Ralf Rangnick is not getting carried away over the shakiness displayed by Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire in the draw with Newcastle United, adamant Manchester United are underperforming as a team not just at centre-back.
United's 1-1 stalemate at Newcastle on Monday was their first game in 16 days after a coronavirus outbreak forced the postponement of matches against Brentford and Brighton and Hove Albion.
As such, perhaps it was not a surprise to see United look rusty at St James' Park, but for much of the game they were second best against a side with just one Premier League win all season and the joint-worst defence (42 conceded) in the division.
While United did ultimately come out on top in terms of expected goals (xG), their 1.52 slightly better than Newcastle's 1.25, Rangnick's side were let off the hook by a bad miss from Allan Saint-Maximin at the start of the second half that would have put the Magpies 2-0 up.
Similarly, eight of Newcastle's 13 shots were on target, meaning David de Gea had to make seven saves – five more than his counterpart, Martin Dubravka – to keep United in the game.
That has been something of a common theme this season, with United especially poor at the back – only six teams have a worse xG against (25.9) record than them, while De Gea has prevented 3.9 goals, which is the third-best in the Premier League, according to Opta.
Maguire – underwhelming for much of this season – and Varane – at fault in the build-up to Newcastle's goal – bore much criticism on Monday, but Rangnick is looking beyond just them.
Asked about concerns over the two defenders' partnership, Rangnick told reporters: "Rapha hasn't played for the last five, six weeks, and even before the Tottenham game, he was injured.
"So, in total in the last three months, he hasn't played that many games. Yes, he made a mistake before the first goal that we conceded, but apart from that, I think he was okay.
"I wouldn't say that he was outstanding, and the same with Harry, but they did okay. Our problem was, again, that we allowed too many transitional moments.
"And this is not only a problem at the centre of the defence, it's a problem of the whole team and it starts up front, and we can speak also about the role of the number 10s in that kind of formation.
"So, I don't think it makes sense to speak about the individual performance of players, we need to get better as a team."
Although United have been defensively poor in recent months, keeping just one clean sheet in their past 13 home league games and conceding 22 goals, that last solitary shutout did come in their last outing at Old Trafford.
That was Rangnick's first game in charge, the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace, while United's visitors on Thursday – Burnley – have not scored in three.
Since that defeat of Palace, Rangnick freely admits he has not been happy with the team's progress, though he feels the lack of training caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has certainly had an impact.
Quizzed on whether he was happy with United's performances, Rangnick continued: "Of course not.
"Every coach, every ambitious coach, and there's no difference between other coaches and myself in that area, wants to take faster steps and larger steps forward.
"But in order to do that, you need to be able to train and, as you know, we had to close Carrington for four days. Before that we had eight or nine field players in training, so directly after the Norwich City game, and they only came back in small bits and pieces.
"So, the last three days [before Newcastle], we were almost back to full strength with regards to the size of the squad, but we couldn't do that much in training.
"On the other hand, in those two-three training sessions, the team looked good, and therefore it was really a bit of a negative surprise [in the Newcastle game] the way that we played with regard to game speed and game tempo and physicality."
Football rumours: Real Madrid set January deadline in Kylian Mbappe pursuit
Real Madrid are reportedly ready to offer Kylian Mbappe a contract, but it comes with a deadline. The Daily Mail, citing AS, says the Spanish giants are committed to offering the Paris St Germain forward a deal before the expiration of his current deal next summer. However, Real are expecting a firm answer to their offer by January 15 at the latest.
The Mail, this time via Tuttosport, also says Juventus are prepared to withdraw from talks to sign Manchester United forward Jadon Sancho. According to the paper, bosses at the Italian club are concerned by the 23-year-old’s potential price tag. Sancho was signed from Borussia Dortmund for £73million, and United would be determined to receive as much as possible in any transfer.
And The Sun reports 19-year-old United States and Hajduk Split attacking midfielder Rokas Pukstas has emerged on Arsenal’s radar.
Social media round-upPlayers to watchRicharlison: The Tottenham forward is attracting plenty of interest from the Saudi Pro League, according to the website 90 Min.
Hakan Calhanoglu: Calciomercato says West Ham would need to stump up more than £40m for the Inter Milan midfielder.
On this day in 2004: Glenn Hoddle appointed Wolves manager
Glenn Hoddle was appointed manager of Wolves on this day in 2004 .
The former England boss had been out of a job since leaving Tottenham in September 2003 and had previous managerial experience with Swindon, Chelsea and Southampton.
Hoddle took charge, succeeding manager Dave Jones for a second time having previously replaced him at Southampton.
Jones was sacked at the start of November following the club’s relegation to the Championship and a miserable start to the new season saw them languishing in 17th when Hoddle took over.
“I’m delighted to be here. I saw the massive potential Wolverhampton have got; their ambition paralleled my thoughts,” Hoddle said.
“Wolves are a Premiership outfit with the fan base and ambition – they’ve already had a taste, and it’s very clear to me that is where they want to be put back again.
“It’s a very big challenge. We’re not sitting on top of the league – there’s a lot of work to be done.
“That (the Premier League) is where everybody at this club wants to go. I picked that up very quickly, and that’s where I want to go. I’m delighted to be back in football as well.”
Hoddle steered the club to a ninth-placed finish in the 2004-05 season, but Wolves missed out on the play-offs by eight points the following season with a seventh-placed finish.
He resigned as manager in July 2006 and it remains his last job in management, excluding a short spell as coach at QPR under Harry Redknapp in 2014-15.
Crisis? Not for us – Erik ten Hag can see Man Utd progress after Chelsea win
Erik ten Hag dismissed any talk of Manchester United’s season being in crisis as he stressed “we are going in the right direction” following the 2-1 win over Chelsea.
United went into the contest at Old Trafford on the back of Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Newcastle, their 10th defeat in all competitions this term.
After Bruno Fernandes saw an early penalty saved by Robert Sanchez, a Scott McTominay brace, either side of Cole Palmer’s equaliser, secured United a victory that took them up to sixth in the Premier League table, three points behind fourth-placed defending champions Manchester City.
When asked at his post-match press conference what that said to him about a season that has felt like it has been in crisis, United boss Ten Hag said: “Crisis? Not for us.
“We keep calm, look at the process where we know where we have to build. We are going in the right direction.
“We don’t get distracted (by) criticism around us, but we are very critical on ourselves. We are not quickly satisfied and happy, we always want to do better. We have to improve a lot if we want to be successful – but this team is capable of being successful.”
There had been some reports ahead of the game that Ten Hag had lost the confidence of some of his players.
That led to United banning four media outlets for Tuesday’s pre-match press conference, with the club saying the action was taken for not “contacting us first to give us the opportunity to comment, challenge or contextualise.”
Ten Hag added: “Last week we played three games (a 3-0 win at Everton, 3-3 draw at Galatasaray and the Newcastle match). Two times we played good, and then one bad performance.
“But you see this team is in a good direction. I know sometimes you have a bad performance, but then still, you can get a result. That is the next step we have to make.
“But you see how we play, the style, so dominating the opponent, in and out of possession. That is the way I want to play. I was very pleased, it was very enjoyable how the team played.”
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