April 04, (THEWILL) – Ralf Rangnick has shared his advice to Manchester United’s management, as he attempts to return the Red Devils to the top of the Premier League.
In recent years, United has fallen well behind rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, and has been accused of failing to devise a strategy for regaining ground.
Rangnick, the current temporary manager, will leave the position at the end of the season and will be charged with utilising his experience to restore order to the boardroom at Old Trafford.
Rangnick has already told United’s top brass four things they need to do to fix themselves, even before he gets the job.
These four points are: enhancing long-term recruitment and constructing a squad around the new manager, prioritising physical and aggressive players over technical ones, scouting a player’s personality before signing, and accepting that this is not a temporary position.
Rangnick said: “Manchester City and Liverpool…have been built together and recruited over a period of five or six years – all of them under the premise of how the coaches want to play. I told the board this is what has to happen [at United].
“Whenever the new head coach is clear, it has to be: how does he want to play and what kind of players do we need for that? Then we come back to DNA, speed, physicality, tempo. What do we need? This team does not lack technical players, it can do with more physicality.
“It takes right decisions and [clarity over] where you want to go: what kind of players, want kind of manager and then, in every transfer window, try to get the best possible. This is rocket science. It has to be done and, if that happens, it does not necessarily need three or four years. Maybe in two or three transfer windows, then the situation could be different.”
Rangnick emphasised the importance of physicality in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Leicester City, citing several instances, in which United needed to be more aggressive.
“I don’t think we have a lack of character, but what was obvious in some parts of the game is we were second best with regards to physicality.
“It was about one on one duels. We spoke about that counter-attacking moment we had ourselves, where they tackled us twice, within two seconds [and went on to score] and the same was true in quite a few other moments. Whenever there was body contact, too often we were second best. That is something we have to get better at for the rest of this season, but even more so for next season.
“There were quite a few other moments where I just felt we could have been more dynamic, more physical, more aggressive, but we weren’t.
“On a day when we are fluid and in our rhythm we have shown in the past we can outplay other teams but [Saturday] was difficult. Leicester were aggressive and physical in many parts of the game and we had problems with them. It is difficult to change. I do not think it is to do with mindset – it is to do with the DNA of the players.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
