A fourth-placed finish in the Premier League is the best Manchester United can hope for this season, so says Ralf Rangnick.
United have dropped to fifth following successive draws with Burnley and Southampton, which came off the back of an FA Cup exit at the hands of Middlesbrough.
The Red Devils can move above West Ham into the Champions League places, however, should they win their game in hand against Brighton and Hove Albion on Tuesday.
But United trail third-place Chelsea by seven points, while Liverpool and Manchester City are 14 and 23 points better off respectively.
Ahead of hosting Brighton at Old Trafford, Rangnick conceded that his side cannot currently consider challenging for anything other than securing the final Champions League place.
"Right now, this is exactly what Manchester United needs and wants: to finish fourth in the league," he said at Monday's pre-match news conference.
"I think this is the highest possible achievement we can get domestically. In the league, it's number four, that's our ambition, what we have to achieve and what we're aiming at."
Rangnick was appointed as interim manager until the end of the season in November and is set to take on a consultancy role from the end of the season for two years.
"After being here for 10 or 11 weeks, I know what we need next season," Rangnick added. "But it's not the time now to discuss this with anyone.
"My full focus is on tomorrow, then Sunday, Wednesday and the next couple of weeks.
"My focus is on the current squad, getting the best out of this season and then, after that, it's time to speak about the next steps for next season and the next couple of years."
After failing to win after being ahead at the interval in four of their last six matches in all competitions, Rangnick knows his side are lacking in confidence.
"It's obvious if you are 1-0 up in 11 out of 13 games and win half, and in three consecutive games you concede an equaliser, then it affects the minds of the players," he said.
"They think they should be 2-0 up or 3-0 up and it's 1-1 – it affects the players. We have to be more effective to score the second and third goal and kill the game off.
"But if it doesn't happen then we have to be disciplined. You can understand that it affects the confidence of the players.
"The only thing we can do is speak to the players one by one and explain to them why."
United's issues have been laid bare by their profligacy in front of goal since Rangnick replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Since his first game in charge on December 5, they have scored 17 goals in all competitions, but their expected goals (xG) figure is 23.3.
That differential of -6.3 is the third-largest among all teams in Europe's top-five leagues in that time, behind only Lyon (-8) and Rayo Vallecano (-7.4).
Rather than focus on his misfiring attackers, though, Rangnick believes United need to tighten up at the other end.
"It's clear the players are getting it. It started with [the FA Cup win over] Aston Villa and since then the players feel and understand the job," he said.
"They now need to do it sustainably. The first half over the last couple of weeks has been very good. We didn't concede a single goal.
"The next step is to raise our level physically, tactically, mentally. It's been too easy for other teams [to score] and also our own mistakes that we made let the other teams score."
Asked if his players are to blame for the ongoing three-match winless run, Rangnick said: "I don't know.
"It is something to discuss at the end of the season. The players are ambitious and want to get better. They want to win. My job is to help them and show them a pathway."
United have won their last five Premier League games against Brighton, this following a run of three games without a victory in the fixture.
RB Leipzig chief determined to seal top-four Bundesliga finish
RB Leipzig are determined to wrap up a top-four Bundesliga finish, despite fifth spot possibly earning a place in next season's Champions League, the club's chief business officer said on Thursday.
Leipzig, who host Borussia Dortmund on Saturday, are fourth on 59 points, two ahead of Dortmund with four games left in the season. A win would put the Saxony club firmly in the driving seat for a top-four finish.
The top four qualify automatically for the Champions League group stage, although Germany is likely to earn a fifth spot as one of the top two in UEFA's coefficient table depending on the remaining results in European competition this season.
"That (potential fifth spot) involves a lot of data and statistics," said Leipzig CBO Johann Plenge in a media call. "We are not spending too much time on this discussion."
"This is not something we take too much into consideration. We have the ambition to be a top-four club and to be that you have to finish in at least fourth place," he said.
Leipzig, who will go on a U.S. tour from July 28-Aug. 4 and will play Aston Villa in New Jersey, also competed in the Champions League this season, losing to Real Madrid 2-1 on aggregate in the round of 16.
"The match (against Dortmund) is extremely important. We are very focused and 100% confident we will give everything on the pitch," Plenge said.
"I think we have a very good situation to finish the season as a top-four club."
Plenge said for the new season the club planned to hold on to their top performers, unlike last year when several key players, including Josko Gvardiol, Dominik Szoboszlai, Christopher Nkunku and Konrad Laimer, left, forcing a big overhaul.
"We had a very intense transfer period last summer. We developed some great players [for] the Premier League. We want a less intense transfer period and to keep the players together," Plenge said.
"Having them in our team next season is what we will do in the summer."
'There are no gimmies' – Dyche warns Everton not to step off the pedal
Everton's big win over Liverpool shows they are "sticking to the task", so says Sean Dyche, who knows his team must keep their feet on the ground as they aim to overcome Brentford.
The Toffees won 2-0 at Goodison Park on Wednesday, taking a huge stride towards Premier League safety and denting their rivals' title hopes in the process.
Everton moved onto 33 points, eight clear of 18th-placed Luton Town with four games remaining.
It means that, should Luton fail to beat Wolves on Saturday, Everton - who face Brentford at home in an evening kick-off - would be able to ensure their safety with a victory.
Dyche, though, is taking nothing for granted.
Reflecting on the derby victory, Dyche said: "Well, it certainly says we're sticking to task, whatever comes at us. I'm certainly proud of that, because we've had some ups and downs ourselves.
"But it has to be parked because another one is coming around. Another important game, another chance, another opportunity to play at Goodison and get three points, so there is a lot on the next game. So they do have to have a window to enjoy that last night.
"That's the challenge. Of course, I said enjoy the moment, but I said let's go and do it again.
"It's a decent outfit in Brentford. They had a funny spell themselves and have come out of that.
"It's not easy. There are no 'gimmies' in this league. I praised the players first last night and then said 'Right, tomorrow we come in and get on with business'.
"We've taken big steps, but there are more to come. We can control the situation ourselves, and that's what we have always aimed to do - even with the points taken away and all that sort of stuff. Grip hold of it and let's run with it and I think we're beginning to show that again. Three wins out of four now: three home wins, clean sheets, good signs."
Brentford boss Thomas Frank said: "It's been a tough season - everyone is in the Premier League, no matter where you are in the table. But this season in particular because of injuries and other things that have been happening."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Everton - Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Calvert-Lewin was immense against Liverpool, scoring for the third time in four Premier League appearances. The striker netted in Everton's 3-1 win over Brentford in the reverse fixture in September.
Brentford - Bryan Mbeumo
Mbeumo has been involved in nine goals in his last 10 Premier League starts, while Brentford have won 39 per cent of their league games when the Cameroonian has started this season (7/18), compared to 12.5% when he has not (2/16).
MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW
Brentford have scored eight goals in their last two Premier League away games, netting five on the road for the first time ever in the top flight last time out at Luton.
Everton have opened the scoring in each of their last four Premier League meetings with Brentford, doing so in the opening 10 minutes of the match on three occasions in that run.
None of the 10 league meetings between Everton and Brentford at Goodison Park have ended in a draw, with the Toffees winning seven of these to the Bees' three. However, the Opta supercomputer is predicting a draw is a likely result.
Having been unbeaten in their first three Premier League games against Everton (W2 D1), Brentford have now lost their last two against the Toffees.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Everton - 32.4%
Brentford - 38.2%
Draw - 29.4%
Man Utd matchwinner Fernandes: Criticism part of the job
Bruno Fernandes said Manchester United's players cannot afford to get annoyed by outside criticism, after he scored twice to fire the Red Devils to a much-needed win over Sheffield United.
Erik ten Hag's team were roundly criticised for their performance in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Coventry City, as they surrendered a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 before inching through in a penalty shoot-out.
They had also gone four Premier League games without a win (three draws, one defeat) prior to Wednesday's meeting with the rock-bottom Blades, with their hopes of Champions League football all-but over.
They twice trailed as Sheffield United threatened a huge upset, but Fernandes scored twice and supplied an assist as they fought back to claim a 4-2 win.
Asked whether the noise around Sunday's semi-final win had affected the mood at Old Trafford, Fernandes told Sky Sports: "That's part of the job.
"You can be in a run of games where you win eight or nine in a row, and when you lose one you know you'll be criticised.
"Being at Manchester United demands winning every game, so it's part of the job. If there is anyone in the dressing room still not used to that, they will get used to it!
"Being a Manchester United player demands being ready to receive as much criticism as praise. We receive praise when we do good things so we can't be annoyed by the criticism.
"When people want to do that, they might have a point. We can think in a different way, but we have to take it in the same way as we take the credit they give us."
Ten Hag's team did look disjointed for long periods on Wednesday, though, and they have now conceded 50 Premier League goals this season.
The Red Devils have now shipped a half-century of goals in two of their last three Premier League campaigns, having done so just once in their previous 29.
Ten Hag, though, was content with most aspects of their performance, saying: "It was a good game for the crowd, they saw four goals and many chances that we created.
"I think we played quite well, we created many more chances, so there's many positives. But also negatives. Conceding two goals from giveaways, that's unacceptable.
"We want to play dynamic, attacking football. That is what we want to see. Since the winter we have created lots of chances and also scored a lot of those chances."
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