Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown has accused Ralf Rangnick of being too slow in his attempts to solve Manchester United's current troubles.
Rangnick, who was appointed interim United manager on a deal until the end of the season at the end of November, oversaw his first defeat in charge on Monday evening, watching his side go down 1-0 to Wolves at Old Trafford.
Joao Moutinho's effort with less than ten minutes of normal time remaining on was enough to clinch all three points for Wolves, condemning United to their first defeat since sacking former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Whilst the scoreline suggested the contest was a close run battle, Wolves were in control from virtually the first shrill of referee Mike Dean's whistle, dominating the contest and restricting United to almost nothing in the final third, despite the likes of Edinson Cavani, Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Mason Greenwood all starting.
Despite the defeat to Wolves being Rangnick's first in charge, it was another poor performance that lacked heart, courage and the desire to run and press in the way Rangnick wants his players to.
Having picked up just four points from the last nine on offer, Keown believes Rangnick is failing to fix United's troubles quickly enough.
"Ralf Rangnick was hired as a quick-fix boss but he isn't fixing Manchester United’s problems nearly quickly enough," Keown told the Mail.
"I was shocked by the ease with which Wolves built their attacks from the back during their 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Monday. It was the first time United had faced a three-man defence under Rangnick and it looked like the players didn't know when and how to press.
"Rangnick is a very intelligent tactician, but this screamed of a lack of preparation. The match was barely one minute old when Wolves beat United’s press for the first time."
Despite suggesting that Rangnick ought to be finding solutions to United's problems a lot quicker than he is doing, Keown believes it remains important that he is given time to get his plans and ideas across.
He continued: "He deserves time before being written off. Solskjaer had three years and Rangnick has had two months.
"United can still finish fourth in the Premier League, but mistakes like the ones made against Wolves need to be kept to a minimum."
We've teamed up with LiveScore to invite fans to nominate their favourite results - the games which were much more than a score. Nominate the match that mattered to you here .
