Team hasn’t progressed as much as I had hoped but we need to train first, asserts Ralf Rangnick

Ever since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked, Manchester United fans haven’t exactly had the best time although that was supposed to change with the appointment of Ralf Rangnick. The German tactician is well known across the football world and it saw hope return to Old Trafford. But about a month into his tenure and things haven’t quite gone to plan for either party with fans unhappy at the way the team has progressed.

While the Red Devils are still unbeaten, with two wins and a draw in the league, they’ve struggled to consistently perform on the field with them getting last-minute points. It has left Ralf Rangnick unhappy as well and the German admitted that things haven’t progressed as much as he expected. But the German also added that the COVID-19 outbreak and the hectic winter schedule hasn’t helped his case either. 

"Of course not. I mean, every coach, every ambitious coach, there's no difference between other coaches and myself in that, wants to take faster steps and larger steps forward. But in order to do that, you need to be able to train,” Rangnick said, reported Sky Sports.

“And as you know, we had to close Carrington for four days. Before that, we had eight or nine field players in training directly after the Norwich game and they only came back in small bits and pieces. So in the last three days, we were almost back to full strength with regard to the size of the squad, but we couldn't do that much in training.

"On the other hand, in those two or three training sessions, the team look good… It was, in Monday's game, a negative surprise the way that we played with regard to game speed, tempo and physicality,” he added.