England needs Rooney more than ManU: Ferguson

London: Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted that England rely more on ace striker Wayne Rooney than United do.

"There's more expectation on Wayne with England than there is with us. England look at him as the No.1 striker. It seems to me they don't have a certain, definite partner with him," Ferguson said.

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"They talk about Emile Heskey, Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe, whereas here he's got Dimitar Berbatov. There's not the same expectation on him all the time," he said.

Ferguson has a number of talents to call on, although the prospect of heading into an important match against Liverpool what he calls a derby without Rooney is surely more unthinkable than the United boss suggested, the News of the World reports.

"I've not asked Wayne about the baby. It's not my baby," Ferguson laughed when asked if the birth of Rooney's child may hamper his preparations.

"Wayne's coming along exactly on the right lines we expected. He's had some wonderful moments at the club already and he's got lots of enthusiasm to achieve more in the game. He was born with that. He has a natural gift of determination and ability. He's everything we expected when we signed him," he said.

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Ferguson knows victory today would all but end Liverpool's Premier League hopes.

That would represent ferocious revenge for the 4-1 Old Trafford mauling at the end of last season.

"The main thing is we recovered from it. You don't dismiss a score like that but it's in the past. I didn't think it was a 4-1. Maybe Liverpool would argue with that but we got back on song straight away," Ferguson said.