Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has insisted the squad is not in need of a summer overhaul in the wake of Friday night’s embarrassing FA Cup exit against Middlesbrough.
Fans have seen results improve since Rangnick replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on a short-term contract, but performances have generally still been lacking and failure to beat a lower league club at home has brought fresh questions and scrutiny.
But ahead of facing Burnley in the Premier League this week, Rangnick has put the cup shock down to failure to take chances – rather than failure create them, and a momentary defensive lapse punished by a goal he is ‘still convinced’ should have been disallowed.
“I don't think so,” was his response when if an overhaul is necessary to improve things. “Overall, the development of the team and performances over the last couple of weeks have improved.
“There are two points of criticism that we all have to face. One… we wasted too many clear-cut chances, 22 shots inside the box, 10 were massive opportunities and we should easily have been 3-0 up at half-time. It should have been 6-1 or 6-2.
"And the other one was 10 seconds before we conceded the goal. It was a perfect counter-pressing situation inside their half. We took away time from them but not the ball and eight seconds later we were outnumbered in our box. It was a handball goal and I'm still convinced this goal should have been disallowed, but we shouldn't have allowed this situation.”
With United having time off in the build up to the Middlesbrough game as a result of the Premier League’s winter break, Rangnick explained that a full week had gone into game planning and that he saw many of the things had been worked in action.
"We invested a week into the game plan and many of those things have been confirmed by the team and were shown on the pitch against Middlesbrough,” he said.
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Source : 90min