Rangnick reacts to final-day defeat
Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick believes United were made to rue missed chances as we were beaten 1-0 against Crystal Palace on the final day of the season.
After a tight first half-hour, the Reds fell behind when former United winger Wilfried Zaha cut inside and fired into the bottom corner. Rangnick’s side pushed for a leveller in the second half, but Palace’s defence stood firm, and Patrick Vieira’s side saw out the win.
Despite the loss, we finished sixth in the Premier League table, after Brighton, helped by former Red Danny Welbeck, recorded a 3-1 win over Europa League hopefuls West Ham.
Following the loss, Rangnick offered his thoughts on the defeat. Here's a summary of what the German had to say...
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WE WANTED TO DO IT OURSELVES
“Yes, I think Brighton did us a favour to turn the game around. they were losing 1-0 at half-time and scored three goals in the second half. We would have loved to take care of ourselves. In a way, the game was indicative of the last couple of weeks, especially when we played away from home. We tried, we had big opportunities in the first half to score ourselves, but we didn’t. Especially in the first half, we had too many unforced errors, bad giveaways, and that was exactly the way that we conceded the goal. In fact, it was our assist. The goalscorer was Zaha but the ones who gave the assist was ourselves. The way that we defended that shot was also not the way that you have to defend in this league. We had a few opportunities in the second half, but it was not clinical enough, that’s why, in the end, we conceded another defeat away from home.”
OPTIMISTIC FOR THE FUTURE
“We knew [what work lies ahead] before that game. We wouldn’t have needed that fixture today to know that, but I’m optimistic, I’m positive. With the new manager, and Erik [ten Hag] is a top manager, together with our board, with our scouting department we can make sure that we get the necessary reinforcements, the players that help to raise the level of quality again. And then, hopefully, bring Manchester United back into the top four.”
THE AWAY SUPPORT
“The fans are amazing. This is one of the biggest assets that the club has and this is why it is so important that we are all working together to get Manchester United back on track and back into the top [four].”
A BITTERSWEET EXPERIENCE
“It was a new experience for me [being interim manager]. Not necessarily coming in the middle of the season but knowing that it will be an interim role. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any pre-season, we couldn’t strengthen the squad, but those things happen and, therefore in hindsight, it was bittersweet or sweet-bitter rather because in the first couple of months, we did well. We showed some good performances and collected enough points, an average of 2.1 before Atletico. I think the defeat in the Champions League was, in a way, as if someone has popped a balloon. We lost energy since then, we were not on the same level of energy and aggressiveness and that’s why the level of performances then dropped.”
WE DIDN’T STICK TO OUR PLAN
“If we compare the two games against Palace, my first home game, to now, this was completely different. In that game, we chased them, we didn’t give them any time or space, and today it was almost the other way round, they were trying to press us. We intended to play like that, that was the game-plan, to put them under pressure in their half, but we didn’t do it with enough aggressiveness or energy.”