Manchester United’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick, who was the helm from December last year to May this year has made shocking revelation about the club’s problems. United are enduring through a rough patch which seems to be a never-ending matter. The club is yet to taste silverware since 2017, and its almost been a decade since their last Premier League title triumph.
Hope was restored in the club after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led the club to a second place finish in the 2020/21 season. However, he too got the sack mid-season in the 21/22 campaign, after a dismal start. The Red Devils turned to Ralf Rangnick, the ‘press-master’ as their interim boss to redeem their ailing season. He was also offered a consultant’s role at the club following the end of his managerial tenure in summer this year. But he turned it down and instead took up the job of the Austrian National Team.
Ralf Rangnick opens up about his controversial tenure at Old Trafford
Ralf Rangnick’s appointment at Old Trafford raised a lot of eyebrows, given his high-pressing system was touted as too good for this United team. What followed was a disastrous campaign for the Devils as they only managed 11 victories in 29 games under Rangnick, earning them a mere sixth place finish in the league, 13 points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham who bagged the ultimate Champions League spot.
The Austrian blamed his players who were not fit enough to impose his system on the pitch. Rangnick even stated that the club’s star signing from last summer, Cristiano Ronaldo was not a ‘monster’ while pressing and as a result often had to be left out of the starting eleven. The Portuguese too expressed his displeasure over the same and reports even claimed that he wanted the club to give Rangnick the sack.
However, Rangnick has now come out hitting at the club in his recent interview. On being asked whether he has ‘learned’ from his defeats at United, he told Der Standard:
“I don’t think so. As a coach or sports director, it’s about being able to develop things and minimizing the chance factor as much as possible. That you develop a team in a direction where you use game control and a certain type of football to create significantly more chances than you allow the opponent to have. It would not have taken Manchester United six months to do that. After just two weeks it was clear to me where the problems were and what would have to be done to fix them – but the question is whether you have the option of changing these things
He was further quizzed if he would pick Ronaldo in his line-up if he was an Austrian, Rangnick bluntly replied: “He’s not Austrian.”
As evident, the 64-year-old is still unhappy with the way the club handled his situation. Rangnick had even went on to express that United needed a massive overhaul which could need them to bring in 13-14 new players, while clearing the fringe ones. United have managed to clear the surplus ones this summer, releasing the likes of Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Edinson Cavani.
However, incomings have been a shortage at the club as new manager Erik ten Hag has been handed with just four signings. Moreover, Cristiano Ronaldo has decided to quit Man United in the pursuit of Champions League football. Amidst the chaos, Ten Hag has managed only two wins from four Premier League games so far. They next face Leicester City on September 2 as United are still unsure if Ronaldo will travel with them for the clash or not.