The mountain Man United had to climb to qualify for next season’s Champions League got that much harder after their latest loss at Everton.
LIVERPOOL, England — Manchester United have had some chastening days at Goodison Park since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, and now there’s another to add to the list. Ralf Rangnick’s team were beaten 1-0 by Everton to follow on from a 2-0 defeat under David Moyes in 2014, a 3-0 defeat under Louis van Gaal in 2015 and a 4-0 thumping under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in 2019. Each one of those results should have been a low point never to be repeated, but the fact it’s still happening nearly a decade since Ferguson left shows how big a job it is for the next manager to turn the club around. — Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only) — Don’t have ESPN? Get instant access Ajax manager and presumed Old Trafford coach-elect Erik ten Hag might want to add another zero onto his asking price, particularly if there’s an April trip to Everton on next season’s fixture list. In the short term, Anthony Gordon ‘s deflected first-half goal means United have given themselves an even bigger mountain to climb if they want to play Champions League football next season. It says everything about the state of Rangnick’s team that even after Arsenal slipped up at Crystal Palace in midweek, they couldn’t lift themselves enough to beat an Everton side who had lost 17 of their previous 22 league games and started the day just a point above the relegation places. United still have seven games left, but playing like this, they don’t belong in Europe’s top club competition. «The players should be eager to play Champions League football but as long as we play like today they don’t deserve it,» said Rangnick afterwards.
