Patrice Evra has defied critics and demanded more respect as he leads Manchester United towards a record fourth Premier League title in the row. The French left-back, who captained United against Arsenal on Sunday, also insists that United is not overly reliant on Wayne Rooney to deliver success this season, despite the forward’s 22-goal haul.
“We want to win a fourth league title in a row, to write our name into the history books,” said the 28-year-old defender.
“However, people have criticised us a great deal. Before our game against Arsenal everybody had us down as losers. Plenty of people do not show enough respect for the reigning champions. We spoke in the dressing-room before the Arsenal game and there was no question of us even coming away with a draw.
“We no longer had the option to do so – we have to win all our games now. In the end we reproduced the performance we put on at Arsenal in the Champions League last season when we won 3-1.
“Arsenal are a side that plays very attractive football. We do as well, with the difference that ours is more devastating. But I do not rule them out of the title race at all, as they are a great team, and I hope they will cause Chelsea problems next weekend.”
Evra, who signed for £5.5 million from Monaco four years ago, says that although Rooney is now unstoppable United is not dependent on the former-Evertonian. Rooney has scored 22 goals in his most successful season to date.
“Wayne is clearly unstoppable right now,” added Evra.
“He has developed and understood that his job is to score goals.
“He channels his energies more and stays in the penalty area. The fact that Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer with us has truly given him freedom. He has increased responsibilities, particularly in attack. Sometimes it is down to him alone to decide matches for us, but we are not dependent on Rooney.
“You could see that was the case against Arsenal when our best player was Nani.”
You can tell Gary Neville is having an effect on the players, some real defiant rhetoric from some of the lads recently. If we win the Premier League this year, it will be one of the sweetest victories we’ve had for some time, given the Glazer issue and the more unpredictable nature of the league.