After a disappointing draw against Newcastle that drew harsh criticism, Manchester United came back to themselves last night (Thursday) with a 1: 3 win over Burnley. The Red Devils now stand in sixth place in the Premier League with 31 points (and a game missing), just 4 from fourth place that arranges a ticket to the Champions League, but Ralph Rangnik does not want to settle for that.
“I would not say that the goal is to finish in fourth place. We are aiming higher,” said the new coach, although third-placed Liverpool are leading by 10 points, and City are already leading by 19 points, and the battle against them seems lost in advance.
Rangnick admitted that despite United’s unsatisfactory results, he does not anticipate many staff changes in the January transfer window, if at all. “My staff is very good and I believe in it. We have not yet talked at all about the possibility of getting stronger in January, but I know that a lot of things can be done with the existing staff.”
The standouts in the United ranks were Scott McTominy who according to the Daily Mail “showed scholastic qualities” and also scored a beautiful goal, and Cristiano Ronaldo who came back to himself with a goal and cooking. After yesterday, Ronaldo holds a rare statistic: In each of the last 17 years he has been directly involved (goal or cooking) in at least 10 league goals.
Now even super agent Georges Mendes, an associate of Ronaldo, sounds optimistic and confident about his future at the team. “Cristiano Ronaldo is happy at Manchester United. He will continue with his great ability as he has done throughout his career. He will have a great season, I am sure,” he declared.
On the other hand, CR7 has come under not-so-simple criticism from former striker Gabriel Agbonelhor, who has claimed the Portuguese phenomenon is “a horror move” for the sake of that rare statistic. “The only thing that seems to interest Cristiano Ronaldo is his goals. He is a great player, but not like before. If I were Rashford, Greenwood or Sancho, I would be afraid to kick the goal – no matter what they do, Cristiano arrives, raises his hand and asks “They give him. This is a great trio that can play together on offense, and I think if the coach had more personality then he would have put Cristiano down on the bench,” the former striker added in the review.