Rijo Sam Daniel
Ralf Rangnick reveals what went wrong for Manchester United in second half against Burnley
Ralf Rangnick has weighed in on the disappointing second-half performance of Manchester United in the 1-1 draw against Burnley in the Premier League. It was the second match in succession that his side failed to capitalise on the promise they had shown in the opening 45 minutes.
The Red Devils were in control until the halftime break, but they failed to add more goals to their tally. Paul Pogba opened the scoring for his side past the first quarter of the hour mark. They also had two controversial goals called back following VAR checks. The Clarets got back into the mix early in the second half as Wout Weghorst set up Jay Rodriguez to score the equaliser. Man United failed to replicate their first-half display as they dropped to fifth place in the league table.
Speaking in the post-match interview with MUTV (h/t Manchester United official website), Rangnick criticised the players for being lacklustre and failing to be aggressive from the get-go following the break. He also added how they lacked enough composure, which eventually led to the goal. Moreover, he lashed out at how the equaliser was conceded as there was adequate cover to prevent it.
“The second half we didn’t start well, we were not aggressive enough, we were not composed enough on the ball. Even the two minutes before we conceded the goal, three times we had won the ball and played tiki-taka football in our own half and gave away the ball too easily.
“The behaviour of our team in those 10 seconds before they scored was just not good enough. We had two or three players in our own half but still allowed them to score the goal.”
Not consistent enough!
The poor second-half display was similar to our loss against Middlesbrough in the fourth round of the FA Cup. It is almost like the players took their foot off the gas as they felt they had done enough. Or else it would not make sense since they were the ones who performed well in the opening phase of the game.
Scott McTominay was caught out of place in the build-up to the equaliser as he was not aggressive enough to contest the ball. He had another opportunity to shut out the danger, but he failed in doing so. Harry Maguire is in the same boat as he allowed Weghorst to have too much space before receiving the ball. He also could have tried to put in a challenge before Rodriguez scored the second of the match.
The lack of composure was highlighted as we lost the ball too easily in the opposition box, even before the defensive mistakes. That took out a chunk of our players which eventually cost us two points on the night. The squad must iron out these lapses of concentration if they hope to have a top-four finish in the league.
Top teams are switched on throughout the match, which is the reason why they dominate their opponents. We had opportunities to drop a similar performance, but the team let us down in taking the final step. They must realise their mistakes and push forward to build on the improvements they have shown under the German boss over the past few fixtures. That would undoubtedly determine our Champions League fate for next season.
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As for Rangnick, listing the mistakes is one thing, but addressing them so they are not repeated is what makes one a good manager. Whether he can do it or not remains to be seen, but the ex-RB Leipzig honcho is also in a phase where he would want to impress the board members as he is only an interim manager as of now.
Our recent performances would do nothing to help him in that regard and it would be interesting to see if he can rally the players to regroup and come back stronger from this.
