Wayne Rooney must earn a place in Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final team, insists Louis van Gaal
* Manchester United host Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Wednesday
* Wayne Rooney is set to start again after returning to lineup at weekend
* Captain played 67 minutes in the 1-0 win over Aston Villa at Old Trafford
Louis van Gaal has told Wayne Rooney that he must earn a place in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against his old club Everton at Wembley.
Rooney is set to face Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Wednesday after continuing his comeback from a knee injury with a 67-minute appearance against Aston Villa at the weekend.
The England striker has never won the FA Cup and was surprisingly left out of the United line-up by Sir Alex Ferguson when United lost to Everton on a penalty shootout in 2009.
The United captain is set to face Crystal Palace on Wednesday as he bids to start the FA Cup semi-final
However, Van Gaal is refusing to guarantee his captain a place in the starting line-up this time until he has proved his fitness against Palace tonight.
‘It’s dependable how he plays, like every player,’ said the United boss yesterday (tues). ‘You are presuming that he plays on Saturday. We have to see how he is playing, that’s what I am saying.
‘I think he played very well in the first half (against Villa). In the second half he was tiring but he has already got 60 minutes in his legs.
‘He has trained today and he has recovered, so we have to see how he is feeling in the second half against Crystal Palace and still he has to play good.
‘Against Aston Villa he showed me that he was worthy to play. At the moment it was less, I changed him.’
United were again criticised for their lack of flair against Villa, and Van Gaal acknowledged that they have paid the price for not signing a creative playmaker last summer.
‘I have said in advance what we need and, in my opinion, I don’t have a senior creative player,’ he added.
‘But we can’t get every player because it’s dependable of the player and the club and how much Manchester United wants to pay.’
United trail Manchester City and Arsenal by four points in the race for a top-four place, and Van Gaal warned his players that there is no more margin for error against Palace with just five games left to play.
‘We have to win, we need to win,’ he said. ‘It’s much more important for us to win this game than, for example, for Arsenal of Manchester City.
‘We must win to close the gap otherwise it is too big for the amount of matches we have to play.
‘They have four points more than us, we are dependent on them, we know that. You can only give pressure by winning so we have to look to ourselves.’
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