Ralf Rangnick says Manchester United must ‘stick to the gameplan’ amid reports the squad are unhappy with the interim manager’s methods.
United’s performances have been mixed since the arrival of Rangnick as interim boss, with the Red Devils losing ground in the race for Champions League football after being held to a 1-1 draw at Burnley in midweek.
Reports this week have suggested the squad are unhappy with the manager’s methods, with ESPN revealing the players are unhappy with the ‘old fashioned’ training methods. Chris Armas – the former US international who had not coached outside of America before joining the club – has even reportedly been unflatteringly likened to fictional football coach, Ted Lasso.
Speaking ahead of the Red Devils’ clash with Southampton on Saturday evening, Rangnick told the media that it is important for the club to stick to the plan as they bid to improve and find consistency.
“I have nothing to say. I haven’t read any newspapers, or know about those articles, the way the team has developed is obvious tactically, due to the work we’ve been doing in training,” he said on reported unrest at his pre-match press conference.
“It’s important the players have to also realise the development in the last couple of weeks in and out of possession of the ball. If we concede a goal, against Middlesbrough, it was after 60 minutes, and Burnley was 50 minutes, we should stick to the gameplan and not lose shape or composure.
“This was the most harmful part, we didn’t have the same positioning on the pitch. If the other team scores a goal in football, we have to be aware of why we were so dominant and lose structure, lose shape, this was obvious for 20 minutes against Burnley. It got better at the end but in those 15 mins we lost that shape.”
Rangnick also spoke on Cristiano Ronaldo’s run without a goal, a sequence that stretched to five games after the forward’s appearance off the bench in midweek.
Whilst far from a crisis for most players, it is the longest Ronaldo has gone without a goal in more than a decade after a career of record-breaking returns.
The German said that while he ‘should score more goals’, the responsibility is on the whole side to improve their goalscoring output and get the results that some of their performances ‘deserve’.
“It’s not only about him,” he said. “He should score more goals, it’s obvious, we are creating chances but just didn’t score enough goals. It’s not just an issue with Cristiano, it’s an issue with other players, we don’t score enough goals.
“If you bear in mind how many chances we create, it needs to improve in the coming weeks.
“In the first half against Burnley, it was very close to the gameplan we spoke about before the game and now it’s about rewarding ourselves with the results we deserve.”
