Opinion: Newcastle United display shows Ralf Rangnick must be Manchester United's demolition man
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Updated 28/12/2021 at 15:40 GMT
Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United drew 1-1 at Newcastle United as the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford struggled. The German coach has been hired to reshape the squad at Old Trafford and that means some difficult decisions will have to be made before Rangnick's successor is found.
Ralf Rangnick during Manchester United's Premier League match against Newcastle United.
Image credit: Getty Images
Ralf Rangnick didn’t like what he saw from his Manchester United team at St James’ Park. How could he? Pitted against a Newcastle United outfit fighting relegation near the foot of the Premier League table, the German’s new side were dominated and were fortunate to escape with a point. They barely deserved it.
“Today we didn't control the game apart from a few moments,” Rangnick explained after the 1-1 draw, assessing in real time what went wrong for Manchester United in the North East. “It's all about energy, physicality and who wins the second balls. In all those areas we weren't at our best.
“You have to be ready and able to win those direct duels and this was not that often the case. When we were in possession we had too many giveaways and even with the goal, that doesn't make things easy.
"Today was not a question of body language, it was a question of body physicality. If you want to be competitive here you have to get physical and this was not the case in many parts of the game."
It might be the case that the true scale of the task at Old Trafford is only just dawning on Rangnick. The 63-year-old is renowned for being something of a team builder, but he has never been handed such a complex puzzle before, and he certainly hasn’t had to work under such intense scrutiny before.
After three years of hands-off coaching, Manchester United are a team who can neither press nor cope with a press. That is not a good combination in the modern age where elite level teams have to be proactive on both sides of the ball. Newcastle United brutally exposed this, and they’re hardly known for their ‘Gegenpressing’ approach.
The performance Manchester United produced on Monday night couldn’t have been further from what most expected them to produce under Rangnick. Of course, the former RB Leipzig man has only been in charge for three matches, and has had to contend with the disruption of a Covid-19 outbreak, but the display at St James’ Park underlined the role Rangnick must play.
United need Rangnick to be their demolition man. The squad he has inherited is an incoherent mess that lends itself to no particular footballing ideology. Manchester United don’t have a distinct style of play because the group was never assembled with a distinct style of play in mind.
Before Rangnick can build something, whether it’s as a head coach or a de facto Director of Football, he will have to knock a lot down. Difficult decisions will have to be made with the January transfer window presenting an early opportunity to clear the decks. Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial are already expected to be on their way out.
Rangnick has been hired to put in place the groundwork for a new team. Everything he does must be done with his permanent successor, whoever that may be, in mind. This is another complication in Rangnick’s brief - he is not building a team for himself, but for someone else yet to be appointed or even identified.
“I would like Mauricio Pochettino to be the next manager because he has experience of the league, he would play the right type of football, I think it feels like the moment for him to step up, he now manages big stars and personalities, which will help him,” Gary Neville said on Sky Sports.
“I have always liked him, I’ve always loved the way he operates and I think he fits the club. He works with young players well, he gets the best out of players, he’s a good coach, but also works with people in the right way.”
Regardless of whether or not Pochettino takes over at the end of the season, it is clear Manchester United will be in no position to move forward until an ideological straightening out has taken place. This process might be a painful one, but it must happen. There will be more performances like the one produced against Newcastle United.
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