"We had a real nightmare in the warm-up, Rio Ferdinand cricked his neck and Ryan Giggs had some sickness before the game, so it was a real quandary of who to put in,"
"He's quite possibly the youngest player to captain United."
"I was looking around the dressing room only 15 minutes from kick-off and Edwin van der Sar was out on the pitch so I overlooked him - though perhaps with his experience and personality I should have used him.
"You look for someone who could respond to it - Paul Scholes for example doesn't want to be captain again - so it was an easy choice giving it to someone that it would give a lift to. He did fantastic and his form is back, as we expected.
"He had joked about it last season - he said within earshot of Roy Keane that he should be captain and that Keane was finished -
Wayne Rooney was happy to get the armband but was even more pleased by the result.
"I was pleased to get the armband but it wasn't the main issue of the night," said Rooney.
"We're really pleased, we got three goals and three points and it was an important win.
"My form is getting better, I was pleased with how I played against