Manchester United squad rated for pace and aggression according to Football Manager

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Ralf Rangnick has been setting out his blueprint for the future with his comments on Manchester United’s squad.

The interim boss is expected to work as a consultant after his role finishes, where his previous experience in team building at RB Leipzig can be utilised.

Rangnick made clear he felt United’s squad was lacking the qualities he wanted, which is currently having a negative impact on the performances.

Rangnick told the club website: “We come back to DNA, physicality, speed, tempo, what do we need? I think this team does not lack technical players, but I think we can do with more physicality.”

Further elaborating in comments made to The Telegraph, Rangnick added: “I don’t think we have a lack of character but what was obvious in some parts of the game is we were second best with regards to physicality. Whenever there was body contact, too often we were second best. That is something we have to get better at for the rest of this season but even more so for next season. I just felt we could have been more dynamic, more physical, more aggressive but we weren’t.

“It is difficult to challenge a technically great player into a physical, aggressive one and we have a lot of people who are technical players.”

So how many of Manchester United’s squad actually have the qualities to meet Rangnick’s expectations?

Using Football Manager 2022’s database via FMInside.net we have picked out the ratings (out of 20) for the two traits Rangnick particularly desires from his players.

Defence

Diogo Dalot: Pace 14, Aggression 10

Aaron Wan-Bissaka: Pace 15, Aggression 15

Harry Maguire: Pace 12, Aggression 15

Victor Lindelof: Pace 14, Aggression 10

Eric Bailly: Pace 16, Aggression 16

Raphael Varane: Pace 16, Aggression 11

Alex Telles: Pace 14, Aggression 16

Luke Shaw: Pace 15, Aggression 15

Midfield

Fred: Pace 14, Aggression 15

Scott McTominay: Pace 14, Aggression 17

Nemanja Matic: Pace 10, Aggression 10

*Paul Pogba: Pace 16, Aggression 12

Bruno Fernandes: Pace 14, Aggression 18

*Jesse Lingard: Pace 15, Aggression 15

Donny van de Beek: Pace 12, Aggression 12

*Juan Mata: Pace 9, Aggression 10

Attack

Marcus Rashford: Pace 17, Aggression 14

Anthony Martial: Pace 16, Aggression 8

Cristiano Ronaldo: Pace 16, Aggression 6

*Edinson Cavani: Pace 14, Aggression 16

Anthony Elanga: Pace 19, Aggression 12

Jadon Sancho: Pace 15, Aggression 11

Who fits in

What we are looking for here are players who have scores of 15 or over in both categories, or at least, 30 combined across the two.

Discarding the players leaving on a free transfer in the summer, there are just seven who fit the bill.

These are Eric Bailly, Alex Telles, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Scott McTominay, Bruno Fernandes, and Marcus Rashford.

This small number highlights how United need to strengthen the squad this summer, with too many players missing excellence in traits Rangnick desires.

Pace and aggression is not everything, for instance, Jadon Sancho is an exceptional talent with the technical skills which are also valuable.

Marcus Rashford and Eric Bailly are also out of favour despite having some of the traits Rangnick looks for, and questions surround their futures, suggesting something else is wrong.

But as a starting point, looking for players who can deliver more pace and aggression in certain areas makes sense, especially in midfield.

Nemanja Matic has a score of 20/40 in these categories combined, while Donny van de Beek has just 24. These low scores are an indictment of their lack of football this season, with United needing to get faster and stronger.

When it comes to summer recruitment, Rangnick will be pressing for United to add players to have the traits he believes this squad sorely lacks.