Ralf Rangnick Norwich press conference transcript part two 15 April 2022

You mentioned after the Everton game that you felt the players struggled with expectation and that seems to a problem particularly at Old Trafford as well. Could you just elaborate on that?
“Well, I don’t know what you [mean]…”

The expectation is part of being a Manchester United player. Why should they struggle with it?
“I don’t know if this is the case, but it might be, at least with one or two or three of our players, it seems to be like that. That the level of expectation is high and that some of the players seem to struggle with their own performance with that. Again, no alibis, no excuses, we have to be ready to cope and deal with it for tomorrow, for sure I am fully aware of that, and I’m also convinced and very positive that all of the players know about this. This is a test of character tomorrow and mentality in this game. We are playing against the bottom team. Yes, I know they won against Burnley last week and we know that Everton lost against Burnley the week before and we also thought we should be psychologically in a better position than Everton. But we have to show it on the pitch. Whatever we talk about right now, whatever kind of speculation we have and whatever you think, or I think might be reasons for the performance at Everton, we have to be able to, in our own house, beat a team like Norwich and show the best possible performance. This is what it’s all about but the truth, the reality, is on the pitch, whatever we talk about right now.”

With regard to the game tomorrow, you’ve just lost to Everton who are 17th, Norwich are bottom. Is it unthinkable that you could lose two weeks in a row to two relegation-threatened teams?
“It should be unthinkable, but we all know in football things like that can happen. We saw that even in the European cup games again and in other leagues, we saw it the day before yesterday that things like that can happen. This is what makes this ball game so interesting. You never know what the outcome might be. But as I said, I am pretty positive that we will show a reaction tomorrow. This has to happen, we have to show that we owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our supporters, we owe that to the whole club and yes, as I said, it is definitely a test of character but we have to be aware that if we invest enough energy into that game with regard to total distance, sprints, fast runs… if we are tactically prepared for that game, which we will do, we always do that, we will give them the best possible game plan, we will try to with regard to formation and line-up to start with the best possible team. Then it’s up to the players to show on the pitch that they are still ambitious, and they want to finish the season on the highest and best possible note.”