Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick couldn’t hide his frustration after watching his side’s embarrassing performance on Saturday as they lost 1-0 to relegation-threatened Everton
Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick was left fuming after his side’s defeat against Everton, and appeared to aim a dig at Toffees boss Frank Lampard afterwards.
Anthony Gordon’s deflected shot off Harry Maguire gave Everton three points, and pushed United further away from the top four, with Arsenal three points ahead of them with a game in hand.
Everton had lost twice in seven days before Saturday’s game, with defeats against West Ham last Sunday and Burnley on Wednesday. And Rangnick appeared to take issue with the fact his side had failed to score against Everton, but Burnley had done so three times.
Burnley put the pressure on Everton in a huge way on Wednesday night by beating them 3-2 at Turf Moor thanks to a late Maxwell Cornet goal. Burnley had 13 shots in that game, United had just 12 on Saturday.
Speaking after the game, Rangnick said: “If you don’t score in 95 minutes against a team that conceded three goals against Burnley… it’s difficult to explain.”
United now sit in seventh place in the Premier League table, and are now looking over their shoulders at Wolves, who are just two points behind them. And Rangnick admitted he believes the race for top-four is out of United’s hands.
He said: “We’ve spoken about that a few times, we’re dependent on other results, but if we don’t win our games we’ll never have good results from other teams. The only thing we can do is stick together.
“Now we have Fred injured as well as Scott McTominay, so that’s two midfield sixes injured, hopefully not for too long. That’s all we can do, prepare for the Norwich game.”
Lampard couldn’t hide his joy at full-time, and was clearly delighted during his post-match interview with BT Sport. He admitted, however, that the fight against relegation isn’t done yet.
He said: “It starts with us. The crowd were great but they could switch off if they see people not working. When you are not at your best you have to fight through it. You might give a ball away but the only way to get that back is to fly in and make a tackle.
“Beautiful football can come later on. I have ambitions for this club to stay up, play well, but in the position we are in, fighting comes first and foremost.
“It’s one win. We should have got a result in the week but didn’t. You have to keep going. It’s not easy when you wake up the next morning after Burnley. My job first and foremost is to lift everyone. They are a good bunch these players.”
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