Ralf: We should have brought the points home
Ralf Rangnick was clearly frustrated after an improved Manchester United performance only yielded one Premier League point at Villa Park on Saturday evening.
But on this occasion, although Bruno Fernandes put the Reds further in front with his excellent second goal of the game, a clean sheet could not be kept and Steven Gerrard's men were allowed to rally and eventually level the score at 2-2.
Here's what Rangnick had to say in his post-match interview with MUTV's Stewart Gardner...
Ralf: We didn't show our experience
The boss was really disappointed after we surrendered the lead at Villa, after such a positive first 70 minutes...
OVERALL FEELING
“[I am] completely disappointed about the result. After being two-nil up after 70 minutes you have to be disappointed and it’s difficult now to speak about the positives, but I still believe that we showed quite a few positive things today. In the first half-hour we dominated the game, it was our best performance on the ball, we could have been two or three-nil up in the first half-hour. In those last 15 minutes again we showed if we open up the space, if we are not compact enough, other teams can create chances which is what happened. But still, one-nil at half-time and in the second half again we were more compact, we had more control on the game and scored the second goal after 70 minutes. Then you should expect an experienced team like we have, that we are capable to take the three points home.”
YOUR BEST FIRST HALF SO FAR
“Yes [it was] but again, in the end it’s also about the result and after having lost against Wolves, today only one point, it’s just not enough. This is exactly how it feels right now. But again, we have to take the good things into the next couple of games and show and develop and build upon that.”
BACK FOUR, NOT THREE
“I was thinking and discussing with my assistant coach about a back three in the last 15 minutes but my worry was that if we changed the formation, we would be pinned back too much and then concede the goals. So I decided to stick with the back four and try to keep them out of our box but in the end it didn’t work out.”
ELANGA IMPRESSED AGAIN
"He had a good game. He showed exactly those things that I expected him to show and why I decided to play him from the start. He not only worked hard for the team defensively, he also had two or three good if not great opportunities to score himself. He confirmed his nomination from the beginning.”
BIGGER SQUAD FOR BRENTFORD
“Hopefully the injured or ill players will be back for Wednesday but right now I’m not sure, or thinking about the game on Wednesday. I’m still very disappointed about this result.”