Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has stated that the victory over Aston Villa in the FA Cup is a response to their defeat to Wolves last week.
United secured a win against Steven Gerrad’s Villa yesterday as the only go from Scott McTominay gave them a decent victory.
Rangnick when speaking with the media after the game stated that the intensity was better than that of Wolves game.
The German admitted that the had difficult moment in the game with Villa’s style of play but insisted that he is pleased with Manchester United response.
“I think everybody expected a reaction to the Wolves game,” Rangnick said after the victory over Aston Villa.
“I think the team showed a reaction. We didn’t miss out on intensity, but we still had difficult moments in the game. First half, I thought, was good. We played a lot of diagonal balls; we kept the Villa team moving from one side to the other, scored a beautiful goal, but on the other hand, we were still struggling to get control in midfield.
“We knew that they are very flexible, Villa, with their midfield, with their two no.10s and their three no.6s and no.8s, so at times we were struggling.”
“We decided to play with a 4-2-3-1 with Edi up front, and with Bruno our no.10. But again, against a flexible midfield, at times, it was difficult, because with their 10s behind our sixes, ahead of our central defenders, it’s not too easy to defend that. It’s pretty challenging. As I said, after we changed to a diamond, it got better.”
Rangick further stated that he didn’t see much pressing from his side but insisted that his side want the win desperately.
“I saw more aggression, but I didn’t necessarily see that much more pressing, because in order to see those pressing moments, you have to get into those pressing moments. As I said, it’s difficult against Villa. But what I saw was a team that desperately wanted to win and, in the end, that’s why we won the game.”
“To say that this was a perfect game, nobody would believe that. Of course it was not. We still have quite a few things we can get better at but a clean sheet was important today and we worked together. There are still a lot of things to improve but it is easier to do that with a 1-0 win.”
Aston Villa saw a game cancelled in the game after VAR call showed that United’s striker Edinson Cavani was fouled before the goal.
“It wasn’t clear from the touchline, but when I saw it on video, for me it was clear that the player who blocked Edinson Cavani was clearly offside in that moment. In the end, I don’t even know if the referee gave offside or a foul, but no matter why, it was definitely offside. He was definitely offside and therefore, for me, I wasn’t surprised that he disallowed the goal.”
David De Gea made some good saves to keep the Villa side from finding the back of the net and Rangnick said: “We have to develop the team into a clean-sheet team and that was another one today but still David de Gea was outstanding again for me today. I would have wanted him to have less saves in total, I think we had four or five shots on [our] goal, but again we can still improve even in that area.”
Manchester United will play Middlesbrough in the next round of the FA cup as Rangnick said: “Am I happy with the draw against Middlesbrough? Yes, that was the goal today: to try and get through. We knew, from the very moment that we got the draw [against Villa], that there could have been easier draws. But still, we won it. And now, in five days, we play them again in Birmingham. It will be another tough, tough game for us.”
Source: Man Utd
