Manchester United’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick did not sound like a happy man after watching his side stumble to a 1-1 draw away to Newcastle United in last night’s Premier League clash.
The German tactician only recently took over at Old Trafford, and although he made a solid start with two 1-0 victories from his first two league matches, the Red Devils’ performance at St James’ Park last night left a lot to be desired.
Speaking after the game, Rangnick did not hide his frustration at all as he hit out at his players for lacking in so many aspects of their performance.
“Today we didn’t control the game apart from a few moments,” Rangnick told Sky Sports, as quoted by BBC Sport. “It’s all about energy, physicality and who wins the second balls. In all those areas we weren’t at our best.
“You have to be ready and able to win those direct duels and this was not that often the case. When we were in possession we had too many giveaways and even with the goal, that doesn’t make things easy.
“Today was not a question of body language, it was a question of body physicality. If you want to be competitive here you have to get physical and this was not the case in many parts of the game.
“Our biggest problem was the mistakes we made. Even when we scored the equaliser we were not really controlling the game and taking the right decisions.
“I didn’t like the performance at all.”
This will no doubt be a bit alarming to Man Utd fans, who might perhaps be seeing why so many of the club’s managers have struggled in recent times.
It was probably the right call to axe Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when they did, but it’s also clearly the case that there are deeper-lying problems at United.
Rangnick is already learning that after just four matches in charge, and it will be interesting to see if he can turn this frustration into something more productive in the next few games to come.