Ralf Rangnick Explains Why He Substituted Paul Pogba In Second Half In 4-2 Win

Ralf Rangnick has explained why he substituted Paul Pogba in the second half of Manchester United's 4-2 win over Leeds in the Premier League on Sunday.

Pogba, who claimed his third start in four league matches for Manchester United, recently returned from a long injury layoff. A hamstring injury that he suffered in November during the international break saw him miss 14 matches for the Red Devils. Before that, he had missed two more games as a part of his red card suspension.

"He did well in the first half, but he didn't play from the wing, he played as one of the two eights along with Bruno. On the wing we played with Jesse Lingard and Jadon Sancho and he [Pogba] did great, but after 60 minutes you could see him starting to tire, which is normal after such a long injury break," Rangnick said in the post-match conference.

"It was great however to bring on two energetic players like Fred and Anthony Elanga," he added.

The Red Devils went into the half-time break with a 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes. However, a few minutes after the game resumed in the second half, Marcelo Bielsa's side scored twice in the space of 60 seconds, drawing the score level at 2-2.

Fortunately for Manchester United, both Fred and Elanga netted a goal each to make it 4-2 at Elland Road.

"With them both scoring in the end this is the best part of it but I didn't bring them on actually to score goals. It was more about getting more energy into the team and playing in a similar style to how we played in the first half," the German boss said.

Jadon Sancho was Man of the Match for me: Gary Neville

Sancho, who featured in Manchester United's starting XI for the fourth consecutive time in the Premier League, had one of his best games for the Old Trafford side since his arrival in the summer. Sancho assisted two out of the four goals for the Red Devils and was picked as the Man of the Match by Gary Neville.

"I'm going to go for Sancho. Two assists, quality [showed] in the end. His chipped pass in the first half and reverse pass to Fred," Neville said after the match.

Manchester United remained in fourth place in the 2021-22 Premier League table after the latest win over Leeds. The Red Devils have 46 points from 26 games.