Manchester United interim coach Ralph Rangnick insisted that uncertainty over the next permanent coach was not an excuse for another poor performance by his side in the 1-0 defeat at Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
The German coach, who has not coached any team since Rasen Ball Sport RB Leipzig in the 2018-2019 season, took over after the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November, before he was expected to take a two-year advisory role starting next season.
But he was unable to wake United from its slumber, as the team won eight of its first 17 matches with Rangnick in the league, the lowest winning percentage (47 percent) than any other club coach in the competition.
The identity of United’s next coach is still a mystery, with the club insisting no decision has been made despite British media reports that Ajax Amsterdam coach Eric ten Hag is the closest.
“I don’t see any connection between (the search for a new coach) and today’s performance and I would not allow anyone to treat this as an excuse or an excuse,” Rangnick told reporters.
“It doesn’t matter if the new coach will be announced in five, 15 or 20 days, the players must be excited to qualify for the Champions League, but as long as we perform like today it is not worth anything.”
“When we score first we have the confidence to win games, but when we conceded first we lose our way a little bit. If you don’t score against a team that conceded three goals against Burnley last week, you don’t deserve anything.”
United started the match well at Goodison Park, but after being held behind by Anthony Gordon’s deflected shot in the first half, it seemed United could not equalize.
United are seventh and are on track to end their worst season since 1991 given their average points per game, but Rangnick stresses he has the desire to try to turn things around.
“You could see that (United players) wanted to win the game, but after conceding the goal we lost some confidence. We are struggling in terms of being up to the expectations.”
“We wanted to play more aggressively than we did before. We needed to be more careful to get the balls back and force Everton to defend and we didn’t. That’s our problem now.”
Everton manager Frank Lampard was happier after seeing his side win, ease the load on him and get a huge boost in trying to survive relegation after recent poor results.
“It’s not easy after two defeats in a week (before United). Beating a team full of quality players and showing that level of fighting and spirit is unbelievable and we got what we deserved,” Lampard said.
“We are stronger when we don’t have injuries. Continuing to perform that performance to stay in the league is in our hands. Do the players want to stay in the league more than anything else? Yes, and they showed that today.”