Ralf Rangnick was not satisfied with his Manchester United side’s performance against Aston Villa on Saturday night, in which they conceded twice in the final 13 minutes to throw away a hard-fought victory.
Despite the fact that the result felt like “two points lost,” the German acknowledged his team had positives to take away from the game, but he blamed his players for losing their momentum late at Villa Park.
United had taken a two-goal lead in the Midlands thanks to a brace from skipper Bruno Fernandes, who was looking for a morale-boosting three points in his bid to finish in the top four of the Premier League and qualify for the Champions League as well.
Aston Villa 2-2 Man Utd
You can't win anything with kids but you can come back from 2-0 down with a glamour loanee. Check out Villa's momentum after Philippe Coutinho came on in the 68th minute pic.twitter.com/t3oYZwzmE6
— The Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) January 15, 2022
Philippe Coutinho, a former Liverpool midfielder, came off the bench to assist Jacob Ramsey to make it 2-1, then scored the equalizer on his debut for the Villans, having only joined on loan from Barcelona on Tuesday.
Rangnick could not disguise his displeasure with his team’s ability to turn a three-point lead into a one-point lead by surrendering twice in four minutes late in the game.
While speaking to MUTV, the manager said:
“It is very difficult to find positives after these 95 minutes. I felt it was the best game since I came here, in the first half for 30 minutes we dominated the game. We had taken took some steps forward but have a few things to do better.”
“The plan was to press them in the midzone and we did that very well in the first 30 minutes, and control the ball, and those were the positives. When you are 2-0 up you have to defend better than we did in the last 15 minutes.”
“We gave away too many balls at times in the last 15 minutes, we were not as compact as before and conceded the two goals. In the last 15 minutes before halftime, we were not as courageous to step up, it was better in the second half and then you have to take the three points home. It feels like a defeat, to be honest.”
“Right now is very disappointed but what we showed was a step forward but it about getting the results, it feels like two points lost and given away.”
Rangnick has only lost one of United’s eight Premier League matches as manager, but the Red Devils have won just one of their last four and have put in numerous underwhelming displays.
They are now five points behind fourth-placed West Ham, despite having played one match fewer than David Moyes’ side.
Tottenham, who is one position ahead of United in the sixth, has three games in hand on the Hammers and can leapfrog United by ten points if they win all three.
United can close the gap on West Ham with a win over Brentford on Wednesday night when top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to return after missing the trip to Villa Park due to injury.
