Rangnick looking to address glaring Man Utd mistake and addresses talk of major summer overhaul
Ralf Rangnick has insisted that he remains unsure if Manchester United need a major summer overhaul and is only focusing on the team’s current improvement.
United crashed out of the FA Cup on Friday to Championship side Middlesbrough in a big upset. Despite dominating the match at Old Trafford, the Red Devils only managed to score one goal and paid the price.
Indeed, Boro hit back in the second half and took the game to penalties, where they triumphed against their hosts.
The result has added to the frustration around Old Trafford at the performances this season.
Interim manager Rangnick has insisted, though, that his side showed the fruits of their work during the winter break in working on attacking principles.
“We invested some time in our offensive principles and I think we showed that both in the game against West Ham and even more so in the game against Middlesbrough,” Rangnick told a press conference on Monday.
“We created numerous chances. I can’t remember any game in the past couple of years where my team has created more shots on goal. I think it was 30 in total and 22 of them from inside the box.
“In the end, it didn’t lead to the result we wanted, but at least we dominated the game in most parts and we did well creating those chances.”
Rangnick points out Man Utd mistake
Nevertheless, United paid the price for not taking those chances. Cristiano Ronaldo fired a penalty wide early on, before Bruno Fernandes hit the post amid an open goal.
But Rangnick added that a tactical mishap from his players allowed Boro to score their equaliser.
“The 10 seconds before we conceded that ‘handball’ goal, as I may call it, it was a perfect counter-pressing situation on their sideline.
“We took away time, the only thing that we forgot is taking away the ball from them. This led to a situation where eight seconds later, we were outnumbered in our own box and allowed them to score that ‘handball’ goal.
“I am convinced the goal should have been disallowed, but we should not have allowed the situation to happen.”
Potential Man Utd overhaul
Rangnick’s future is uncertain as Man Utd look for a new permanent manager to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
As such, Rangnick faced a probe over if he now realises the task he has at hand amid a potential overhaul when he moves into an Old Trafford consultancy role in the summer.
He said: “I don’t know. I don’t think so because, overall, the development of the team and our performances in the last couple of weeks have improved, including by the way, the cup game.”
On whether United prioritised the FA Cup, he added: “Yes of course, but this is hypothetical.
“There are still 16 clubs involved and a lot of top teams. Everyone can see how seriously we prepared the team for this game. We were not clinical enough.
“We were not the only ones, by the way. Others, like Chelsea and West Ham had problems against third-division teams.
“This can happen, but in the end we didn’t proceed and this was the worst part of it. It’s not about ‘maybe it was a chance to get silverware’, we wanted to get to the next round.”
United face Burnley on Tuesday following a 3-1 win over the Clarets at Old Trafford in December.
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