It seems a genuine lifetime away since Ralf Rangnick took over at the helm of Manchester United.
Following the sacking of club legend Ole Gunnar Solksjaer, the charismatic German was brought in on an interim basis until the end of the 22/23 season. Rangnick came with a wealth of footballing experience, and an insane amount of knowledge on the sport – having been one of the pioneers to revolutionise modern football regarding tactics.
Rangnick was still supposed to be at Manchester United right now. The 23/24 season was due to be the second of his two-year role as strategic consultant, after his bridge spell as interim manager. But after Erik ten Hag‘s arrival – he was moved on.
It felt like the Glazers were particularly scared to death of some of his comments and ideologies – which have now been spot-on. Do Manchester United owe him a huge apology?
Ralf Rangnick was spot on about Manchester United’s squad
After being absolutely battered by Liverpool 4-0 at Anfield in April 2022 – Rangnick made some comments that were laughed at by many.
In a heated post-match press conference, the Austrian didn’t hold back, letting out all his anger and embarrassment after what he had just watched.
“it is extremely embarrassing for me as a coach to have press conferences like this one” as he addressed the media after United’s abysmal performance against their bitter rivals.
“It’s embarrassing, it’s disappointing, maybe even humiliating,” said Rangnick. “We have to accept Liverpool are six years ahead of us now.
“When Jurgen Klopp came they changed at the club and lifted not just the team but the club and city to a new level. That is what needs to happen with us in the next transfer windows.”
“There will be a rebuild for sure but that does not help us when we still have five games to play,” said Rangnick, with United still three points off fourth-placed Tottenham, having played a game more.
“If you analyse the situation it is not difficult to analyse. For me, it is clear there will be six, seven, eight, maybe ten new players. Before you sign those players you need to be aware how you want to play.”
Ten Hag has been criticized recently for not having a style of play, and the Manchester derby was a disaster due to a massively depleted squad.
Ralf Rangnick knew Manchester United needed a full rebuild, up to 10 players
Fast forward to 2024, nearly two years on – the club are only now seemingly set to listen to the German’s pleas.
All it took was a complete change of ownership to realise this, with speculation that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to take no prisoners in the summer.
He looks set to axe a bunch of the first-team squad, and spend frivolously to replace them. It’s set to be a seriously busy summer.
Yet, United could have propelled themselves two years ahead had they listened to Rangnick. Instead, they now find themselves ever further behind the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City – and seemingly now Arsenal.
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