"We should have killed the game off again" - Ralf Rangnick says Manchester United weren't lethal enough in Brighton win

Interim manager Ralf Rangick rued that Manchester United were not clinical enough in their 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League on Tuesday.

The Red Devils opened the scoring via Cristiano Ronaldo six minutes into the second half. Brighton defender Lewis Dunk received his marching orders three minutes after the opening goal. However, it took seven minutes into injury time for United to seal the game, with Bruno Fernandes finishing off a counterattack.

Despite playing against ten men and being a goal up, United had to endure some nervy moments in the second half, with Danny Welbeck coming close to scoring.

Lamenting his team's lack of ruthlessness to kill the match earlier, Rangnick said:

"It felt better than the 35-40 minutes before that! Obviously, we should have killed the game off again, much earlier after the red card. We had five, six unbelievable chances to score, but, again, we didn’t, and as long as it’s 1-0 and with the experience of the last three games – it’s normal that there is then a little bit of insecurity in the team."

He added:

"We were not quite lethal enough in those moments to kill the game off, and it is always dangerous against ten men. You can concede a goal. With Bruno’s goal, it was clear with only one minute to go that the game was over, but it took very long before we put the game to bed.”

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Manchester United will be relieved to have secured all three points

United will be happy to have broken their slump by winning an important game in the Premier League. They came into this match on the back of 1-1 draws against Southampton and Burnley.

The win has put Manchester United (43 points after 25 games) back in fourth spot in the league table. They have West Ham United hot on their heels, who have collected 41 points from the same number of games. Meanwhile, Arsenal are on 39 points, but have played three games less than the Red Devils.

Given the challenges they could face to secure the final Champions League spot, the win against Brighton will bring relief to the Manchester United camp. Rangnick's next assignment will be against Leeds United in the Premier League before they take on Atletico Madrid next Wednesday in the UEFA Champions League.