Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick was unhappy with his team’s lacklustre performance in a 1-1 Premier League draw at struggling Newcastle United on Monday night. Newcastle missed a number of good chances and only a majestic performance by goalkeeper David De Gea spared Rangnick his first defeat as Manchester United’s boss.
“I didn’t like the performance at all,” the German said as he stretched his unbeaten run in all competitions to four games.
“Today we didn’t control the game apart from a few moments. It’s all about energy, physicality and who wins the second ball. In all those areas we weren’t at our best. The good thing is we got a point but the performance needs to be better.”
The visitors looked uncomfortable every time Newcastle came forward and Rangnick, who started his tenure with 1-0 wins over Crystal Palace and Norwich City, defended his decision to revert to a 4-2-3-1 formation against Newcastle. “Today it was not a question of formation — it was a question of how aggressive we were,” he said. “You have to be ready and able to win those direct duels and this was not often the case. If you want to be competitive here you have to get physical and this was not the case in many parts of the game. We shouldn’t look for excuses — we need to be better and get more physical.”
Meanwhile, captain Harry Maguire said a 16-day coronavirus break had done Manchester United no favours. The Newcastle match United’s first match since December 11 after a Covid-19 outbreak forced them to close their training complex — Victor Lindelof was absent after testing positive.
“No 16-day break in the middle of a football season is going to help you,” Maguire told Manchester United’s official website. “The training ground has been shut and half the lads playing today are recovering from the virus, so of course it’s not going to help us. We’ve had people with symptoms, people without symptoms — it’s been a real mixed bag for everyone at the football club and it’s been a tough time.”
But the defender said United could not make excuses for their sloppy performance.
“We’ve got to stay on the ball, we’ve got to stay active and we’ve got to play the ball in their half and we didn’t manage to do that,” he said. “You can look at that and ask whether the last 16 days had a big impact on that because it looked like we ran out of steam out there. A point in the end is a fair result, but it’s a result that we’re disappointed with.”
The draw means United are seven points behind fourth-placed Arsenal with two games in hand ahead of tomorrow’s clash with Burnley at Old Trafford, but Maguire said they would be better after their tough evening at Newcastle.
“I’m sure 90 minutes will have benefited every single player out there,” he said. “The Burnley game and the Wolves game are coming up thick and fast and we’ve got to play better than we have done tonight to make sure we get three points.”
Newcastle manager Eddie Howe rued his team’s missed chances although he praised Allan Saint-Maximin, who gave the home side an early lead before Edinson Cavani levelled. “We are very disappointed as we deserved to win,” he said.
“The lads executed the game plan brilliantly. I thought we were very good and didn’t deserve to concede. Naturally with someone like (Saint-Maximin) him you want him to have the ball all the time. When he’s on song there’s nobody quite like him. Key to our success is trying to feed him as much as we can.”
The result left Newcastle 19th on 11 points from 19 matches. Newcastle have now won only one of their eight games under manager Howe, although they did end a three-game losing streak.