Former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson has been impressed by Ralf Rangnick’s early days in charge of the club.
The interim manager remains undefeated since taking charge of United at the start of the month, with two wins and a draw from his three league games so far, as well as a draw for his much-changed side in the Champions League against Young Boys.
The performances under Rangnick so far have seen just two goals conceded in four games, pointing towards an improvement at the back from the final days of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign.
United though haven’t been firing on all cylinders, with recent displays at Norwich and, in particular, Newcastle raising concerns over how much progress has been made, with pundits pointing towards some familiar traits from earlier in the season.
Nevertheless, speaking in the club’s matchday programme, Robson believes there is enough encouragement to be had from Rangnick’s first month in charge.
“The early signs have been good,” Robson said.
“In the opening months of the season, we maybe got in between whether we’d counterattack or press, and that’s when we started conceding far too many goals.
“I thought Michael Carrick did a terrific job as caretaker over three big games because he and the players were right under pressure, but they secured Champions League qualification and took four points from Chelsea and Arsenal – really tough games considering the situation we were in – and those were terrific results.
“Since then, the early results under Ralf have been good, without giving goals away. David de Gea has played a big part in that and confidence should be back on the up among the defence and the team as a whole now. We’ve built a good run and what we have to do now is add to it.”
Robson also pointed towards the recent outbreak of Covid cases at the club as to why the most recent performance at Newcastle proved to be somewhat lacklustre.
The clash at St James’ Park was United’s first in over two weeks following the closure of their Carrington training base, with fixtures against Brentford and Brighton postponed due to the rising cases in the squad.
“It can’t be a pleasant experience to go through,” Robson added.
“Staying in your own little bubble, being professional and sensible, it has to be done but it impacts on your family life as well.
“All the players and staff can do is get on with it the best they can, keep others safe and entertain people on a football pitch when they get the chance.”
We’ve teamed up with LiveScore to invite fans to vote for their favourite results - the games which were much more than a score. Vote for the match that mattered to you here .
