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1st November 2015
11:42pm GMT

But it is comments from Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew after his sides 0-0 draw United which are emblematic of the funk Rooney now finds himself in.
Pardew claims Palace were more scared of the threat from 19-year-old forward Anthony Martial than England's all-time top goalscorer Rooney - and built their gameplan around stopping the young France star.
“We didn't give Martial an inch today,” said Pardew. “It was a big target for us to stop him, because we felt if we could stop him we could cut out their creative angle.”
When asked if Martial was now United's main man, Pardew said: “I have to say he is an impressive young player. He handled himself well because he must have felt our presence around him. We looked to stop him today, makes no bones about that.”
“In Wayne's defence, he didn't get a lot of possession or many chances to create anything. In the first half he did not get a lot of crosses, and we bossed the second half so he didn't see a lot of the ball, and that makes it very difficult to have an influence on the game,” he added.Explore more on these topics: