McTominay accuses Manchester United of lacking ‘fundamentals of football’

Scott McTominay has laid bare the crisis that has overtaken Manchester United, saying there are a “whole load of problems in terms of players, staff, everything higher up”. The midfielder was hugely frustrated after the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal – when United had the chances to have taken something – and accused the team of lacking the “fundamentals of football” including “balls” and belief.

“It is pride on the pitch – give your best, everyone,” he said. “There are a lot of things going on at the minute. When we get back in the dressing room – it’s go home and take a look at yourself in the mirror. You can’t go back to your house and be satisfied with conceding three goals away at Arsenal when we deserved to win the game.

“For us, self-belief, lack of confidence – you can see it all in the last two months. We had a half-decent game but even then it is the belief, which is so big in football. It is just not there. It is a bit of balls in your performances. That is what it comes down to – the fundamentals of football. It is difficult for me to speak right now because there are so many emotions. It comes down to the basics and we never do them well enough in big games, recently.”

Paul Scholes said on BT Sport that the United midfielder Jesse Lingard had described the dressing room as a disaster. “You’ll have to ask Jesse Lingard, if you have this information,” Ralf Rangnick, the interim manager, said. “I think the whole group get on reasonably with each other. I’m not daring to say they get on well with each other. I don’t see there is an issue in regard to the locker room.”

Rangnick argued that VAR had conspired against his team at the Emirates. He felt Nuno Tavares had fouled Anthony Elanga in the area, Cédric Soares had handled under pressure from Jadon Sancho, and Eddie Nketiah had been offside and impeding David de Gea’s view of Granit Xhaka’s decisive third goal. Even worse, Rangnick claimed to have seen stills that showed Cristiano Ronaldo had been onside when he spun and fired home for what would have been 2-2.

“If this is the right picture, and I suppose they showed me the right picture, you could see it – it was clearly one line in one line,” he said. “This is why we have a VAR.”

Rangnick accepted United had to defend better and press more often. Why had they unravelled of late? “The defeat to Atlético Madrid [in the Champions League last 16] destroyed a lot of hopes and also the emotions of some of the players, which I can understand,” he said. “It’s hard to motivate and keep the energy level high. You look at the league table – with Tottenham and Arsenal – and it’s not very realistic to dream and talk about the top four.”

The game turned on Bruno Fernandes’s penalty miss at 2-1. Asked why Ronaldo did not take the kick, Rangnick said: “I spoke with him after the game and he said he didn’t feel he should take it.”

• Manchester United
• The Observer

• Arsenal
• Ralf Rangnick
• news