Mourinho knows what he's doing - Rooney backs Man United boss

Jose Mourinho has come under pressure after a poor start to the season with Manchester United, but Wayne Rooney has backed the manager.

Wayne Rooney believes Jose Mourinho has a plan to turn around a poor start to the Premier League season with Manchester United.

Mourinho's men went down 3-2 at Brighton and Hove Albion last time out, having scraped a 2-1 win at home to Leicester City on the opening weekend.

The Portuguese has denied a rift with star player Paul Pogba after the World Cup winner suggested he could not speak his mind without risking a club fine.

And a tetchy news conference ahead of Monday's home game against Tottenham indicated Mourinho may be feeling the pressure at Old Trafford.

But DC United striker Rooney, the record goalscorer in United history, backed his old boss - a three-time Premier League champion across two spells at Chelsea - to turn things around.

"They have the quality, they just have to keep pushing," Rooney told CNN.

"Mourinho knows what he's doing and knows how to win titles.

"I'm sure with the quality of players he will have a game plan to push for the title."

Another former England striker, Alan Shearer, believes the problems at United are much worse, however.

Shearer rejected a switch to United at the height of his playing career and he feels the club has been going in the wrong direction since Alex Ferguson's retirement in 2013.

"United have tried everything to halt the slide," Shearer wrote in a column for the Mirror. "Three managers and hundreds of millions on new players — but they seem to have no plan.

"In the seasons since Sir Alex retired they have finished 22, 17, 15, 24 and 19 [points] behind the champions.

"There has been no real title challenge and now, just two games into the season, it seems there is chaos behind the scenes and a total lack of leadership from the top.

"I have to ask, what on Earth is going on? At arguably the biggest club in the world, the executive vice-chairman [Ed Woodward], one of the best managers in the game and a star-studded array of players are simply not pulling in the same direction."