Rangnick hails Man Utd trait instilled over recent months; Maguire ’embarrassed’ by bizarre stat
Ralf Rangnick hailed his side’s “maturity” after admitting the Man Utd victory over Leeds may not have been possible when he first took charge.
Man Utd withstood truly dismal weather conditions and a spirited Leeds fightback to secure a 4-2 victory against Leeds Utd. The Red Devils went into the break two goals to the good after Harry Maguire finally ended their bizarre goal-less run from corners. Bruno Fernandes notched the second after a sublime chipped cross from Jadon Sancho.
Marcelo Bielsa rung the changes at half-time, with Joe Gelhardt and the surprisingly benched Raphinha making an instant impact.
But despite clawing their way back to 2-2, Man Utd steadied their ship, and plundered a third and fourth goal late on through Fred and Anthony Elanga respectively.
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Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Rangnick said: “It was a fantastic game to watch if you were not responsible as a manager for either of the two teams.
“If we want to finish fourth in the league, we cannot afford to lose and drop any more points, even more when you’re 2-0 up and that’s why this was a massive win.
“The five minutes after (Leeds’ equaliser) was really intense. Very difficult for us and I think the team showed maturity, we’ve grown together as a team.
“I’m not sure this would have happened two or three months ago but it happened today and it was important. We showed a reaction in the last 20 minutes and in the end we deserved to win.”
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“I’m embarrassed by the stat” – Maguire
Harry Maguire also spoke to the press, telling Sky Sports: “We needed to start the second half better, for sure.
“They came out right on top of us; their first goal is obviously really lucky and it got them right back in it and then they scored a good goal.
“We had to fight back and stick together, we knew it was a tough place to come but we knew we had qualities and could hurt them. We said at half time we needed to score more in the second half and we managed to do that.”
On Man Utd finally scoring from a corner after 139 unsuccessful attempts in a row, Maguire added: “I’m embarrassed by the stat.
“I’m a big part of that set play routine but as a team we’ve been nowhere near good enough. If we scored more from set pieces we’d be higher up the table.”
On the dismal weather conditions that saw players sliding this way and that and the ball struggle to roll on the rain-drenched surface, the defender admitted: “They were really bad.
“We came out at the start of the second half and tried to play the same way, but got caught in it. It was old school, I’m sure it was good to watch but thankfully we came out on top.”
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