Ralf Rangnick Press Conference - Aston Villa

VP89

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Van de Beek latest

"It is the same situation as with Dean. I am glad to have him in the squad, he is always performing at a high level in training.

"I had a conversation two weeks ago and advised him to stay until the end of the season. He wants to play in the World Cup and Louis Van Gaal told him he needs to regularly play. I understand it, but we have a lot of competition in our squad."
 

VP89

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VDB:

"It is the same situation as with Dean. I am glad to have him in the squad, he is always performing at a high level in training.

"I had a conversation two weeks ago and advised him to stay until the end of the season. He wants to play in the World Cup and Louis Van Gaal told him he needs to regularly play. I understand it, but we have a lot of competition in our squad."
 
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VP89

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Finding Balance:
"I was fully aware this could not happen overight. It is a work in progress. We have shown we have conceded fewer goals but still, it is about controlling the game. Obviously, we have taken a few steps, but things can still get better, to find the best formation."


Work in progress
"If you want to control or dominate games, you can do it in two ways. One, how you play when the other team is in possession and not being weak on the counter-attack. The other is to gain control when you are in possession of the ball. We've taken a few steps but not as quickly as I would have wanted. As coaches you are never patient! You always want to develop faster. It is all about the results of each game, and that is true tomorrow."


 

VP89

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I suck so hard at this. Need a pro to put the quotes up :lol:
 

VP89

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Performances so far
"As I said, in the first instance, it was about getting results, points. We were all distracted by the defeat to Wolves. It is now about getting results and getting as many points as we can.

"It is about balance. How offensive can we play without conceding too many goals?"
 

Castia

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Not into this 'we need them for 3 competitions' stuff

Why do they keep telling Donny to stay yet never give him a game? we've got a keeper worth 25m+ on a reported 120k a week being told to sit on the bench? its so fecking bizarre to me.

Donny can't get into one of the most average-underperforming midfields in the league yet isn't allowed to go, you'd think at this point after sitting on the bench for 18 months we would sell him and re-invest the cash.
 

UncleBob

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Performances so far
"As I said, in the first instance, it was about getting results, points. We were all distracted by the defeat to Wolves. It is now about getting results and getting as many points as we can.

"It is about balance. How offensive can we play without conceding too many goals?"
.....Which would be fair enough to say if we were actually looking decent up front but leaking goals, but we're fecking shit in attack
 

UncleBob

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Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick confirmed that Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho and Phil Jones could be available for their Premier League fixture against Aston Villa on Saturday.

"I think they will be available. They only trained yesterday for the first time, Cristiano yesterday, Harry I think the day before yesterday. So as a team, we have to wait for the final training session this afternoon, but right now they should be available for tomorrow."
 

Riz

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.....Which would be fair enough to say if we were actually looking decent up front but leaking goals, but we're fecking shit in attack
He’s arguing the opposite..
Saying we’ve conceded less but acknowledges we aren’t scoring much so it’s the balance between committing more offensively at the expense of opening up the defence.
 

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Nice one @VP89 thanks.

.....Which would be fair enough to say if we were actually looking decent up front but leaking goals, but we're fecking shit in attack
That's the crux of the matter, isn't it? If we attacked more we might open up to more opposition chances, and we'd probably still fail to score much.
 

VP89

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No problem @Mr Pigeon
On playing Villa again:
"Well, at least we know from experience now what the challenge will be and how they are playing," he added. "We also know we are able in a tough and tight game to beat them.

"Now it's about showing the best possible performance and the best possible players performing on the pitch in order to win the game at Villa Park."
 

shamans

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Van de Beek latest

"It is the same situation as with Dean. I am glad to have him in the squad, he is always performing at a high level in training.

"I had a conversation two weeks ago and advised him to stay until the end of the season. He wants to play in the World Cup and Louis Van Gaal told him he needs to regularly play. I understand it, but we have a lot of competition in our squad."
Not this again. This means Donny won't be playing.
 

tomaldinho1

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Not this again. This means Donny won't be playing.
A number of sources saying Newcastle are really keen to get him on loan but we're not actually open to letting him leave given we want cover. Feel we're really fecking him over at the moment.
 

VP89

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You'd hope that a midfield signing allows us to offload a player who wants out :S
 

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If Donny never gets games anyway regardless of rotation then he may as well not be here. Even if we had loads of injuries I get the feeling we’d rather re-sign Rafael and Park just to play them there again.
 

shamans

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A number of sources saying Newcastle are really keen to get him on loan but we're not actually open to letting him leave given we want cover. Feel we're really fecking him over at the moment.
If Donny never gets games anyway regardless of rotation then he may as well not be here. Even if we had loads of injuries I get the feeling we’d rather re-sign Rafael and Park just to play them there again.
What's weird is we clearly looked better with him in the middle. Three in the middle to control the game would be the way to go.
 

Ahmer Baig

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Van de Beek latest

"It is the same situation as with Dean. I am glad to have him in the squad, he is always performing at a high level in training.

"I had a conversation two weeks ago and advised him to stay until the end of the season. He wants to play in the World Cup and Louis Van Gaal told him he needs to regularly play. I understand it, but we have a lot of competition in our squad."
What competition?
 

Foxbatt

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Dean Henderson:

"It is the same situation as with Dean. I am glad to have him in the squad, he is always performing at a high level in training.

"I had a conversation two weeks ago and advised him to stay until the end of the season. He wants to play in the World Cup and Louis Van Gaal told him he needs to regularly play. I understand it, but we have a lot of competition in our squad."
This is not right is it?
 

No Idea For Nickname

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Ralph Rangnick Press Conference - Aston Villa

ffs, it is RALF !!!!!!!!!

Oh, maybe that is the reason our players don't like him, they are not capable of spelling his name. Not sure some of them are capable of spelling their own names.
 

VP89

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Thought Simon Stone asked the best question of the conference, asking him about where they are going on the training to get the balance right etc.

Also asking whether he thinks the players are adequate to apply this balance
 

2 man midfield

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What's weird is we clearly looked better with him in the middle. Three in the middle to control the game would be the way to go.
Exactly, I’d rather sacrifice one of our strikers who don’t have enough to do anyway. Donny holding, Fred box to box and Scott as an 8.
 

red_de_pologne

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Competition for places.. Bet Donny doesn't even play when McT is suspended. What a joke. Obviously half fit Harry is also straight back into starting 11 after one training session.
 

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What's weird is we clearly looked better with him in the middle. Three in the middle to control the game would be the way to go.
We will see tomorrow. We looked better at Wolves when he changed the system at half time and again at Villa when we went to the Diamond. Ralf is a smart guy by all accounts and so I would hope and expect he will have reached the conclusion that regardless of his fondness for the 4-2-2-2 we don't have the players to execute it properly. Regardless of which formation he settles on what is painfully clear is that we need that 3rd body in midfield to give us more control and possession and he can achieve this in a number of ways but sticking to a 2 man midfield is just begging teams to batter us.
 

TheGame

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Dean Henderson:

"It is the same situation as with Dean. I am glad to have him in the squad, he is always performing at a high level in training.

"I had a conversation two weeks ago and advised him to stay until the end of the season. He wants to play in the World Cup and Louis Van Gaal told him he needs to regularly play. I understand it, but we have a lot of competition in our squad."
:eek: Henderson has been speaking to LVG and can play for Holland.
 

TheGame

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Van de Beek latest

"It is the same situation as with Dean. I am glad to have him in the squad, he is always performing at a high level in training.

"I had a conversation two weeks ago and advised him to stay until the end of the season. He wants to play in the World Cup and Louis Van Gaal told him he needs to regularly play. I understand it, but we have a lot of competition in our squad."
There is competition in the midfield, clearly must have missed this somewhere?
 

Adam-Utd

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There is competition in the midfield, clearly must have missed this somewhere?
Think the competition is to see who gets the best seat on the bench.
 

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A number of sources saying Newcastle are really keen to get him on loan but we're not actually open to letting him leave given we want cover. Feel we're really fecking him over at the moment.
But that's not the club's concern, is it. If Ralf feels it's a nice addition to have Donny around and the club thinks it's fine financially, then all's good from the club's perspective. I'm sure that, ideally, they'd want to sell Van de Beek and have his place in the squad taken by someone who is a better fit and is an upgrade on a starter; but then that's unlikely to happen in the January window anyway.
Thought Simon Stone asked the best question of the conference, asking him about where they are going on the training to get the balance right etc.

Also asking whether he thinks the players are adequate to apply this balance
So what are the answers? :wenger:
 

sparx99

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He has been championing fewer goals conceded but we've played teams down the league or goal-shy like Wolves. Has our xG against declined because I'm still seeing huge chances for the other team every match?
 

sparx99

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Also, I'd like a journalist to please ask about why the forwards keep making poor decisions. It would be nice to see Greenwood, Ronny, Bruno, Rashford, etc called out for their greediness.
 

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Love Rangnick's transparency in interviews. It's a fresh of breath air.
 

tomaldinho1

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But that's not the club's concern, is it. If Ralf feels it's a nice addition to have Donny around and the club thinks it's fine financially, then all's good from the club's perspective. I'm sure that, ideally, they'd want to sell Van de Beek and have his place in the squad taken by someone who is a better fit and is an upgrade on a starter; but then that's unlikely to happen in the January window anyway.

So what are the answers? :wenger:
Of course it's the cut-throat world of business but Donny's such a unique case. Bought at expense to essentially sit as an asset, he never starts or plays and just gets 5-10 minutes now and then as cover. It's not economical to have a £40m player on his wages as someone who is used like that. Answer is so obvious, loan him out somewhere he'll play (his reputation can't regress any more than it has through him not playing in essentially 2 years) in order to sell in the summer and, given it's very obvious he's not in the long terms plan, try and sign a CM who will start or, if they are not available in Jan, get in a depth signing for peanuts who will fulfil the exact same role i.e. never play.