EPL 2021-22: Rangnick unhappy as Manchester United slip out of top four after draw at Burnley

Manchester United have found themselves in a spot of bother after dropping out of the Premier League top four following their frustrating 1-1 draw against relegation-battling Burnley on Tuesday. Ralf Rangnick-led side dominated the first half at Turf Moor but had two goals ruled out by VAR for offside before Paul Pogba scored his first league goal in over a year to give the visitors a lead.

Manchester United should have added to their advantage before the end of the first half, but Burnley's goalkeeper Nick Pope ensured they were kept at bay with several fine saves. As for the hosts, Burnley was struggling as they did not have a single effort at the goal in the opening period.

However, Sean Dyche's side emerged from the tunnel a different team in the second half, as they levelled swiftly through Jay Rodriguez's 100th Premier League goal and first in 50 league appearances. Manchester United lost their first-half rhythm and was gasping to find a winner, as they dropped to fifth in the league standings with 39 points from 23 games - one behind West Ham in fourth.

With Newcastle United beating Everton on Tuesday, Burnley fell even further behind and trail Eddie Howe's side 17th by four points, having played fewer games.

Coming after Friday's FA Cup exit after losing to Middlesbrough, it was another frustrating result for Manchester United, whose woes on the pitch remains obvious 12 games into interim-boss Ralf Rangnick's reign.

The German admitted that his side did not do enough following the draw. He also criticised the officials for disallowing first a Raphael Varane header because Harry Maguire had been offside, and then a Josh Brownhill own goal because Paul Pogba had fouled Erik Pieters in the build-up.

In an interview with BT Sport, Rangnick said that Manchester United had essentially scored three goals, two denied due to VAR. "In the end, it is a frustrating evening for us because we should have won that game easily after the first half and even the last 25 minutes we had full control and dominated the game but were not decisive enough as we were in the first half," the German stated.

Admitting that a draw was not good enough for his team, Rangnick added, "I could not blame the team for not having a killer instinct in the first half, but in the last 25 minutes, we had a lot of set pieces. In the end, it was a little bit a case of luck with Raphael Varane, the header by Cristiano, Harry Maguire, but in the end, one point for a performance like this is just not enough."

The interim boss was unhappy to see the Brownhill own goal ruled out in particular. He said he watched the goal disallowed in the locker room post the match, adding that the linesman flagged a foul 10 seconds after the incident. "This was a very soft decision; I must say," Rangnick claimed.

However, the German accepted that in the first 10 to 15 minutes of the second half, his side was not aggressive enough, and the team gave away the goal that eventually resulted in a draw.

"We had a very good counter-attacking situation 30 seconds before we conceded the goal, and the way that we allowed them to score, we did not defend the whole situation well," Rangnick concluded.

Meanwhile, captain Harry Maguire expressed frustration over the result that led Manchester United to drop two points in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League.

"I think you saw the first half; we had control. We have got to win the game with the amount of chances we created. We had to get that second goal. Two points dropped," Maguire told BT Sports post the match.

Admitting that his team needed to be more clinical, Maguire added that it was disappointing on their behalf to concede a goal in the second half. "We came out in the second half a bit sloppy. We had long enough in the game to come back from that and try and find the winner. We demand on ourselves to win the football match, so it is disappointing," the captain concluded.

Manchester United next play Southampton at Old Trafford on Saturday, February 12.

Also read: Manchester United's Mason Greenwood is no longer a Nike athlete

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• Manchester United
• Ralf Rangnick