Ralf Rangnick’s strong tactical ideology makes him different to the archetypal interim manager but Manchester United are struggling to grasp and execute his concepts after five attempts in the Premier League.
United have won a reasonable tally of 10 points from these games, but suffered a first defeat under Rangnick at home to Wolves on Monday after riding their luck to win and draw at relegation candidates Norwich and Newcastle. Many were forecasting maximum points from a soft batch of fixtures.
Changing the ethos and philosophy of a team takes time, but that is the one commodity an interim coach does not have.
Most worrying perhaps, has been Rangnick’s habitual post-match comments about body language, intensity and physicality. Effort, in short. Luke Shaw ventured into similar territory when he described United as ‘not together’ on the pitch against Wolves.
Aside from a positioning his players in a 4-2-2-2, why is Rangnick struggling to leave his mark on United’s football?
Little evidence of famed high-pressing
While some coaches are coy about discussing their preferences in public, little detective work is needed to deduce what Rangnick wants from his team. He has acquired a reputation as the architect of the fast-paced, vertical, transition-heavy German school of football exemplified by Jurgen Klopp, Julian Nagelsmann and to an extent Thomas Tuchel.
Asked about pressing, Rangnick told the Coaches’ Voice: “It’s about putting the other team under pressure, no matter how high up [the pitch]. The higher up the better, but wherever the ball is, we try to win the ball back.”
Asked about United’s pressing post-Wolves, Rangnick said: “We didn’t press at all. We tried but we were not able to get into those pressing situations.”
The complete absence of such a fundamental tenet of Rangnick’s football is perplexing. If United were pressing badly, or unable to sustain the approach across 90 minutes, that would at least be understandable. So what is going on? There are three potential explanations.
The first is physical and a question of general conditioning, and on this point Rangnick has inherited a difficult situation. United’s pre-season was constructed by a different regime with different methods, and shifting to a more intense approach is not like flicking a switch. There is little time to train between games over the festive period in England, and a potential window to work with the players was taken away when the training ground closed due to Covid.
The second is that pressing cannot be completely separated from how a team plays with the ball. A team will not be in the right structure to contract if they are gifting the ball away within a few passes of regaining possession. United are woefully inaccurate, in almost every department. Pressing relies on players being close together, and if you are hacking the ball downfield for strikers to chase or forcing your defence to drop off because you have coughed the ball up again, you are strung out.
The final and most contentious question is whether United’s forwards have the inclination to press, with Cristiano Ronaldo the thorniest case. Michael Carrick took the step of dropping Ronaldo for a game at Chelsea but, despite the fact they look an awkward marriage, Rangnick has started him in every game. He is not alone, but Ronaldo’s defensive work does not exactly scream “push up behind me” to his team-mates. Why would you step up when the opposition have easy passes on?
In the first half against Wolves, United’s front four – Sancho (25), Greenwood (11), Cavani (21) and Ronaldo (7) – made just three ball recoveries and one successful tackle in the opposition half. The tackle is the green triangle on the right wing with United attacking from left to right:
