Ralf Rangnick’s unbeaten start as Manchester United interim manager came to an end on Monday night as Wolves beat the Red Devils 1-0.
Ralf Rangnick was disappointed with his Manchester United stars as they didn’t perform well individually or collectively when they host Wolverhampton Wanderers at Old Trafford.
The German saw his unbeaten run at United come to an end, thanks to a Joao Moutinho late strike.
United were way below par in front of a frustrated Old Trafford crowd in the first half, as Wolves put in a brilliant performance, but the visitors had to wait until the 81st minute to get their reward when Moutinho fired home from the edge of the box.
United carve out a few chances, with substitute Bruno Fernandes missing a golden opportunity by hitting the crossbar, before Cristiano Ronaldo’s header was cancelled for offside.
In the final moment of the match, Fernandes' free-kick was saved by goalkeeper Jose Sa.
Following the defeat, Rangnick admitted that there was "a lot of work" to be done over the coming year and the match revealed why.
'Wolves were the best team we've played'
Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick to Sky Sports: "We didn’t play well at all individually or collectively. In the first half, we had big problems keeping them away from our goal.
"In the second half, we changed to a back three and had more control then, a spell of 15 minutes where we could have scored. The goal we conceded, we had enough players in the box. The cross had been defended by Jones but the goal we conceded was like too many this season.
"Moutinho could shoot unmarked with no problems, no pressure. We’re very disappointed about the result and parts of our performance.
“They’re playing with four or five central midfielders and we had problems controlling that part of the pitch. We decided to change our formation and we had more control – they didn’t have as many chances – but we missed our chances and we have to admit they deserved to win.
“Wolves were the best team we’ve played. We have more problems today than in other games.
“We didn’t press at all. We tried but we were not able to get into those pressing situations. They had an overload in midfield and they played via their wing-backs. We’ve been only working two and a half or three weeks after needing to close the training centre. We had the results. In times we played well but today we have to admit they’re better than us."
When quizzed about replacing Mason Greenwood with Bruno Fernandes, a decision that didn't go down well with the home crowd, the German replied: “It was 0-0. Bruno had a big chance to put us 1-0 ahead. Mason was good but I had to take someone off and didn’t want to take off one of the sixes. I had to decide whether to take off Edi or Mason so took off Mason.
“The game showed we still have a lot of work to do. We had too many unforced errors.
“I don’t want to speak about individual performances of players. It’s an issue of the whole team. It doesn’t make sense.
"We have to see each individual game. So far we had 10 out of 12 points. Today we had our first defeat against a good team. They don’t score that many goals, today they scored the only goal. Today the question was who will score the first goal.”
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