Manchester (Archyde.com)
Manchester United interim manager Ralph Rangnick has partially accepted the blame for the Premier League club’s disappointing season, but says he has not been able to implement his pressing style effectively due to the team’s physical limitations.
Rangnick took over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last November, but the German coach failed to motivate the faltering United, who are sixth in the league and need to beat Crystal Palace on Sunday, to ensure qualification for the European League next season.
“I admit we’ve never come close to attacking and proactive football,” Rangnick, who will be replaced by Eric ten Hag after the end of the season, told reporters.
He added: If you look closely at Jurgen Klopp’s first season with Liverpool, you will find that the team did not provide the kind of performance it is currently performing, but it took them about a season and a half.
Cristiano Ronaldo, United’s top scorer this season with 24 goals in all competitions, is often noted for his lack of pressure playing, and Rangnick said this forced him to compromise in his style of play.
He said: “Cristiano scored several goals but Cristiano in the end, and I don’t blame him at all, he performed great in those matches, but he is not a beast in the field of pressure on the opponent, the same applies to a number of other players, so we had to make some concessions in At some point, we never got the right balance between what we needed to do with and without the ball.
But the former Schalke 04 coach added that he could have done more to get the best out of his players.
He continued, “I am very critical of myself, I expected that the coaching staff and I could develop this team in a more sustainable way, and we should not only blame the players, but we should criticize ourselves.”