Manchester United’s interim boss Ralf Rangnick opens up about the festive fixture congestion ahead of the Red Devils’ trip to Newcastle United

Ahead of Manchester United’s trip to St James’ Park on Monday, Ralf Rangnick gave his views on English football’s traditional festive fixtures alongside cup competitions and recent postponements due to COVID-19.

Almost 50% of Premier League matches since mid-December have now been postponed due to COVID-19 outbreaks at clubs up and down the country with three Boxing Day fixtures already cancelled due to the virus.

Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick was asked for his opinions as someone new to English football. On the topic of the traditional festive period fixtures, Rangnick gave his views on the tradition and that he’s ‘looking forward’ to the matches ahead.

“This is a big tradition here and I think we should stick to and respect this tradition. I’m looking forward to that as this will be the first time in my coaching career that I will be part of that.”

However, the German did create some controversy by questioning the traditions of having two domestic cup competitions in England.

“England are the only country in the top five leagues in Europe that still play two cup competitions. France abolished their second one a year or two ago and this is something maybe we could speak about and discuss.

“I know the reason for that, the league cup has been kept for the third and fourth division teams especially to improve the financial situation of those clubs. But I still think if we speak about a tight calendar and having to play too many games then this is something we could speak about and discuss.”

Strictly speaking, Spain still also have a second cup competition the Supercopa de España albeit it is limited to only four clubs, the winners and runners-up of the league and of the Copa del Rey.

With that being said, they have the additional challenge in recent times of an intercontinental eight-hour flight to play the semi-finals and final of this tournament in Saudi Arabia. The next competition takes place in mid-January in Jeddah and a deal was also recently announced to continue to play the Supercop de España in Saudi Arabia until 2029.

When asked specifically about the squad for the Newcastle United match, Rangnick confirmed preparations were going well following the COVID-19 outbreak at the club which has meant they haven’t played a competitive fixture since December 11th.

“As far as I could see in training, they’re all in good shape. All the players did their recent homework and stuck to their schedules to train at home.”

Whilst the Red Devils have not played for the last two weeks, Newcastle have played three times so their players should be much more match fit. However, with heavy defeats in all those matches, Man City (4-0), Liverpool (3-1) and Leicester City (4-0), and sitting second bottom of the table with only one win from 18 matches, the Magpies will not have much confidence going into Monday night’s clash against top-four hunting Manchester United.

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