Man United stumble vs. Southampton, Ronaldo struggles: Same old story for Rangnick

MANCHESTER, England — When Ralf Rangnick asked for more consistency this isn't what he had in mind. For the third time in nine days, Manchester United dominated, scored, stopped playing, conceded and drew.

Southampton were well worth their 1-1 draw at a rain-soaked Old Trafford in Saturday's Premier League clash and on another day they might have left with three points rather than one.

«History is repeating itself again,» United defender Luke Shaw said afterward. «We started really well the first 20 minutes, got the goal and it just happened again.»

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It's not the only statistic that matters but Ralph Hasenhuttl's team ended the afternoon with 14 shots to United's 13, a fair reflection of the threat they posed to David de Gea's goal.

In a little over a week Rangnick's side have gone out of the FA Cup and dropped four points in the race for a top-four finish and Champions League football next season against teams who started the day 20th and 10th in the table. What was left of United's season is in danger of unravelling and Brighton & Hove Albion will certainly fancy their chances when they arrive here on Tuesday.

«Unfortunately it was very similar to the last couple of games,» United's interim coach Rangnick said postmatch. «A very good first half, very good first half-hour. We did all the things we intended to do with the counter-attacks and the deep runs. We created, scored a great goal.

»Then we stopped doing that; at the end of the first half we didn't do those things anymore and then in the second we lost a bit of shape."

For Rangnick, there are problems at both ends of