Robin van Persie talks up importance of partnership with Wayne Rooney amid Manchester United woes

The pair have not been able to play together as much as they would have liked so far this term

Robin van Persie together with Wayne Rooney (GETTY IMAGES)

Robin van Persie believes his Manchester United strike partnership with Wayne Rooney can go from strength to strength as the season progresses.

The duo have 15 Premier League goals between them so far this season, with their form providing a rare bright spot in a difficult start to the season for David Moyes' side.

And Van Persie feels the understanding between the pair is vital to their success and that of the team.

"It's the interaction together, it's that we both want to play together," he said in an interview broadcast on MUTV. "We realise that we are better off playing together because we are stronger as a partnership.

"With a player of Wayne's calibre we can go from strength to strength and become even better than we are now.

"Lately we've been playing really well together, we've been setting up goals for each other, we are both scoring, which is what I want.

"It is important that this partnership is growing and becoming even stronger."

Van Persie feels the strength of both players' all-round games is what makes them so difficult to play against.

Rather than United operating with a traditional 'number nine' supported by a deep-lying 'number 10', the Holland international said: "We are both 'nine-and-a-halves'.

"We can play high up front, we can drop, it is an extra quality we both have which is quite rare.

"If you look around you have loads of main strikers, target men, 'foxes in the boxes', and you have 'number 10s' who are dropping in more and it's very obvious.

"With us it's not obvious, we can both do that job. Wayne is doing it a bit more because he's playing behind me but we can both do it so we can change the game if it's needed."

PA