Manchester United have had a mixed start to life under new interim boss Ralf Rangnick, with some poor performances flanked by early promising signs.
Fans expected the German to work miracles by coming into the team and embedding a positive mentality. But according to former players like Rio Ferdinand, he’s underwhelmed in this area.
However, results have seen an improvement. Although David de Gea has been responsible for keeping the side in many a game, Rangnick has still only lost one match during his tenure so far.
He’s even dragged the struggling side back into the Champions League places. The 1-0 victory over West Ham, where Marcus Rashford scored a last-minute winner, even showed some signs of the United of old in how they kept themselves in the game until the very end.
Rangnick has also tightened up the defence, and his forwards are working hard to press opposition defences.
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But there is one area of the game that still represents a significant problem – and it doesn’t look like being fixed soon.
Man United can’t score from corners
With powerhouses like Harry Maguire, Paul Pogba and Cristiano Ronaldo in their squad, the Red Devils should be scoring with ease from corners. But that hasn’t materialised on the field.
They are the only team in the Premier League not to have bagged a goal from this position this season, despite over 100 opportunities. And to make matters worse, as per The Athletic, their opponents are more likely to counterattack and score themselves.
United have only mustered one shot on target in this area all season. However, Fernandes’s effort failed to make its way into the back of the net.
Ronaldo, one of the best headers of a ball that the game has ever seen, hasn’t netted from a set-piece in the league since his return. Therefore, this is an area that Rangnick needs to pay special attention to.
Rangnick admits work still needs to be done
As per the Manchester Evening News, the 63-year-old admitted that his squad have to improve in this area.
He said: “In the end, this is a question of training time but is also a question of deliveries. And this is really a little bit weird, to be honest, because we are players who should be technically able to deliver the balls in the right way.
“But we still have to work on that, and we still need to improve in those areas. At least we scored a goal after a free-kick against Villa. The first goal at Villa Park was after a free-kick, but I fully agree we haven’t conceded as yet in the last weeks and months, but we should also be more dangerous and more effective on set-pieces ourselves.”
However, fans can’t solely blame the German for this. United’s drought from corners extends back to March of last year, whilst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was still at the helm. That means they have gone an incredible 10 months without scoring a goal from a corner in the Premier League.
Therefore, the Old Trafford faithful will hope that with a great deal of work on corners in Man United training, Rangnick can get the team firing on full cylinders once again.
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