Ralf Rangnick: Manchester United manager pleased with second half display v Brentford | OneFootball

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick was pleased with his side’s second-half display against Brentford.

The Red Devils were put to the test by an energetic Brentford side, who dominated in the first half.

However, United’s quality shone through and they eventually came away 3-1 winners thanks to goals from Anthony Elanga, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford.

In his post-match press conference, Rangnick praised his team’s performance in the second half:

“We had to change a few things and the first half we were not good in almost all aspects of the game – sloppy passing, not strong enough in the 50/50 situations, and we gave away almost every second ball.”

“In the second half, we were more urgent, we were attacking them higher up the pitch, we were taking the right positions when we were on the counterattack, and we scored. This was a big difference.”

Rangnick was particularly pleased with Elanga’s performance on and off the ball.

He mentioned Scott McTominay having a leader’s presence in the second half. His physicality and unique ability to drive forward with the ball was an asset for the team.

Rangnick also addressed the question about Cristiano Ronaldo’s displeasure when being substituted:

“The only reaction out of it was that he was asking me, ‘why me? why do you take me off and I said, ‘listen, I have to decide on the interest of the team’ and we had the same situation five days ago at Villa Park, 2-0 up with 15 minutes to play, and of course, we didn’t want to make the same mistake again.”