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Rob DawsonReporter
Ralf Rangnick said a word again at Old Trafford on Friday when he was introduced as Manchester UnitedNew interim coach: control.
On the pitch, the team has had very little record this season and even when they do win, things are often chaotic, either having to come from behind or find a last-minute winner. Usually from Cristiano Ronaldo.
But since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, there has been frequent confusion off the pitch. Managers come and go. Various ideas are taken and then discarded. Players bought and then sold. If there is a plan, it is not always obvious.
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Rangnick, 63, from Germany, says he is here to take back control. Initially in the game to help United recover from a disastrous start to the campaign. Then, with a two-year consulting position set to begin in the summer, his focus will shift to what happens behind the scenes.
As Gary Neville said, he has a six-month contract with the team coach and a two-year contract with the club coach. And United is a club in need.
Rangnick’s first job was to prepare the team Crystal PalaceTrip to Old Trafford on Sunday. Arrived only three days after 3-2 . win end Arsenal on Thursday night, he will be short of time. And on Friday, he wanted to remind supporters that they shouldn’t expect certain kinds of things gegenpress Revolution. However, there will be changes.
“The players have to come with me,” said Rangnick, who attended the first training session on Friday afternoon. “Not only do they have to follow my instructions, but they have to trust that I can give them the way we should play in the future. That’s all.
“It has to happen step by step. It can’t be done in a day or two like this. It won’t work like that.”
Watching from the directors’ box on Thursday, Rangnick was impressed with United’s performance 20 minutes into the first half against Mikel Arteta’s side. He has made an impression that he thinks the rest is a bit too cramped for his taste – even if it is a fine watch.
“The game is interesting for the fans, but even for myself, as a future coach, it’s not the kind of game that we need every day because of football, for me, is to minimize the element of coincidence and control and gain control. a game,” Rangnick said.
“This is football, what is it about. The way they played for 20 minutes [in the second half] in their half, when they knock Arsenal out in their box and then you can see the potential of the team.
“I think to gain control of future games involves playing proactively, regardless of whether we have the ball or another team is holding the ball.
“It’s about helping the team play together, it’s not about pressing or counter-attacking for the sake of pressing, it’s about being in control. This is the main goal.”
Rangnick believes he can do it with the players he has available and the January transfer window question has been politely, eloquently dropped. He is comfortable enough to joke about reports that he will receive a bonus if he can help United land Erling Haaland and revealed that he had phoned Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before taking the job.
Solskjaer is the fourth full-time manager to take over after Ferguson’s departure more than eight years ago, and the Rangnick squad inherits the mark of them all. And that, he said, is not a good thing.
“There have been changes in management and so it’s also difficult for the club to have continuity in signing new players and sticking to the club’s DNA and I think this is very important in modern football when you do that,” he said. .
“For me, it’s not uncommon for so much to change and I think the board members and myself are of the same opinion that for the future it is important that we grow in future and there won’t be much change in management.”
Of course, easier said than done.
If nothing else, Rangnick sat in the press conference theater beneath Sir Bobby Charlton’s stands early Friday morning and laid out a plan for United, starting with Palace and ending with what he hopes is a return to the old days. glory days under Ferguson.
The clarity of thought will be solace for fans who have watched the chaos unfold in the eight years since the Scots’ departure. Next up for Rangnick was putting it into practice.
