League in his maiden campaign at Old Trafford, refused to blame Rooney for United’s lack of goals, and warned against building up the expectations on new striker Martial.

“We don’t have to give all the responsibility on scoring to Wayne or Anthony Martial,” the 26-year-old former Athletic Bilbao man said on Wednesday.

“We have to help. It is very important as a midfielder to score. We all have to help.”

The likes of Mata (nine goals in 2014-15), Marouane Fellaini (six) and Bastian Schweinsteiger (five for Bayern Munich) all have the ability to score regularly from midfield, while Memphis Depay (22 goals for PSV) is also expected to be one of Van Gaal’s main attacking weapons.

Although for Herrera, one man remains the number one forward at Old Trafford.

“Wayne is very important to us,” he said.

“Normally the biggest stars, as Wayne Rooney is, are selfish but he is not. You saw that when he gave Chicharito [Javier Hernandez] the penalty in Bruges. We are very proud of him. We are lucky because he is with us.

“Most of the times he will score but when he doesn’t he is helping the team and he is always fighting for the team. He runs for the rest of the team and he likes to provide assists. We are very lucky to have him.”

Herrera has already opened his account this season with a goal in United’s 4-0 win at Club Brugge in their UEFA Champions League play-off.