LONDON: Manchester United interim manager Ralph Rangnick criticized his poor performance in the first half after beating Brentford 3-1 in the Premier League on Wednesday.
The German also faced the wrath of Cristiano Ronaldo after replacing the Portuguese in the second half.
Lacluster United were defeated by Brentford in the first half and were indebted to keeper David de Gea, but goals from Anthony Elanga, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford improved the second half.
It was a crucial win for United and placed them in the middle of a fight for a top four spot, but Rangnik was not impressed with what he saw in the opening 45 minutes.
“You have to be honest, it would have been difficult without David and his brilliant defense,” Rangnik told reporters.
“We were sluggish in our passing, not strong enough in tackles, lost 50-50 challenges and didn’t win a second ball. We were quite nervous when we retaliated.
“Brentford was aggressive and brave and those were all aspects we talked about at halftime.”
Whatever Rangnik said at halftime clearly worked because United were a different proposition after the break – even if the scoreline is hardly credible.
Yet the victory that lifted United to within two points of fourth-placed West Ham United with a game in hand, was influenced by Ronaldo’s reaction and was replaced with defender Harry Maguire when the score was 2–0.
Before continuing to argue from his seat, Ronaldo, who had missed the last two games due to a minor injury, shouted at United’s coaching staff and angrily threw down his jacket, a call to exit the pitch. Took age
“His response was ‘Why me?’ … I told him that I had to make a decision in the interest of the club because we had a situation at Villa where we were 2-0 up and 2-2 drawn and I was angry myself for not last five to change.
“I decided to go to the back five with Harry Maguire. He was not happy, he is a goalscorer and he wanted to score a goal himself. But it was important to be compact.
“I told him I understand, but maybe in a few years when you are the head coach you will make the same decision.
“I didn’t expect him to hug me… but I don’t have a problem with him.”
His opposite number Thomas Frank was quite disappointed with the result, saying that his team had “destroyed” Manchester United in the first half.
Rangnik had some sympathy, praising Brentford’s performance and saying that his players should learn from him.
“I want us to play like Brentford in the second half, I have a lot of respect for what he did here,” he said.
“You won’t see that in Germany where a team in the top five or eight doesn’t play that kind of football. We have to develop in that direction and if we do that we can play the whole game like that, not just 45 minutes Huh.”
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