United must not make another emotional, knee-jerk decision by rushing to make Ralf the next boss

BURNLEY versus Watford is a big clash on Saturday and I fancy Sean Dyche’s men to nick it. Watford, under new boss Roy Hodgson (right, top) have more ability and a better chance of putting together a five-game run with a bit of a swagger. But they lack heart and bottle. Burnley have less creativity, but they have graft, courage, determination, Maxwel Cornet (right, below), and games in hand. So if they can take the points and then nick a few more in the tough games that follow, and still have games in hand, they’ll stay up, which is what I’m backing them to do.

THE idea that Manchester United already want Ralf Rangnick to continue as their manager beyond the summer is absurd.

It’s not as if he has won eight games on the bounce, with United cutting a swathe through all who stand before them. They have still been maddeningly inconsistent and a long way from what we expect them to be.

So I don’t know why they would close off other avenues that could be available in the summer by letting word get round tht Ragnick could stay in charge. Why not wait until the end of the season and stick to the plan of him steadying the ship, assessing things, and then supporting the new manager as technical director – a plan that sounded quite sensible in the first place?

After all, he has been doing the job of technical director for the last few years, which is why United wanted him in the first place. And it’s not like he’s going anywhere, it’s not like other clubs of United’s size and stature are queueing up to take him.

Rangnick has already said: “You only get one opportunity to go to Manchester United in your career,” so we know he’s happy to be there.

United have him in the palm of their hand and yet, once again, they seem susceptible to emotional over-reactions. They did it

United must not overreact or they could lose out on Pochettino

when David Moyes was The Chosen One, replacing Sir Alex Ferguson, then later they went for The Special One to hand increasingly disenchanted fans a man who was a routine winner.

Next they turned to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the man who gave the club one of its greatest moments when he scored that dramatic injurytime winner in the Champions League final.

They handed a man who had managed only Molde and Cardiff the keys to the kingdom on the back of a modest upturn in results and an admittedly good win against Paris Saint-Germain.

So there have been a lot of emotional, knee-jerk overreactions at Old Trafford and, if they have made their minds up already on Rangnick, this looks to be another.

It means they will have put all their eggs in one basket with no significant improvement in either results or performances.

And that could end up meaning they miss out on former Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino or someone of similar pedigree who is saying to his agent: ‘The United job is up in the summer, can you call them and test the water?’

I’m also a bit sceptical because I don’t know of any A-grade players who will be saying: ‘I want to go and play for Ralf Rangnick.’

They might want to play for United but they aren’t going to want to play for Rangnick. Contrast that with the pull of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Pep Guardiola, Mourinho, Antonio Conte and Jurgen Klopp.

So Rangnick remains a big question mark. And, if United are smart, they will give themselves time and follow the sensible terms of his employment as they were set out in the first place.