Ralf Rangnick was appointed interim boss for Manchester United on the 29th November, succeeding Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who was sacked just eight days prior.
History
Rangnick is a German coach who has formally managed teams like Shalkhe, Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig. However, after his last role at Leipzig came to an end in July 2019, Rangnick hasn’t managed since. Instead, the German manager has taken up a more technical role, working as a sporting director for Leipzig, RB Salzburg, and managing director at Lokomotiv Moscow.
Therefore, immediate doubts established in relation to whether Rangnick would be good enough as a manager in the modern game, taking on such a high-pressure job as United manager.
In Germany, Rangnick never won the first division but did win the second tier with Hannover, as well as a German cup, League cup and super cup with Schalke. In Austria, he managed to win back to back Austrian first division titles, achieving the double in consecutive seasons by winning the cup.
Therefore, although Rangnick never managed to win the first division in Germany, he was still successful there and his time at RB Salzburg was very victorious.
Style of play
Rangnick is often known as the ‘father of the gegenpress.’ The gegenpress is a German inspired style of football, now adopted by some of the top coaches in the world like Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel.
The fundamentals around gegenpressing is a high intensity style which involves constant pressing of the opposition, aiming to win the ball back as high, and as quickly as possible.
Rangnick imposed this style throughout his managerial career, and so with his arrival at United, many hoped he would implement such.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, United have lacked a forward-thinking manager with a clear positive identity in how they want to play. Previous managers like Jose Mourinho and Louis Van Gaal were rooted in their historic ways, not adapting to the modernisation of the game. Therefore, Ranginck was seen as a breath of fresh air for United fans.
Early stages
In Rangnick’s first game, United hosted Crystal Palace. Immediately, in the first twenty minutes, the Red Devil’s looked a completely different side. The players were energetic, hunting down their opposition, pressing throughout. After months of inconsistent and lacklustre football, this looked like it might finally be changing. The subsequent 70 minutes wasn’t as impressive, but it still looked promising. United won the game 1-0.
Rangnick’s men then went on to win five of their next nine games, drawing three and losing just one game.
This illustrated a promising start for the German manager’s short stay at the football club.
However, after this, United only won two games from eight, being knocked out of the FA Cup on penalties to Middlesbrough, and suffering a heavy 4-1 defeat to local rivals Manchester City.
Despite this, United managed to earn a 1-1 draw in the Champions League quarter finals against Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano in Spain. This put United in a strong and winnable position to potentially go into the last eight of the European competition.
Unfortunately for Rangnick and his team, United lost narrowly in a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford thanks to a Renan Lodi goal.
Subsequently, United then went on to win only two of their remaining nine games, losing five times, including a 4-0 drubbing to big rivals Liverpool.
Rangnick ended the season with consecutive defeats to Brighton and Crystal Palace.
Brighton demolished United 4-0 in a humiliating affair, which all but ended Rangnick’s hopes of gaining a longer contract.
United failed to get top four, finishing sixth, just in the Europa League spots after West Ham didn’t manage to win on the final day.
Consultancy role
With his announcement as interim of United, Rangnick signed onto to be a consultant at the club for two years after leaving in the summer.
Due to his wealth of experience and knowledge in football, particularly with regards to recruitment and transfers, Rangnick was seen as an ideal consultant to help strengthen the footballing hierarchy at United.
The German would work limited days a month, but would provide insight into potential players United should look at, offering his expertise in their recruitment strategy. This stems from years of inefficiency in recruitment at United, as they would consistently overpay for players, and the players that were brought in weren’t good enough for the club.
Furthermore, the negotiators would offer huge wages to lure players to the club which created various problems. One issue was that players would make the decision to come to United solely based on money and thus wouldn’t have the right attitude for the club.
In addition, lots of the players who weren’t good enough, where on huge wages, which made it increasingly difficult to sell on and gain any market value back to improve net spend. Therefore, the decision to appoint Rangnick as a consultant seemed a positive one. However, in late May, Rangnick became Austria manager. Days later, Rangnick announced he wouldn’t continue his role as a consultant and would be solely focusing on his new role.
Overall
Rangnick came into a turbulent United side, with the club atmosphere depleted, and the team in poor form. Thus, the job to help steer United back into stability, and try get top four was a very difficult one.
He started off well, winning games, attempting to impose his style on the team. However, after the Champions League exit to Atletico Madrid, the energy around the club dissipated.
United gradually got worse, looking amateurish at times, not like a team coached by one of the most influential managers of the footballing game.
In addition to the Champions League knockout, Rangnick failed to take United far in the FA Cup, being knocked out in the fourth round by Championship side Middlesborough. Thus, it extended United’s trophyless run. This is worsened due to the club’s nature as it’s built off winning trophies.
Furthermore, United finished sixth in the Premier League, saved by West Ham’s inability to win their last game. Although United were poor, they finished second just the year prior, so should never have been competing for sixth.
Lastly, with his future role as a consultant being one of the key incentives in hiring the German manager, his decision to cancel this role dampens his time at the club further.
Therefore, ultimately, Ralf Rangnick’s time at the club was unsuccessful as he didn’t win any trophies, failed to get United top four and didn’t take up his consultancy role, thus leaving United no better than they were before he was hired.