'Humiliating' – Rangnick apologises for 'terrible' United performance in Brighton defeat

Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick said that his team were ‘terrible’ in their 4-0 defeat at Brighton.

United have no chance of qualifying for next season’s Champions League competition and have fallen away under their interim manager after briefly flirting with a top-four finish.

Earlier in the week, United had beaten Brentford 3-0 in the league but they failed to maintain their standards and put in another substandard performance.

Speaking to Sky Sports after the defeat, Rangnick said: “It was a terrible performance. From the first until the last minute it was not enough; we can only apologise for this performance and a humiliating defeat.

“[Monday’s win over Brentford] was a different game, we just gave too much time and space. We were never in a position where we could stop them playing through our lines, We told the players [to] be as compact as they could but we couldn’t stop it.”

While the German admitted the strategy did not work, he praised the home side for their quality as much as his team’s failings.

“I don’t think they ignored the gameplan but we weren’t able to stop them. We gave them too much space and if you do that against a technically good team like Brighton, you will get punished.”

United finished the game in sixth place with 37 games played on 58 points, with Brighton in ninth, 11 points behind.

Rangnick has one more game at the helm of the Red Devils, a trip to Crystal Palace on May 22.

Erik ten Hag will take the reins when he moves from Ajax in the summer.