Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick shares his thoughts on his team’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea
Speaking after his side’s 1-1 draw against Chelsea, as quoted by the club’s official website, Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick said he was pleased with his side’s second-half performance after putting out a weakened squad.
United and Chelsea played out a goalless first half, although the Blues dominated their opponents and were guilty of failing to put away their chances. Goalkeeper David de Gea stood up to the attackers’ test once again, as he has all season.
Rangnick said that despite only having thirteen players from the senior side available for the match, with eight regular stars missing through injury, he believed that his team showed a good attitude, at least in the second half.
“Of course, we were missing eight players in total, so we only had 13 players from the professional team available and bearing that in mind, I thought we showed a good attitude, at least in the second half.”
With players like Edinson Cavani, Fred, Luke Shaw, and Jadon Sancho missing the game through injury or other reasons, Rangnick had to field his remaining stars and even had multiple academy products on the bench, ready to come on if needed.
“I was quite pleased with the performance”
Old Trafford saw all the goals in the fixture come after half-time, with Chelsea taking the lead through a Marcos Alonso volley which de Gea had no answer to. However, the west London side could hardly capitalise on their advantage, as Cristiano Ronaldo struck back with a half-volley of his own nearly two minutes later.
Rangnick said that he was pleased with the second-half performance against a top team like the Blues, as he believed that his team were physically better and had more shape and had more organisation on the pitch to get more control in the game.
“We were also physically better and had more shape and more organisation to get more control. It was still far away from controlling and commanding the game, but against a top team like Chelsea, I still think in the second half, I was quite pleased with the performance.”
After de Gea stole the headlines for United in the first period of the match thanks to his saves, Ronaldo took over the spotlight in the other half as he scored yet another goal in front of the home crowd and added to his goal tally for the season.
Prior to this game, he had scored hat-tricks at the Theatre of Dreams against Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur in recent weeks. Unfortunately, he could not add another brace last night, though he did score the all-important equaliser to hand his side a crucial point.
Rangnick also made use of Phil Jones in the 79th minute of the match- which was only his third PL appearance this season. It could be seen as a defensive move as Nemanja Matic was brought off for him, suggesting a shift for United to a back five. But the German explained it was a decision aimed at plugging the gap down Alex Telles’ wing.
“I decided to bring on Phil Jones as they were causing us problems on their right side with Reece James and Mason Mount, so it was difficult for Alex Telles to get hold of that.”
After successive losses in the Premier League, Rangnick is sure to be pleased that his team was able to snatch a draw at home and arrest their recent slump to an extent. His side still remains in sixth position in the league table, five points away from a top-four place.
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However, their top-four rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have played two games less, so they could still pull away from the Red Devils and extinguish their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League next season.
