Manchester United Ralf Rangnick manager believed Everton were “crumbling” before Anthony Gordon’s goal “changed the atmosphere”.
Ralf Rangnick said his players dominated the early exchanges at Goodison Park but left him disappointed through their failure to take advantage. And speaking after Everton held on to secure a crucial 1-0 win courtesy of Gordon's deflected strike, the interim Old Trafford boss accepted his team were unable to break down the Blues’ “wall”.
Rangnick said: “I think we had a good start in the game, the first 25 minutes we were in full control of the game. Saying that, I don’t think even in that first 25 minutes we took enough, and made enough advantage, out of that dominating period in the game, especially on our left side. I would have wished for us to create more overlaps and underlaps and exploit those open spaces more than we did.
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“We had our moments, we could have scored in the first 25 minutes, but even in that period of the game I would have wished us to be more penetrating. We had more players up in the box, you could literally feel they were crumbling after that result against Burnley, quite logically that they were not full of confidence.
“But we didn’t take advantage of that and with their first shot on goal, a deflected shot, it changed the game. It also changed the atmosphere in the stadium. In the second half they just defended with their lives with their players on the pitch and we were not able to break that wall down in the second half.”
Rangnick added: “If you don’t score a goal against Everton, in all respect towards Everton - they have a good team, but if you don’t score against a team that conceded three goals against Burnley then in the end you can’t expect to get anything.”
