Manchester United news: We need to get better as a team, says Ralf Rangnick

Interim manager Ralf Rangnick wants his Manchester United players to defend from the front in the upcoming matches to keep the opposition attackers at bay. He also wants the team to reduce the number of attacks conceded in transitional moments. Rangnick believes this approach can help the team defend better. However, for that to happen, he reckons that “we need to get better as a team.” The German coach has been at the club for just under a month now. However, he has had much of the desired time on the training ground and in matches interrupted by closures and postponements caused by COVID-19.

United kept clean sheets in the first two Premier League games of Rangnick’s time in charge and in both matches they won. However, the Reds were held to a 1-1 draw at Newcastle United on Monday night. Now he prepares to take charge of just his second league game at Old Trafford, against Burnley on Thursday night. Ahead of the match, he explained his thoughts on Manchester United’s defence.

“Raphael [Varane] hasn’t played for five or six weeks and even before the Tottenham game he was injured, so in total over the last three months, he hasn’t played that many games,” said Rangnick, in his pre-match press conference. “Yes, he made a mistake before the first goal that we conceded, but apart from that, I think he was okay. I wouldn’t say he was outstanding, and the same with Harry [Maguire], but they did okay.”

Rangnick: This is not only a problem of the centre-backs

Varane’s outing against Newcastle was his first for Manchester United since the 2-2 away draw with Atalanta on November 2nd. Rangnick insisted that in order to solve the defensive mistakes, they must address the problem as a team rather than individually.

“Our problem again was that we allowed them too many transitional moments and this is not only a problem of the centre-backs, it is a problem of the whole team and it starts upfront,” said the German. “You can speak also about the role of the no.10s in that kind of formation. I don’t think it makes sense to speak about the individual performance of players, we need to get better as a team.”

In Rangnick’s first four games in charge, United might have only conceded two goals. However, David De Gea has been called upon to make some fantastic saves time and again to keep them in the match. On the back of the disappointing draw against Newcastle, it will be interesting to see how United will approach Thursday night’s game against Burnley.