‘There’s absolutely no reason why Man United shouldn’t be the hardest working team in the league. When you play for Man United you can’t just be, “well, I’m talented, I’ll just do my magic when I get the ball”. That is not enough.’ – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, March 2019.
Very little seems to have changed at Manchester United in close to three years since Solskjaer uttered those words when he was caretaker boss at Old Trafford.
United still aren’t working as hard as their manager would like, let alone being the most industrious team in the Premier League, and that frustration has now been passed on to Ralf Rangnick.
Manchester United's lack of intensity was laid bare in full against Aston Villa on Monday night
Solskjaer was surprised by lack of fitness among the squad he inherited from Jose Mourinho, and pushed them so hard at the start that three players – Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Ander Herrera – suffered hamstring injuries in the first half of a game against Liverpool two months later.
‘It’s survival of the fittest,’ Solskjaer warned ominously, but something went wrong along the way.
Rangnick isn’t satisfied with the work-rate of the group left behind by his predecessor, so did Solskjaer stop demanding or did the players stop responding?
Either way, it’s an indictment of this squad that questions are still being asked of them.
New interim manager Ralf Rangnick wants his team to work harder since taking the job
His predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also called for the Red Devils to work harder for him
It’s come to something when the fans felt the need to display a banner across the Stretford End on Monday night bearing the images of Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Bryan Robson and a solitary word: standards.
Rangnick, the so-called godfather of gegenpressing, has made it quite clear that he expects more from a group of players who pressed for the first half of his opening
