Ralf Rangnick apologized to Manchester United’s supporters and branded Saturday's 4-0 Premier League thrashing at Brighton “humiliating” and “unacceptable”.
United’s players were subjected to chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” from their own fans as they were outclassed and outfought on a remarkable evening at the Amex Stadium.
A chastening defeat on the south coast ensured the 20-time English champions will finish with their lowest points tally of the Premier League era and extinguished slender hopes of Champions League qualification.
“To start with, it’s important that we apologize to our supporters who came all the way from Manchester to Brighton,” said interim manager Rangnick.“We were just not good enough from start to finish. The performance was not only poor, it was extremely poor.“It was a humiliating defeat and even more so for a team like Manchester United.“It’s not only that you lose 4-0, it was also the way we played and this is just unacceptable, very difficult to deal with and to cope.”
Protesting travelling fans once again took aim at United’s owners, with chants of “love United, hate Glazers” and “we want Glazers out” ringing out early in the game.They later vocally questioned the commitment of their side following goals from Albion quartet Moises Caicedo, Marc Cucurella, Pascal Gross and Leandro Trossard.
Sixth-placed United can now only accumulate a maximum total of 61 points this term – three fewer than they managed in 2013-14, which began under David Moyes and finished with the caretaker management of Ryan Giggs.United did at least show some fight in the closing stages, during which substitute Edinson Cavani had a goal disallowed for offside.
However, another major low in a miserable season – which has featured 11 defeats – highlighted the extent of the job facing incoming manager Erik ten Hag.
Rangnick is confident the current Ajax boss can revive the club’s fortunes.“I’m still very positive that with Erik ten Hag that we have a top manager next season,” he said.“The board has already made some changes and there will be more to come in the summer.“I’m still positive that we can change the whole issue and show a completely different face next season. This is important not only for our fans but also for the image of the whole club.”
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