Ralf Rangnick questions his players after horrible home defeat against Wolves

Joao Moutinho fired Wolves to a first win at Old Trafford since 1980 as Ralf Rangnick’s unbeaten start to life as Manchester United’s interim manager came to an end.

The Red Devils finished 2021 with a much-needed home win against Burnley, but the new year got off to a terrible start as their sloppy, disjointed display was punished by Bruno Lage’s impressive visitors.

"We didn’t play well at all individually or collectively. In the first half, we had big problems to keep them away from our goal," conceded Rangnick.

"In the second half we changed to a back three and had more control then a spell of 15 minutes where we could have scored. The goal we conceded, we had enough players in the box. The cross had been defended by Jones but the goal we conceded was like too many this season.

"Moutinho could shoot unmarked with no problems, no pressure. We’re very disappointed about the result and parts of our performance.

"They’re playing with four or five central midfielders and we had problems to control that part of the pitch. We decided to change our formation and we had more control – they didn’t have as many chances – but we missed our chances and we have to admit they deserved to win."

United have struggled since Rangnick took over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but this was the lowest point of his brief reign so far, with his tactical plan clearly not working.

"Wolves were the best team we’ve played. We have more problems today than in other games," he added.

"We didn’t press at all. We tried but we were not able to get into those pressing situations. They had an overload in midfield and they played via their wing-backs. We’ve been only working two and a half or three weeks after needing to close the training centre. We had the results. In times we played well but today we have to admit they’re better than us."

"The game showed we still have a lot of work to do. We had too many unforced errors.

""I don’t want to speak about individual performances of players. It’s an issue of the whole team. It doesn’t make sense.

"We have to see each individual game. So far we had 10 out of 12 points. Today we had our first defeat against a good team. They don’t score that many goals, today they scored the only goal. Today the question was who will score the first goal."