Manchester United arrived at the Hyatt Hotel on Tuesday ahead of their Premier League showdown against Brighton with Ralf Rangnick’s words ringing in their ears.
The Red Devils have led 1-0 at half-time in their past three fixtures only to be pegged back after the interval, with their weekend draw at home to Southampton proving to be their latest failure.
In a campaign where they had initially been expected to challenge for the title - particularly after bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane last summer - they instead now find themselves struggling for consistency and in the middle of a fight for fourth.
Rangnick pulled no punches after the draw with the Saints, accusing his players of making things “too easy” for their opponents in recent weeks.
The interim United boss admits his side have been unable to play with the kind of intensity he desire and now wants to see improvement.
“The situation is pretty clear. In 11 out of 13 games since I arrived we scored the first goal and we were 1-0 up – but we didn’t win all of them,” he said.
“Especially in the last three games it was very sad that we didn’t win those games. This cost us four points in the league and the next round in the cup.
“The players understand and feel how and why we are doing a good job and now it’s about doing that sustainably for an entire game and this is exactly what our next step is that we have to take.
“We didn’t concede a single goal the last weeks in the first half, but the next step is to raise our level and to stay focused physically, mentally, tactically, we just gave away those goals too easily.
“Look at all those goals that we conceded in the second half. It was just too easy and it was also our own mistakes that we made to allow the other teams to score.”
Both Ronaldo and club captain Harry Maguire have come in for criticism of late, with the former suffering his worst goalscoring drought in a decade, with the latter coming under fire for a number of displays in which he has struggled against opposing strikers - with Armando Broja notably causing the £80million centre-back issues with his speed and strength on Saturday.
Both are expected to start once again, although Rangnick could look to make changes in midfield, where the balance of Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay was at times overrun by Ralph Hasenhuttl’s men.
Victory over the Seagulls will take United above West Ham and into fourth, which Rangnick believes must now be his side’s priority aim.
Right now this is exactly what Manchester United needs to want, to finish fourth in the league,” he said.
“I think this is the highest possible achievement that we can get with no other things.
“Yes, the Champions League, hopefully to proceed into the next round in the Champions League, which is also not an easy one. But in the league currently it’s number four, that’s our ambition.”
To claim a Champions League spot, Ronaldo, Maguire and co will need to turn the German's accusation about their defensive efforts on its head. The question is: Can they?
