Well match 2 of the Rangnick era wasn’t much of a match. It was much more like a preseason game as the Sir’s even said on the podcast. United drew with Young Boys from Switzerland 1-1 at Old Trafford in their final group stage match of the UCL. The game meant little to United as they already had secured qualification to the knockout rounds of the UCL. Young Boys on the other hand did have it all to play for as a win and a helpful result from the Villareal vs Atalanta match meant they could still possibly qualify for the knockout stage. Which is what made the result from United’s perspective even more impressive. United started three teenagers and made 11 total changes to the side.
1st Half
Manchester United had a completely changed 11 from their match against Crystal Palace at the weekend. Ralf Rangnick chose to start three teenagers in Mason Greenwood, Anthony Elanga, and Ahmad Diallo. Rangnick also handed a rare start to Juan Mata and started Nemanja Matic at center back. Essentially you could say with a totally new 11 in a new system that this was Rangnick’s ‘second’ first match. And the lads did not disappoint. All three points would’ve been nice to see. Although, drawing with a side playing for the European lives while you play a young reserve squad is certainly a good result.
Ralf Rangnick said, ” It was an experiment,” with regard to his starting 11, “I wanted to save some players for Norwich and we have picked up a few more knocks.” His ‘experimental’ squad came out firing in the first 30 minutes though and arguably should’ve been up by 2-3 goals before the half. United would score a goal through Mason Greenwood in the 9′. Greenwood’s goal was a spectacular acrobatic scissor kick.
Rangnick said:
“I was aware before the game that this team had not played together. The first half hour we did OK, there were a few unforced errors. We should have been 2-0 or 3-0 up but we didn’t’ score and were sloppy.”
Rangnick was not as pleased with the performance as many United fans were, but he did believe his side deserved to be ahead. But, speaking of the ‘sloppy’ play, United did concede before the half off of a Donny Van de Beek pass to Aaron Wan Bissaka. The pass was lazy and unassertive. United went into the half at 1-1.
2nd Half
The second half was quite uneventful, and was when United really began to fall off. But, it was not necessarily due to bad play. Rather it was a lack of conditioning combined with a heavy number of subs. Young Boys would threaten on occasion, but to no resolve. Rangnick handed senior debuts to Tom Heaton, Teden Mengi, Zidane Iqbal, and Charlie savage. We also saw Shola Shoretire again in relief of Ahmad Diallo.
Speaking of Ahmad Diallo, the Ivory de Coaste international was spectacular. He should’ve scored a couple of goals in the first half, but his lack of match time probably contributed to his inability to finish. Ragnick did have nice things to say about Diallo, but was very honest after the match. Rangnick said:
“There will be chances for everybody to stake a claim, especially with so many games at this time of year. What I want to see is every single player striving to make the most of every chance they get.”
Rangnick’s perfect 11 and preferred style of play is still quite a ways off form coming to fruition, but we will surely start to see it more and more over the coming weeks.
The only other thing to mention from the match was the nice moment for the Savage family. Charlie Savage made his senior debut and his father Robbie Savage got to call it live for BT sport. Robbie came through United’s youth ranks but never played for the senior squad. His son has been coming up through the United youth system and got his debut against Young Boys. Robbie said, “Coming on for Man United, Charlie Savage for Juan Mata…Wow, I never believed I’d say those words, what a proud day!” Think what you want about Robbie, but this was a nice moment to see. United’s next match is against Norwich this Saturday.
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