Rangnick tells Ronaldo he ‘should score more goals’ but denies unrest

Dan Butterfield
Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick and forward Cristiano Ronaldo

Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has told Cristiano Ronaldo he should score more goals but had denied claims of dressing room unrest.

Ronaldo has 14 goals in 25 appearances for United this season, the most by anyone in Rangnick’s side but that’s not enough for the German boss according to his latest press conference.


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The Portuguese forward hasn’t scored in any of his last five games for United, the longest goal drought he has suffered since 2010.

Ronaldo was benched for the trip to Burnley on Tuesday and was unable to grab a winner when introduced in the second-half and now his manager has told him he needs to score more goals, but he’s not the only one.

Rangnick said: “It’s not only about Cristiano Ronaldo. He should score more goals, it’s obvious, I think we are creating enough chances and and enough opportunities in the last couple of games but we just didn’t score enough goals, but this is not only an issue with Cristiano, it’s an issue with the other players, especially the offensive players. We don’t score enough goals.

“If you bear in mind how many chances we create, and this is also something that needs to get better in the next couple of weeks.

“At Burnley, in 70 of those 90 minutes, it was very, very, very close to the game plan we spoke before the game and now it’s about rewarding ourselves and also getting the results we should deserve.”

There have been a number of report of dressing room unrest at Old Trafford but Rangnick has denied the claims ahead of United’s clash with Southampton.

“Nothing to be honest. I haven’t read any newspapers or read those articles.

“The way we have developed is obviously, the work we do on the pitch and the video analysis.”

United captain Harry Maguire has also received a lot of criticism for his role in Jay Rodriguez’s equaliser on Tuesday but Rangnick was quick to take the blame off Maguire individually.

“I think he had an outstanding game vs West Ham. We could have defended transitional moment better at Burnley but the rest of our defence was not really good. We should not have allowed the counter-attack to happen.

“Harry was injured, came back, had a very good game vs West Ham and sure he can perform like that tomorrow.”