Rangnick picks two Man Utd stars who lacked physicality vs Leicester
Man Utd boss Ralf Rangnick thinks Bruno Fernandes and Fred both struggled physically during their 1-1 draw with Leicester City on Saturday.
The Red Devils’ hopes of finishing in the top four were dealt another blow when they dropped points against the Foxes over the weekend.
Kelechi Iheanacho gave Leicester the lead before Fred struck to rescue a point for Man Utd, who are now three points behind fourth-placed Tottenham and fifth-placed Arsenal, with the latter having two games in hand on Rangnick’s men.
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It was an underwhelming performance from Man Utd and Rangnick questioned his side’s aggression and physicality after the Premier League match.
“I don’t think we have a lack of character but what was obvious in some parts of the game is that we were second best with regards to physicality,” Rangnick said.
“It was about one on one duels. We spoke about that counter-attacking moment we had ourselves where they tackled us twice, within two seconds [and went on to score] and the same was true in quite a few other moments.
“Whenever there was body contact, we were too often we were second best. This is something we have to get better at for the rest of this season but even more so for the next season.”
A goal on #PL appearance no.100 for @Fred08Oficial ⚽#MUFC
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When asked about Fernandes jumping out of a 50/50 challenge with Dewsbury-Hall, Rangnick replied: “Yeah, but the same was true with Fred and he is one of our physical and aggressive players but I am not only talking about this specific moment.
“There were quite a few other moments where I just felt we could have been more dynamic, more physical, more aggressive but we weren’t in those moments.”
Meanwhile, Fernandes insisted that Man Utd needed to pick themselves up and put in a better performance against Everton next weekend.
“Everyone is disappointed,” the Portugal international told MUTV. “This result was not the result that we want but there is nothing we can do now.
“We have to look ahead to the next game and understand that the standard of this club has to be higher and better, and we know that we are capable of that.”
