Rangnick offers a clean slate and Van De Beek must grab his chance for Manchester United against Young Boys
A lot has changed since the last time Manchester United faced Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League about three months ago.
Having lost 2-1 to the Swiss champions in their opening group game, the Red Devils have since gone unbeaten in Group F. They have already secured top spot ahead of their ultimate group match.
On the contrary, Young Boys have failed to win any of their matches since their win over the English giants and are currently rooted to the bottom of the group.
Manchester United, though, have very little to play for, and the game will thus allow new manager Ralf Rangnick to give opportunities to some of the fringe players.
Top place = guaranteed 🔝👏
It's time to close the group in style đź‘Š
#MUFC | #UCL
Van De Beek's chance to shine for Manchester United
Rangnick has already confirmed that Dean Henderson and Donny van de Beek will both start against Young Boys on Wednesday evening.
Of the two players, though, Van De Beek has a lot more to prove. The Dutch midfielder rarely played under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and also did not start in Rangnick’s debut game against Crystal Palace.
Now he has the chance to prove to the German manager that he deserves more playing time. Rangnick is still assessing his squad, which means places are up for grabs.
Should Van De Beek put up a sterling performance against Young Boys, it would be difficult for the manager to drop him for Manchester United's next game against Norwich City.
The former Ajax midfielder has craved a chance like this for so long and must now grab the opportunity with both hands.
Confirmed by Rangnick! Donny van de Beek will play tomorrow night against Young Boys. đź‘Ť
#MUFC https://t.co/YMAg4t8csU
Manchester United must win to keep momentum going
United are guaranteed to finish as group winners and have already booked their place in the last 16, but they still need to win against Young Boys to build momentum.
The confidence of some players was rocked during the last days of Solskjaer’s tenure and a winning run is exactly what they need to regain their credence on the pitch.
Also, the more the team wins, the more the dressing room becomes livelier and Rangnick will need such a serene atmosphere to instill his methods.
"We need to make sure that we have as much recovered players as possible, also for the Premier League, but on the other hand of course, we need to keep the positive momentum," the Reds boss said, as quoted by Manutd.com.
"Our ethos is to win games even if we maybe play with a few new players, fresh players, it's still important that we win the game.
"By the way, in the first game in this group, we lost at Young Boys and so we still need to make up for that, and it's clear that no matter which players we start with tomorrow, we definitely want to win the game."
Manchester United have a very favorable run of games between now and New Year’s Day and they must win as many matches as possible to keep the team’s momentum going.