Rangnick: Don’t Criticise My Formation Against Newcastle

Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick insists there was nothing wrong with his system employed for last night’s 1-1 draw with Newcastle.

While highlighting Edinson Cavani’s equaliser, Rangnick also defended his formation for the draw at St James’ Park.

He said, “Obviously, we were one goal behind so we needed a goal and we had to take more risks so we brought Edinson Cavani and Jadon Sancho on to play in a 4-1-3-2. In some situations, including the goal we scored, we were good.

“Edinson has two other good chances to score and with him we had another striker who was dangerous in front of goal. Today, it was not a question of formation – it was a question of how aggressive we were. It was a question of energy and, in those areas, we need to get better, including what we were doing when we’re in possession of the ball.”

Rangnick also said: “We need to get better and get more physical and more precise when we’re in possession of the ball. I was not happy with our performance with the ball or when we had to press and counter-press. It’s about sprinting, about energy and what kind of energy mode do we play with the ball and against the ball. In three days, we have the next game at home against Burnley and then another, four days later, when we play Wolves at home, so both games are in our own stadium.

“We can do better, I know the players can play better than we did today, but we have to do it and sustainably do it on the pitch in those two home games if we want to get the points.”