Ralf Rangnick was appointed Manchester United manager on November 29 but due to work permit rules and Covid-19 issues, he had only presided over two Premier League matches during the most congested part of English football’s calendar, prior to Monday’s meeting with Newcastle.
Both of those games were won, although neither were convincing. A 1-0 victory against Crystal Palace, secured by the rarest of collectable items – a right-footed goal by Fred – was followed by a win by the same scoreline over 20th placed Norwich courtesy of a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty. David De Gea was United’s best player on that occasion.
Since that fortuitous result at Carrow Road two-and-a-half weeks ago, United have had two matches – against Brentford and Brighton – postponed after succumbing to a Covid-19 outbreak. Of course, the circumstances have been far from ideal and it is impossible to know how badly those who tested positive were affected.
But the least that United supporters would have expected after such a lengthy intermission is that the players would have looked more comfortable in Rangnick’s 4-2-2-2 system than they did in those opening two matches. Rangnick is wholeheartedly committed to his philosophy and the lack of game-time would, in theory, have given him time to relay those ideas to his squad, be it in person or virtually.
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A 1-0 half-time lead was no less than Newcastle deserved. Eddie Howe had out-Rangnick’ed Rangnick. The home side were aggressive, played with urgency and intent and scored a goal from a transition when Sean Longstaff picked Raphael Varane’s pocket before rolling the ball into Saint-Maximin’s path. These are the intangibles that Rangnick was supposed to provide for United, but they were completely lacking.
“You don’t want to go overboard in the sense that they’ve been off for 16 days, they’ve got a new manager, they’re trying to get used to a new system… [but] the balance of the team is not right,” a quietly seething Gary Neville said on Sky Sports at the break. “I was worried after Norwich. There’s no pressing, there’s no urgency. The basics of the game… every single battle they’ve lost. That’s been a really poor performance.”
Much to Jamie Carragher’s enjoyment, Neville added: “They’re whingeing at each other. They’re a bunch of whingebags. I’m not going to go into the names but watch them, their arms are up in the air, they’re complaining about everything. Honestly, they are absolutely shocking out there in the first half.”
Rangnick obviously shared Neville’s assessment of the performance as he made two changes at half-time, with Mason Greenwood and Fred making way for Jadon Sancho and Edinson Cavani. Speaking post-match, Rangnick stated that there had been a subtle tweak to the system at the break, with United lining up in a 4-3-1-2 shape, although that didn’t appear to be particularly obvious.
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Fernandes, the most obvious square peg in a round hole in the 4-2-2-2 shape, provides the probing passing – another hallmark of Rangnick’s mantra – that Fred and Scott McTominay just don’t possess. It was from his raking crossfield ball that Sancho teed Cavani up for a miscue for United’s best chance of the game until that point. And he repeated the trick for the equaliser, this time locating Dalot whose cross was converted at the second time of asking by Cavani.
Most things went United’s way. Callum Wilson was forced off with a calf injury in first-half stoppage time and was joined in the treatment by the sensational Saint-Maximin later on after the Frenchman had pulled up. And as the clock ticked towards 90 minutes, they were indebted first to the post and then De Gea for denying first Jacob Murphy and then Miguel Almiron a deserved Newcastle winner.
United dominated possession throughout, enjoying 69 per cent possession in the first half and upping it to 70 per cent in the second. But the shots on target statistic provided a truer reflection of the game: Newcastle had double the number of attempts than their visitors with eight to four. Ronaldo didn’t test Martin Dubravka with either of his two efforts.
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“That’s not what Ralf Rangnick has come in to do at Manchester United,” continued Neville after the final whistle. “That was a mess really in terms of formation, guile everything. It was just desperation. Really worrying. I think there will be a lot that he hates about what he’s seen tonight.”
Neville was right. “I didn’t like it all,” confessed Rangnick after the game. “We were trying to get better in controlling games. Today we didn’t control the game apart from a few moments. It’s all about energy, about physicality and who wins the second balls, the transitional moments. And in all of those areas we were not at our best today. In the end, we got a point that’s the good thing, but the performance overall needs to be better.”
Should United’s struggles continue against Burnley on Thursday, Rangnick may have to ditch his favoured formation.
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