Ole Gunnar Solskjaer defended his decision to leave Cristiano Ronaldo out of his last Manchester United starting line-up.
Ronaldo was the shock omission from United's line-up in a 1-1 draw against Everton at Old Trafford.
The superstar came off the bench, but was unable to inspire his United to victory, with Solskjaer's decision criticised by former boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
But Solskjaer defended his treatment of Ronaldo and said: “He's an exceptional player, exceptional finisher, goalscorer, an exceptional professional.
“It's hard to leave him out and I think everyone would love to - how do you say? - if you can go and play six games in six days and play the same eleven every time.
“It's great, but rotation - we need to get to April and May with everyone firing.
“We got to May in the final stretch of last season and we were too tired. I manage the players for the club. it's nice to have him on the pitch, he'll always come up with the goods. The more we have him on the pitch, the better.”
United travel to Leicester tomorrow, the start of a crucial run of six games that could go a long way to defining their season, with Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City also to play.
“We're looking forward to this run, every good player wants to play the best teams and we've got some of the best teams coming up,” said Solskjaer.
Solskjaer said he wants Jesse Lingard, who is out of contract this summer, to sign a new deal. Lingard has rejected United's initial offer because he wants to play more regularly.
“Jesse's had a good start to the season, of course,” said Solskjaer. “He's come on and scored a few goals for us and that's been very important for us.
“We want to prolong his contract, we see him as an important player for us, but it's up to him - or maybe up to me - to give him more playing time, because he deserves it.
“Hopefully, we can get a deal sorted for Jesse because we really rate him.”
