Premier League English

The real joke’s on Man United stars laughing at Ralf Rangnick behind his back

Ralf Rangnick’s reputation had preceded him before his arrival at Old Trafford to take over from sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and the more knowledgeable United fans were overjoyed when he was appointed as their manager on an interim basis before tanstioning to a longer term consultancy. However, through no fault of his, the German tactician is yet to impress many at Old Trafford.

One of the key problems is Manchester United players – out of a combination of laziness, lack of dedication and discipline – obdurately not buying into his training methods and regimentation, the tools of his trade that the German tactician has long earned his impression reputation on in Germany, being highly-acclaimed as the Master of Gegen-pressing.

Hence with this background of complacency and total lack of inspiration, it was totally unsurprising that the Red Devils threw away a two-goal lead in the final 13 minutes of their match against Aston Villa at the weekend, leading again to anxious questions being raised about their second-half performance. Needless to say, blame would automatically deflect over to the head coach as United’s form has improved only marginally since his appointment, with even the sceptical ones highlighting that the overall displays are not markedly better than when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in the dugout.

To be candid, this is a totally unfair assessment of the German tactician as it is now an open fact that the United team aren’t entirely on board with the former RB Leipzig boss, which is pretty alarming insofar as the attitude of the players is concerned. This is due primarily to the fact that Ralf Rangnick’s training methods involve winning the ball high up the pitch, which requires a supremely high level of fitness, dedication and discipline to achieve and to maintain.

Former Schalke star Tim Hoogland has provided a clear insight into what life would be like playing under Rangnick, which provides an insight as to why the current batch of motley United players are unhappy under the German coach.

Hoogland told The Athletic: “Rangnick had clear rules in training sessions… if you arrive in the second third of the pitch (midfield), you weren’t allowed to play the ball backwards.

“If you win the ball, the first instinct has to be to the opponent’s half, towards the opponent’s goal. Often in training, when we got the ball, we would have, let’s say, six or seven seconds to get a shot on goal. If not, the other team gets the ball.

“If you’re doing things like that in training, you will do it in a game. A lot of coaches and teams are doing something like this now, but 15, 20 years ago, it was more unusual.

“He changed the way we trained — you’re not training because you want to train, you’re training because you have a really, really clear vision of how it has to be in the game.”

The disclosure from Hoogland comes just days after the Daily Mail revealed that United stars had been laughing at Rangnick because he turned up to Carrington for training on Tuesday morning when he had given them a day off, with the mistake thought to be the ‘talk of the training ground’.

Hoogland continued in his appraisal of Rangnick’s approach, which spoke volumes for the latter: “He was always a little bit more than a coach.

“He’s a really good communicator, his knowledge is unbelievable, he has a really clear vision of how football has to be played under him. He’s half-coach, half-sporting director. They call him The Architect in Germany.”

Although to date the German may have failed to completely gain the trust of his current squad, with even rumors having circulated that Cristiano Ronaldo had actually threatened to walk away from the club if the 63-year-old became permanent boss, Rangnick may yet be able to salvage his reputation by acquiring new signings.

The German is expected to be well-backed this month and is keen to sign a midfielder at the very minimum, with RB Leipzig star Amadou Haidara closely linked with a move to Old Trafford having previously been purchased under Rangnick.

It remains to be seen what other talent the manager can attract to the Theater of Dreams, and whether he will be able to guide his squad to a place in the Champions League next season and show why he is not only highly respected, but even adored, in his homeland.