Ralf Rangnick insists Man Utd need to be ‘more aggressive and even more nasty’

Ralf Rangnick wants more aggression and nastiness from his players after Manchester United blew another half-time lead on an afternoon when Southampton threatened to take all three points.

A year on from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer overseeing a 9-0 win against Saints at an empty Old Trafford, his interim successor saw the Red Devils squander Jadon Sancho’s first-half goal on Saturday lunchtime.

Che Adams fired home an impressive equaliser shortly after half-time and Saints had chances to snatch a rare win at United, whose profligacy in front of goal led to a third successive match ending 1-1.

United great Paul Scholes suggested on Saturday that the players did not want to put a shift in for the club – something Rangnick rejected, saying it is more about the group’s mentality.

“I think what Paul Scholes said was only one third of what he said – I think he said three different options,” Rangnick said.

“I don’t think that the players are not willing to do that, because they don’t like to give away points like the ones they gave away today again.

“It was the third game where we were 1-0 up and I don’t think anyone out there should believe that the players don’t care. That they like to experience things like that today consecutively. This is definitely not the case.

“The question is with the group of players we have, how do we get more compact, more aggressive and even more nasty, it’s about defending a lead.

“This is the major issue but it’s not a question of the players not wanting to do that.”

Picked up on his comment about nastiness he said, Rangnick added: “Well, they can be tough but the question is for what period of time and in which moments.

“Again, if I see the game, the goal we conceded today, quite like at Burnley, it’s