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Manchester United is having a bad run under Ralf Rangnick, and Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t scoring well enough to help the team get out of it. Ronaldo didn’t even start the 1-1 draw against Burnley on Tuesday (February 8), coming on as a second-half replacement and scoring for the sixth consecutive game. That’s his longest goalless streak at club level since 2010.
However, the issues go deeper than one of the world’s best strikers going on a scoring drought. United’s second-half collapse was worrying, much like the team’s second-half collapse against second-tier Middlesbrough in the FA Cup on Friday. On that occasion, United lost a penalty shootout.
Also concerning was England center-back Harry Maguire’s defending, which allowed Burnley’s new recruit, lanky striker Wout Weghorst, to turn him in the middle of the field and play in Jay Rodriguez for the equalizer in the 47th minute. That canceled out Paul Pogba’s 18th-minute opener, which came after a long injury layoff and was undoubtedly United’s best player in the first half.
United scored three times before halftime, but two of them were ruled off, the first for offside against Maguire, followed by him blocking Rodriguez before Raphael Varane scored? and then for a rather harmless foul by Pogba. United dropped to fifth place, a point behind West Ham, who beat Watford 1-0 on Tuesday.
“It was a difficult night for us,” Rangnick added, “since we should have won that game easily.”
I couldn’t criticize the players for not having a killer instinct in the first half because we scored three goals. In the end, it came down to a little bit of luck. “One point is insufficient for a performance like this,” he added.
JEERED ZOUMA
West Ham won thanks to Jarrod Bowen’s second-half goal, but the big talking point was Kurt Zouma’s inclusion in the starting lineup despite a video circulating on social media showing him kicking and hitting a cat.
West Ham had previously stated that it “unconditionally condemns the acts of our player,” and Zouma had expressed regret. “The club will work with the other part of it, and I’ll look after the football side,” West Ham manager David Moyes said of Zouma’s availability.
NEWCASTLE IS ON THE UPGRADE
In the other game, Newcastle defeated Everton 3-1 to move four points clear of Burnley and out of the relegation zone. Everton, on the other hand, is closing in on the bottom three, with only three points separating them and third-placed Norwich.
Frank Lampard’s first game in command of Everton was a 4-1 FA Cup triumph over Brentford on Saturday, but despite his team going up thanks to an own goal by Jamaal Lascelles, he was handed a reality check.
Mason Holgate scored an own goal for Newcastle a minute later, before Ryan Fraser and Kieran Trippier, one of the Saudi-owned club’s five January recruits, scored second-half goals. Newcastle’s third victory of the season.
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