Rangnick: We must compete physically

Thursday 30 December 2021 10:00

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick says his side need to have solutions in and out of possession during what he is expecting to be a direct and physical test from Burnley on Thursday evening.

The Clarets are the visitors to Old Trafford for the 20:15 GMT kick-off in what will be our next festive outing in the Premier League. 

It comes three days on from our 1-1 draw at Newcastle and the Reds will no doubt be keen to get back to winning ways when playing in front of a home crowd for the first time in over three weeks tonight.

The meeting with the Lancashire club is also our final match of 2021 and, with another important three points at stake in M16, it's an opportunity to head into the new year with some momentum.
Ralf previews our big game v Burnley Video

Ralf previews our big game v Burnley

The boss discusses the test that he believes the Clarets will pose United in tonight's meeting at Old Trafford...

Due to the tight turnaround between matches at this time of year, the German caught up with club media in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s draw in the north east, to conduct his matchday interview ahead of tonight’s fixture. 

Here is everything Rangnick had to say during that chat, in preview of today's game, including what sort of a test he expects from Sean Dyche’s side…
 
Moving forward then, the games come thick and fast, Burnley next at Old Trafford. What do you expect to see from your side in that game?
“Again, this will also be a physical one. Burnley is very direct, very physical and we need to have solutions against that, both on the ball and against the ball.”

How to follow United v Burnley

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Here's everything you need to know about our final match of 2021 at Old Trafford.

And they’re a team like Newcastle, fighting for their lives in the Premier League. It makes it even harder doesn’t it, to play a team like that because they go all in, like we saw from Newcastle…
“Yes but this is Premier League football, most of the teams play like that, even when I watched the games [on Boxing Day I saw that], it is physical football. We need to take that on and be able to compete on that level.”

Just finally, what are the positives that you as the boss here can take from the performance against Newcastle into the Burnley game and then into the Wolves game from there?
“We were 1-0 down at half-time and at that time, it didn’t look as if we would come back, and we came back. Even in the end, we had the chance to win the game and that was the good thing. The team was showing a reaction on the pitch. But in detail, there is still a lot of work to do.”

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