Ralf Rangnick may still be unbeaten as Manchester United interim boss, but it appears all is not well for the German at the club.
United produced a largely flat and disjointed performance against Newcastle United on Monday evening as they were held to a 1-1 draw.
Allan Saint-Maximin fired Newcastle inside the opening 10 minutes before Edinson Cavani's second half effort from close range rescued Rangnick’s side a point.
United have won two and drawn two from Rangnick's four matches in charge, and speaking afterwards, the German admitted the performance was a 'negative surprise'.
He said: "Every ambitious coach, and there is no difference between other coaches and myself in that area, wants to take faster steps and larger steps forward.
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"But in order to do that, you need to be able to train and, as you know, we had to close Carrington for four days.
“Before that we had eight or nine field players in training directly after the Norwich game and they only came back in small bits and pieces.
"The last three days we were almost back to full strength with regard to the size of the squad but we couldn’t do that much in training. On the other hand, in those two or three training sessions, the team looked good.
"Therefore it really was a bit of a, in today’s game, a negative surprise the way that we played with regard to game speed and game tempo and physicality."
Ahead of his appointment at United, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admitted he felt 'a good coach' was landing in the Premier League.
But it appears that the same players who threw Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer under the bus haven't changed.
As Roy Keane once put it during an appearance on Sky: “A leopard never changes its spots.”
So in a way it should be no surprise to see a United manager struggle to get his ideas across.
When Jurgen Klopp joined Liverpool in 2015, he had a rebuilding job on his hands as the squad needed a complete overhaul.
But for Rangnick at United, he inherited a squad with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho, Cavani, Harry Maguire, Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford.
The two situations couldn’t be any more different, but Rangnick is quickly seeing why those before him have failed and were eventually sacked.
Liverpool, as a club, not just their players, knew they needed change.
And more importantly they knew Klopp was the right man to implement the changes needed.
While you get the feeling that United’s players aren’t quite on board with what their interim boss wants to enforce.
As, at the end of the day, he is only the interim and there is a very good possibility that he will be moved into his consultancy role at the end of the season.
Liverpool, at the time of Klopp’s arrival, may not have had the most gifted of players, but they all clearly brought in what Klopp wanted to do.
And while many of them in the end proved not good enough to go on the journey Klopp has taken Liverpool on, they still listened and did what was asked of them at the time of his arrival.
For Rangnick, that type of commitment seems a million miles away for him, and his side’s results and performances are certainly reflecting that.
Klopp has had to put up with a lot at Liverpool, but he’s never once had players not listen to what he has to say or not respond to his instructions around tactics or the way he wants his team to play.
Rangnick arrived at Old Trafford to not only give the club a much-needed lift, but also a new identity. Yet until the players listen like Liverpool’s did to Klopp, things will remain as they are.
