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Hart dismisses Rooney’s “mind games” statement

Comment: 0 February 7th, 2012 by: admin

Manchester City keeper Joe Hart brushed off statements by Manchester United star Wayne Rooney regarding the supposed psychological effect that their comeback against Chelsea has towards their rivals.

According to the Red Devils striker, earning a 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge after crawling back from a 0-3 deficit is in itself a statement towards other squads about their resilience and refusal to give up on the Premier League title.

Hart, however, stated that City, considered to be Manchester United’s biggest rivals, are unshaken by the results as their intention is to focus on their own performance.

“God knows we can only concentrate on ourselves,” Hart told MirrorFootball.com.  “I don’t think we know their fixtures, and I’m sure they don’t know ours.”

The keeper’s statements came right after Rooney, recalling their rally against Chelsea, assumed that their display would have come as a warning sign for City.

“It’s two points lost, we understand that,” Rooney had said about the draw.  “But after being 3-0 down all the City players at home won’t have enjoyed watching us, the way we fought back and the spirit of the team.

“They know it will be a long fight and we’ll be there to the end.  We fought well and fought hard and that point could win us the League.”

After shrugging off Rooney’s claims, Hart then launched a sideways blow by advising that Man United look only to their performance and keep to their business.

“They’ve just got to focus on what they’re doing,” he said, “and we’ll do what we can do to help ourselves.  We can only do that by winning.”

City, currently atop the EPL table with two points clear of United, are set to try and retain their dominance as they travel to Villa Park next week for a showdown with Aston Villa.  This, according to Hart, merits more of their focus than the Red Devils.

“We’ve got a lot of things on our plate than worrying about Man United,” said Hart. “We’ve got a big game against Villa coming up and we’ve got really important teams to play against.

“Whoever is in the chasing pack, or involved in the title race, will do what they’ve got to do.  I’m pretty sure they don’t care what they’ve got to do.  I’m pretty sure they don’t care what’s going on elsewhere.”

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