Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has suggested that the misfiring Wayne Rooney is doing a little too much in a bid to rekindle his goalscoring form.

The 30-year-old has struggled to reproduce his talismanic best in a season which has yielded just two goals in nine Premier League appearances thus far.

Van Gaal hit back at his captain's critics after Rooney drew another blank in Wednesday's League Cup exit by Middlesbrough, and the United boss believes that desperation is clouding the striker's judgement.

"Players are human beings and they want to score goals but maybe they want it too much and maybe then the choices are not always good," the Dutchman told a press conference.

"Maybe [Rooney] is doing too much, because you never know as a player how you can improve your shape or your finishing. It can also [create] a lot of doubt and I try to influence that. But it can be too hard and then your mental state shall be a little bit less and that has an influence on everything and that's the most difficult thing as a manager and player to cope with.

"When I was manager of Bayern Munich, the striker was [Mario] Gomez and he touched the ball nine times on an average in a game - the highest 14 touches - but he scored every game. I don't think our strikers touch less the ball. It's how the balls are coming to him, how he decides, how quick he is in dealing with the situation."

Rooney has netted six times in all competitions, with three of those coming in a Champions League playoff second leg away to Club Brugge.