Manchester United were lucky to escape with a draw against Newcastle yesterday after a very poor performance on the ball from Ralf Rangnick’s side.
The Red Devils recently appointed Rangnick as interim manager to take charge of the first-team until the end of the season after deciding to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Things were pretty dire under Solskjaer, but now The Athletic’s Laurie Whitwell has noted that Man Utd actually produced their worst performance of the season in terms of surrendering possession as they were held to a 1-1 draw at St James’ Park last night.
See below for Whitwell’s tweet, which won’t make for pleasant reading for United fans who will have been hoping to see an improvement in precisely this kind of area under Rangnick…
Manchester United lost possession 167 times against Newcastle, their highest total in the Premier League this season.
Players making rudimentary mistakes but the 4-2-2-2 + instructions to move the ball forwards quickly factors too.@TheAthleticUK #MUFC https://t.co/JlpeQPj5P1
— Laurie Whitwell (@lauriewhitwell) December 28, 2021
MUFC clearly still need to adapt to Rangnick’s ideas, and it’s also surely still the case that further signings are needed as some players simply aren’t up to the task of playing for this club right now.
Rangnick can only do so much, and that will be true for whoever comes in as the next long-term managerial appointment in the summer.