Ralf Rangnick Admits Manchester United Have Midfield Problems

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has acknowledged the club’s midfielders have been struggling in recent games.

One of the main reasons behind United’s 1-0 defeat to Wolves at Old Trafford this week was the ease with which their midfield was dominated.  

United have consistently failed to assert control from the centre of the pitch this season, which Rangnick was asked about in his press conference to preview his side’s FA Cup tie against Aston Villa on Monday night.

“We again had too many giveaways, too many turnovers in that game [against Wolves], this is also an issue we spoke about with the team, that we shouldn’t make it too easy for the other team to be in possession of the ball especially when once we have the ball it’s also about responsible decision making.”

It has become increasingly apparent United lack an elite holding midfielder to offer more presence and control to their performances, which Rangnick alluded to in one of his answers.

“It doesn’t help if there is a profile [of player] missing,” he said. “We need to work and want to work with the players we have. We have shown we are able to keep clean sheets with these players but it’s also what we’re doing with the ball and without it.”

United’s defeat to Wolves was Rangnick’s first at United, but still plunged the club into a mini crisis throughout the last week, in which reports surfaced there was mounting unrest inside the dressing room.

“I don’t know about the atmosphere inside the club. I can only speak about the players, the locker room, the coaching staff,” Rangnick said when asked about the feeling within the club. “Obviously everybody was very disappointed after the game, not only about the result, but also about the performance.”

There has also been speculation that as many as 17 players in the United squad are unhappy and potentially looking to leave.

“This is not only an issue with a club like Manchester United,” Rangnick said. “When you have a big squad, at least in the last two games we had most of those players available, we had an issue with three centre-backs missing against Wolves but in general we had most of the players available apart from Paul Pogba, and if you have that many players and only 10 players can play and 3 substituted, then, of course, you have quite a number of players, in our case 10, 12, 13, 14 players who don’t play or are not even in the squad.”

“That those players are not happy about that situation is obvious. I think in total we have a big squad. I tend to explain to players every two to three weeks why they are not playing but I obviously cannot do that in every game.”

In his six games at United, Rangnick has presided over three wins, two draws and one defeat, but overall the performances have failed to impress, leading to questions about whether the players are fully behind him and the new ideas he is trying to implement.

“They are at least trying,” Rangnick said. “I’m sure that they are listening and I think we showed in the last games, against Palace, also against Burnley and also in the away games against Norwich and Newcastle that they are trying to follow the advice that we give them.”

“We conceded less goals than before, I think we have an average of 0.6 in those six games, but yes it’s about balance. We need to find the best possible balance between offence and defence and we still have something to do to get better.”