Ralf Rangnick confirms Man Utd stars ignored his instructions – “I’m a little bit annoyed”
Ralf Rangnick was enraged with his Manchester United players after they disobeyed his instructions to play more direct against Young Boys.
As they were already securely through to the Champions League knockout phase, the German coach made sweeping changes to his team on Wednesday night, giving a number of periphery players an opportunity to establish a claim.
With a magnificent acrobatic finish, Mason Greenwood put the Red Devils ahead, but Fabian Rieder’s breathtaking shot following a Donny van de Beek error equalized at Old Trafford.
Rangnick was enraged at United’s goal, which came after his men attempted to play out from the back when he had encouraged them to break Young Boys’ push by going more direct.
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In an interview with BT Sport, he said: “What was particularly vexing was the manner in which we also gave the goal away by playing too many balls into their first-line pressing area.
“And the same could be said about the goal we gave up. We could have easily cleared the ball, and we were always dangerous when we played the ball into the second or third line.
“I informed them before the game, but they still played a five-meter pass in that situation, and [Young Boys] were just waiting for it. We sent what was essentially a last-minute invitation.”
He went on to say: “Before the game, I was well aware that the team I was playing with today had never played together as a unit. We fared fairly well for the first half-hour.
“We made a few unforced errors, but we were still in command of the game. We should’ve been up 2-0 or 3-0 by now. We had some excellent chances but were unable to capitalize. With those scenarios, we were a little sloppy.
“We weren’t defending high enough or pro-actively enough after conceding the equalizer. Nobody could have objected if the final score had been 4-4.
There were several debuts and opportunities for individuals who were in severe need of playing time. I wouldn’t say I was overjoyed, but it was satisfactory.”
