Manchester United show few signs of improvement under Ralf Rangnick

Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s demise as Manchester United manager was drawn out and, by the end, humiliating. The curtain was not brought down on his time at the club after a 5-0 hammering at home to Liverpool, but an embarrassing 4-1 defeat to bottom-of-the-table Watford a month later. Fast forward 12 weeks and United have again stumbled against a side who are at the foot of the league. Their 1-1 draw at Burnley on Tuesday night, coupled with midweek wins for West Ham and Arsenal, leaves them sixth in the table.

Ralf Rangnick was meant to be an upgrade on Solskjær, who was questioned and mocked throughout his time in charge, but the team has not benefited from the same upturn in form they enjoyed when Solskjær took over in 2018. United won 10 of their first 12 league games under Solskjær, while also making it to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and Champions League. Rangnick has won five of his nine league games so far, while taking United out of the FA Cup after being drawn at home to a Championship club.

The 1-1 draw at Turf Moor in midweek was an all too familiar story for United fans. They went in at the break with a 1-0 lead, having delivered perhaps the finest half of football under the German. They racked up 12 shots – five of which were on target – and had two goals controversially chalked off, all while preventing Burnley from having a single shot. However, with the cup exit to Middlesbrough fresh in their minds, the decline in the second half felt inevitable. Burnley equalised two minutes after the restart and United did not manage a shot on target in the entire half – against a Burnley side that has not won a league game since October.

Despite having a wealth of attacking options at his disposal, Rangnick has been