United players do their own thing, Arsenal on the rise
Wolves still have a European dream
14 March 2022 - 16:45
byShrivathsa Sridhar and Nick Said
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Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick. File photo: GETTY IMAGES/ALEX PANTLING
It appears the Manchester United players have got their way when it comes to interim manager Ralf Rangnick’s tactics.
The German was hell-bent on United using his high-press style but performances and results have been well below par.
In Saturday’s win over Spurs, the United players abandoned Rangnick’s style with Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing a hat-trick while operating down the middle.
Arsenal beat Leicester 2-0 on Sunday to register their ninth win in the last 11 games with manager Mikel Arteta praising his young Gunners as they now have a Champions League spot in their own hands.
These and other talking points from the Premier League weekend.
Ronaldo ended Rangnick's pressing revolution: German Ralf Rangnick took over Manchester United in November, after the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, promising to introduce the high-energy pressing style of football with which he made his name.
While United’s results against mid-table sides have been decent enough, the team has never looked convincing when getting the ball forward rapidly into the channels.
In Saturday’s entertaining 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur, with Cristiano Ronaldo netting a match-winning hat-trick, United totally abandoned that style. Instead they went back to something more akin to the approach taken by Solskjaer with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford out wide and Ronaldo playing through the middle.
The Portuguese forward played wherever he felt he would be the most effective, dropping deep into space at times and at others hovering around the box.
After such a virtuoso display of finishing from the five-times Ballon d’Or winner, it is hard to imagine Rangnick retreating back to his preferred approach in Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.
Young Gunners have a smile again: Arsenal have their Champions League destiny in their own hands, occupying fourth place with three games in hand over their rivals after a confident 2-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday.
Much of the credit for their improvement this season — they have won nine of their last 11 games — must go to their younger players who are coming of age.
Martin Odegaard was outstanding again on Sunday with keeper Aaron Ramsdale making a vital save and Gabriel Martinelli always creative.
The club have been rewarded for keeping faith with Spanish manager Mikel Arteta, who says he can feel his youngsters are enjoying their football.
“You can sense and feel they are having a good time together and that translates on the pitch,” he said.
Klopp sweating on Salah injury: Mohamed Salah fired his 20th league goal of the season and Liverpool’s 2,000th in the Premier League during their 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion but manager Juergen Klopp was left worried about a foot injury the Egyptian suffered in the game.
“He thinks it's not serious but you can see when Salah is sitting down then something is not 100% right,” Klopp said. “I think it was the situation before when he hit the ball and got blocked — he wanted to shoot and got blocked.
“The foot got slightly overstretched. We have to see.”
Toney dragging Brentford towards safety: Brentford striker Ivan Toney had little to do in their game against Burnley but sprang to life in the final 10 minutes with two superb strikes to give the promoted side a great chance of avoiding the drop into the Championship next season.
It was Toney’s fifth goal in two games, following his hat-trick against Norwich City, and it meant Brentford temporarily went nine points above the relegation zone.
Toney hailed the impact of Denmark international Christian Eriksen, who provided the perfect pass for his opener.
Wolves back in the hunt for Europe? Wolverhampton Wanderers’ chances of European football next season looked bleak a week ago after a limp home loss to Crystal Palace, which was their third defeat in a row.
But impressive back-to-back wins over Watford and Everton have seen them climb to seventh, just two points off West Ham United in sixth, and within touching distance of the Champions League places.
That may be a bridge too far, but a season that had looked to be petering out has been given new life, with the team keeping their defensive solidity and finding their scoring touch. The European dream is back on.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
United players do their own thing, Arsenal on the rise
Wolves still have a European dream
It appears the Manchester United players have got their way when it comes to interim manager Ralf Rangnick’s tactics.
The German was hell-bent on United using his high-press style but performances and results have been well below par.
In Saturday’s win over Spurs, the United players abandoned Rangnick’s style with Cristiano Ronaldo grabbing a hat-trick while operating down the middle.
Arsenal beat Leicester 2-0 on Sunday to register their ninth win in the last 11 games with manager Mikel Arteta praising his young Gunners as they now have a Champions League spot in their own hands.
These and other talking points from the Premier League weekend.
Ronaldo ended Rangnick's pressing revolution: German Ralf Rangnick took over Manchester United in November, after the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, promising to introduce the high-energy pressing style of football with which he made his name.
While United’s results against mid-table sides have been decent enough, the team has never looked convincing when getting the ball forward rapidly into the channels.
In Saturday’s entertaining 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur, with Cristiano Ronaldo netting a match-winning hat-trick, United totally abandoned that style. Instead they went back to something more akin to the approach taken by Solskjaer with Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford out wide and Ronaldo playing through the middle.
The Portuguese forward played wherever he felt he would be the most effective, dropping deep into space at times and at others hovering around the box.
After such a virtuoso display of finishing from the five-times Ballon d’Or winner, it is hard to imagine Rangnick retreating back to his preferred approach in Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.
Young Gunners have a smile again: Arsenal have their Champions League destiny in their own hands, occupying fourth place with three games in hand over their rivals after a confident 2-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday.
Much of the credit for their improvement this season — they have won nine of their last 11 games — must go to their younger players who are coming of age.
Martin Odegaard was outstanding again on Sunday with keeper Aaron Ramsdale making a vital save and Gabriel Martinelli always creative.
The club have been rewarded for keeping faith with Spanish manager Mikel Arteta, who says he can feel his youngsters are enjoying their football.
“You can sense and feel they are having a good time together and that translates on the pitch,” he said.
Klopp sweating on Salah injury: Mohamed Salah fired his 20th league goal of the season and Liverpool’s 2,000th in the Premier League during their 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion but manager Juergen Klopp was left worried about a foot injury the Egyptian suffered in the game.
“He thinks it's not serious but you can see when Salah is sitting down then something is not 100% right,” Klopp said. “I think it was the situation before when he hit the ball and got blocked — he wanted to shoot and got blocked.
“The foot got slightly overstretched. We have to see.”
Toney dragging Brentford towards safety: Brentford striker Ivan Toney had little to do in their game against Burnley but sprang to life in the final 10 minutes with two superb strikes to give the promoted side a great chance of avoiding the drop into the Championship next season.
It was Toney’s fifth goal in two games, following his hat-trick against Norwich City, and it meant Brentford temporarily went nine points above the relegation zone.
Toney hailed the impact of Denmark international Christian Eriksen, who provided the perfect pass for his opener.
Wolves back in the hunt for Europe? Wolverhampton Wanderers’ chances of European football next season looked bleak a week ago after a limp home loss to Crystal Palace, which was their third defeat in a row.
But impressive back-to-back wins over Watford and Everton have seen them climb to seventh, just two points off West Ham United in sixth, and within touching distance of the Champions League places.
That may be a bridge too far, but a season that had looked to be petering out has been given new life, with the team keeping their defensive solidity and finding their scoring touch. The European dream is back on.
Reuters
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