Ralf Rangnick has told his Manchester United players to prove they care and are not reverting to their bad old ways.
The interim manager demanded "passion, emotion and intensity" ahead of Monday's FA Cup third-round home clash with Aston Villa, and admitted there are players who are unhappy within the Red Devils' ranks.
A dismal Premier League home defeat to Wolves halted early progress during Rangnick's reign, and the German boss said on Friday said it was "a step back... maybe a relapse".
Rangnick inherited the job from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the club legend who was sacked once it became clear he could not get the best from United's talented and costly set of players.
Now that is the challenge for the experienced former RB Leipzig boss, and he has demanded the co-operation of the squad as a whole.
"We have made some progress, but obviously the game against Wolves was a step back, maybe even a relapse to habits the team has shown in the past," Rangnick said in a news conference.
"We need to insist and emphasise every time that we have to work together."
He repeatedly pointed to finding a balance between defence and attack, and called for a collective, fiery effort.
"We need to do it with passion, with emotion, with intensity," Rangnick said.
"This was the problem against Wolves, especially in the first half where we were only escorting them. It was only David de Gea who objected to them going easily to our goal."
Wolves had 15 shots before half-time in Monday's Premier League game, the most attempts any visiting team has had at Old Trafford in the opening 45 minutes of a Premier League game since at least 2003-04, Opta said.
Rangnick said a "different performance" was imperative for the Villa game, and said he was confident his players were making an effort to buy into his methods.
"They're at least trying, I'm sure that they are listening," he said. "We need to and want to work with the players we have.
"We've showed we can keep clean sheets, but it's also about what we are doing with the ball and without the ball. Once we have the ball it's about responsible decision-making, making the right decision at the right moment."
Villa have lost their last six FA Cup matches, their longest ever losing run in the competition, while United have won their last nine home games in the tournament by an aggregate score of 20-2.
They are unbeaten in their last 11 at Old Trafford in the FA Cup since a 2-1 quarter-final defeat to Arsenal in 2014-15.
Yet Villa have won in the league at United's home this season, so Rangnick is on guard.
History tells us there have been only three occasions of a team winning twice away at United in the same season – Chelsea in 2004-05, Tottenham in 1989-90 and Villa themselves in 1919-20. Villa, now bossed by former Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard, would love to repeat the feat.
There have been rumours of discontent in the United dressing room, often centring around Cristiano Ronaldo, with speculation he might be unhappy or that others are disenchanted with his status.
How true any of that might be is unclear, and Rangnick says there are always bound to be players who become fed up.
"This is not only an issue with a club like Manchester United. If you have that many players and only 10 outfield players can play and three be substituted [onto the pitch], you have quite a number of players, in our case, 12, 13, 14 players who don't even play or don't even get in the squad," he said.
"Those players are not happy about that situation, it's obvious and it is clear. I tend to explain to players every two or three weeks why they are not playing, but obviously I can't do that in every game."
Some may move on during this transfer window or at the season's end.
"We have players with contracts expiring in the summer, maybe also one or two others who still want to leave, although they're on contract," Rangnick said.
"It's about the players to deal with that situation in a professional way. If I realise that is not the case I will address that to the players directly.
"Everybody has the chance and option in training to show up and get the chance to play. If this is not the case, the players together with the club and agents need to discuss the situation."
Pochettino urges Chelsea players to have more self-belief
Mauricio Pochettino has reminded his team to respect themselves as they prepare for another tough game against Aston Villa on Saturday.
After being knocked out of the FA Cup by Manchester City last Saturday, the Blues were thrashed 5-0 by title-chasing Arsenal in midweek for their 11th defeat of the season.
Chelsea still have an outside chance of finishing in the top seven as they sit just three points behind Newcastle United with two games in hand.
Asked if his side are capable of putting the disappointment of their last two results behind them, Pochettino said: “Lack of belief, in the circumstances, sometimes happens.
“We tried to realise how we need to behave when the game is tough when the demands are so high. We need to try and be more strong and to trust in the way that we play, in our philosophy, in the way we prepare the games.
“We need to be positive, and we need to be strong and believe tomorrow we can have a good game, good attitude, good approach. We are going to compete again with another team, fighting for the top. We need to think we are Chelsea and respect ourselves."
Luis Enrique confident PSG are in perfect form with three titles up for grabs
Paris Saint-Germain can wrap up the Ligue 1 title this weekend, and with the Champions League and Coupe de France still to play for, they are in the best possible form, according to manager Luis Enrique.
PSG host relegation battling Le Havre on Saturday, and a win will secure the league title with three games still to play, leaving them to concentrate on a Champions League semi-final with Borussia Dortmund and the cup final against Lyon.
"I think we are heading into the final phase of the season in great form," said Luis Enrique.
"I wouldn't have imagined this scenario going as positively as this, but what happens in the future is what happens. I would say we are in fantastic form in every way. We have almost every player available. Our supporters are very happy.
"The club has so much ambition to achieve something else. It is a really attractive end to the season, which we are motivated for, and we will continue to fight to achieve all our targets."
'Did anyone expect us to be champions?' – Klopp not ready to assess final season at Anfield
Jurgen Klopp refused to assess his final season at Liverpool just yet, despite the campaign seemingly starting to fizzle out.
Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat to Everton in the Merseyside derby dealt a huge blow to Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes.
The Reds are now three points clear of leaders Arsenal, while they are two points behind second-placed Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
Klopp has just four matches left of his Liverpool tenure, though he is not ready to assess the final season of his stint just yet.
"I would not assess it now. I have no clue, so I am not in the mood to give up, wave the white flag kind of thing," he said ahead of Saturday’s trip to West Ham.
"I just think we have to look after ourselves; just make sure that we play better football. I said after the game 'why should a team who play like us against Everton be champions?' But the football we played before, a lot of good stuff. In January we looked invincible, with a depleted squad. Everybody went in the same direction, go for it, squeezed out results.
"So, we deserve to be where we are. I want us to use the situation, don't feel the pressure, for whatever reason it is. The boys are incredible footballers and I see it as my job to create that atmosphere where they can be the best versions of themselves – and that's obviously how I have failed.
"I don't know how it happened, but I didn't see anything of what I wanted us to be in the Everton game."
Klopp did, though, reminded the media that Liverpool have performed above expectations.
"Did anyone expect us to become champions at the start of the season? No, but it developed in this direction," Klopp added.
"Just to explain how different it is. We cannot go back to the point where we say 'yeah, well [qualifying for the Champions League] is good enough'. It is very good, but because we were so close, we are very, very disappointed in this moment in time. We cannot change that."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Ham – Jarrod Bowen
Bowen has scored in both of West Ham’s meetings with Liverpool so far this season – the only Hammers player to score in three different games against the Reds in a single campaign is Geoff Hurst in 1964-65.
Liverpool – Mohamed Salah
Salah has received criticism for his recent form, but he has scored 11 goals for Liverpool against West Ham in all competitions, only netting more against Manchester United (14) in his Reds career.
MATCH PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
West Ham have won just one of their last eight Premier League home games (D5 L2), beating Brentford 4-2 in February. They lost against Fulham last time out but haven’t lost consecutive home league games since a run of three in November/December 2022.
Liverpool have already beaten West Ham 3-1 in the Premier League and 5-1 in the League Cup so far this season. This is the 11th different campaign in which they have faced the Hammers 3+ times, but they have never managed to beat them three times in any of the previous 10.
Since keeping back-to-back clean sheets against Liverpool in the 2015-16 campaign, West Ham have conceded at least once in each of their last 15 against the Reds, conceding multiple goals in 12 of those games.
Liverpool have only won more Premier League games against Crystal Palace (13) than they have against West Ham (12) under Klopp.
West Ham have lost 12 of their last 14 Premier League games against Liverpool, with both exceptions in this run coming at home (1-1 in February 2019, 3-2 in November 2021).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
West Ham – 21.7%
Liverpool – 52.5%
Draw – 25.8%
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