By Chris Wheeler ‘You're Man United and your captain is Scouse’ sang the Swansea fans at Old Trafford on Saturday afternoon. It was a fitting taunt towards the United supporters who were still revelling in Steven Gerrard’s misfortune when missing out on the title last season, some of whom will never forget that Rooney wanted to leave their club not once but twice. Others will accept that United need Rooney now more than ever, as he proved with an acrobatic equaliser in his first game since being installed as Louis van Gaal’s captain on a permanent basis. VIDEO Scroll down to watch Van Gaal: Rooney must be a captain off the pitch too
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Rooney wore the armband in Louis van Gaal's first game against Swansea
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He scored United's equaliser with an aerobatic effort at a corner
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Some United supporters have opposed making Rooney captain due to his roots in Liverpool and his transfer requests in the past
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Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Ryan Giggs, United's most natural leaders, all left Old Trafford during the summer
In the first half it certainly felt like the latter as @placeholder tried to raise United from an attacking stupor.