Ralf: United players must have 'eternal' motivation

The interim manager was asked at his pre-match press conference if that particular aspect has been an issue for the last two fixtures, in which the Reds have dropped five points in the race for a top-four place by drawing 1-1 at home to Leicester City and then losing 1-0 at Everton last time out.

"It shouldn't be a problem at a club like Manchester United," the German replied.

"The players who play for Manchester United should always have an eternal level of motivation.

"If I look at the Everton game, until that first deflected shot on our goal, we were in control of the game. I'm not saying that we played extremely well but we controlled the game. From the sideline, I had the feeling that they [Everton] felt shaky. At that time, had we scored ourselves, it would have been different but we didn't.

"We conceded the goal and from then on it changed the atmosphere in the stadium, and it also changed our own energy level in our team and this should not happen.

"Even if you concede a goal - a deflected shot in football can happen - we should still be aware that we are the better team and we can dominate game. That wasn't the case and it's probably got to do with confidence. You may call it motivation, but it definitely affected our level of confidence at that point."

Norwich at home this Saturday afternoon is the first of seven remaining Premier League games for seventh-placed United. Results will decide how and whether the club qualifies for European football next season, albeit with a dependency on Spurs, Arsenal and possibly West Ham - who occupy the fourth, fifth and sixth spots - slipping up in their schedules.

"It doesn't make sense to speculate how other teams will play, or whether they will drop points or not," stressed Rangnick in his media briefing.

"As long as we don't win our own games, the other results will never be in our favour so our focus is on tomorrow and again, in front of 75,000 [fans], play on the high level and win the three points."