Every word from Ralf's press conference

The German coach explained what the last fortnight has been like for him, his coaching staff and his players, and gave a detailed update into the current status of the United squad.

Rangnick also discussed in depth about changes that could be made to English football to alleviate any concerns and issues that are arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to that, he outlined his excitement at being able to be involved in the traditional festive fixture schedule for the first time.

Read every word from the boss below...

Hi Ralf, nice to see you. I guess the obvious place to start is where everybody’s focus is at the moment, on the current situation for you and your squad on COVID? Could you update us?
"Yes, as you know, last week, we had the last training session on Thursday, on that day we had eight outfield players and three goalkeepers and then we closed down the training ground for four days in order to break the chain. Today was the third day of training this week, we started on Tuesday, we trained yesterday and today, and today we had 25 outfield players. Quite apart from Paul Pogba, he’s the only one missing out, everyone was on board. So, yeah, the development in the last week was extremely positive."

Do you feel you're in good shape now for that fixture at Newcastle?
"Yes, we will train tomorrow and then it will be a day off for the players on Christmas Day and then we have the last session here on Sunday. We'll fly Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening to Newcastle."

There's been a lot of talk about player welfare and five substitutes and various ways of helping the players over this period, what do you think about what should happen? What's your view as someone new?
"As far as I remember the five substitutes were implemented or it was decided that every team could sub five players when COVID started two years ago, or one and a half years ago. I think it was the right decision to do that, to have more options, to change players, to save energy for players especially if they have only just recovered from COVID. The same is true right now, so we have a similar situation to the one we had one-and-a-half years ago and therefore I wouldn’t see any reason why it shouldn’t be as it was one-and-a-half years ago.

"As far as I know, in Europe, England is the only country where they only allow three subs, in all the other big leagues in Europe you can substitute five players. And on the other hand, you are still allowed to have eight outfield players on the team sheet and if you have eight outfield players on the team sheet, you should also be able to replace five, because if you can only replace three, you will always have five who cannot be substituted or cannot play."

You’ve only just come to England but what's your view on having to play a game on the 26th - you are on the 27th but other teams are on the 26th – and other teams will play two days after and then three days after that, should something have been done to clear space and help teams? More games are being called off on Boxing Day…
"I mean, you know that better than I do, what a big tradition this is to play in England to play Boxing Day, to play on the 27th, even on 30th and 2nd January. This is a big tradition. I think we should stick to it and respect this tradition. I'm looking forward to that, it's the first time in my coaching career that I will be part of that. But I think there might be two or three other issues that can be discussed and have been discussed in the past. England is the only country in the top five leagues that plays two cup competitions. Even France, I think they abolished the second one a year or two ago. Currently we are the only country that play two cup competitions; this is something maybe we could once again speak about or discuss. I know the reason for that, the Carabao Cup has been still kept for the third and fourth division teams especially, to help improve the financial situation of those clubs but I still think, if we speak about a tight calendar and playing too many games, this could be something where we could speak and discuss.

"The other issue, I think it has been changed now in the last two weeks, is that in the FA Cup after a draw that you have to have a replay, after a draw. This has been changed now. I think this is also a good idea. In other countries in cup competitions, you play extra-time and penalties so you never have that replay situations. So those might be issues and topics you could speak about."

Picking up on this week, just how challenging has it been to prepare for a game and get everyone back in the training ground? And just what is the availability?
"Well, as far as I could see in training today, they are all in good shape. They did their homework; they all have their schedules to train at home and they stuck to that schedule and to that programme. From what I saw today in training, I can say most of them - if not all of them - might be available, and of course, I would have to take some difficult decisions, who will be in the squad, who will be in the starting XI."

The Premier League met earlier this week – the shareholders - the managers and players are due to meet later today, what are you hoping to hear from the Premier League? What do the players want to hear about player welfare?
"I think most of the things we have already spoken about, it would be of great help to have five substitutes. This would increase and improve the emotional situation in the squad because it's a big difference if you can give five players game time – it’s also about game time – and therefore I would be much more in favour of having five subs. As I said, in other countries, they do that. I think we should seriously think about that once again. I haven't spoken with my players about that, but I don’t need to because I know that most of the players would be in favour of that.

"Apart from that, the Premier League will try everything to keep the league safe, to keep the situation around the players safe. At the club, we do that regularly, we have to encourage players to behave in a disciplined way with regards to contact, we also need to make sure we have most of the players vaccinated. As far as I'm aware, we have a high record of vaccinated players here in our club, but the past two weeks show that even if you are being vaccinated two or three times, you can still be catching the virus, especially the new virus. You are not being protected [from catching] but at least you are being protected from severe symptoms. And as far as I know, most of our players who were tested positive, at least they had very, very weak symptoms and they didn’t suffer from that."