Ralf Rangnick explains decision to bring on Juan Mata during Man Utd's defeat to Everton

Ralf Rangnick has explained why he handed Juan Mata his first Premier League appearance of the season during Manchester United’s defeat to Everton on Saturday.

Anthony Gordon’s deflected striker in the first half earned the relegation-threatened Toffees a much-needed win at Goodison Park.

United struggled to break down their opponents, and in the second half, Rangnick opted to bring on Mata and Anthony Elanga for Nemanja Matic and Marcus Rashford.

But the Red Devils failed to break Everton’s defence down, and now face an uphill task to qualify for the Champions League.

‘If you don’t score a single goal in 95 minutes we have to be disappointed,’ Rangnick told BT Sport,

‘We had a good start and should have created more chances out of that domination. Then we concede a deflected shot and lost a bit of our composure.

‘The second half we were trying to add creativity with substitutions but we didn’t always take the right decision.’

When asked why he brought on Mata, Rangnick replied: ‘We had to do something because we needed a goal.

‘I decided to bring with him more creativity in midfield and more verticality with Anthony Elanga but obviously they were defending with their players in the last 35/45 minutes.

‘We didn’t find the right player at the right moment and we didn’t always have enough players in the box when we crossed it.’

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