Manchester United: Michael Carrick gave fans ‘a taste’ of Sir Alex Ferguson era – Wayne Rooney

After a goalless first half, Cameroon striker Mbeumo, returning from Africa Cup of Nations duty, put United ahead and Dorgu doubled the lead 11 minutes later.

Rooney said it was the “best performance” he had seen at United in a long time.

“I don’t think what Michael did with the team was rocket science. It was a simple change in terms of formation,” the former England striker said.

“I think everyone was talking a lot about Ruben Amorim’s formation in the back three and how it suits Manchester United.

“He’s changed that, but if you go back to the last podcast where we talked about what United need to do, it’s actually very simple, run and work hard. “It was very refreshing to see the players do that.

“I thought Amad and Dorgu were excellent on the wings, the work rate they put in to help the full-backs was excellent and, as I mentioned before, they were compact and hit Manchester City on the break.”

Amorim was sacked on 5 January and Rooney said United’s win over City was “night and day” under Portuguese management.

Rooney added: “You can feel the difference in energy in the team, the confidence, the belief and the ability to dominate the ball at the right time from the fans.

“From what we saw, it was night and day, so it was a beautiful day. When we talked about the DNA of Man United, it reminded me of…

“Train hard, run for your teammate, get fit, be hard to play against – [and then] Run forward when you get the chance.”