Ralf Rangnick | ex-interim manager | does anyone rate him?

[Grande]

We’ve won four of our eight league games under him. Six of those games have been against teams in the bottom eight. We’ve scored a grand total of thirteen goals in those games. Throw in an FA Cup exit to a Champiomship team and I’m struggling to see him having a good record so far.

If you can’t get to watch the games, that’s all fair play. 6w 4d 1l is quite ok for a start, looking at were we were. Not brilliant, not bad. Lowly opposition, but only City has done better, resultswise.

If you’ve watched the games, you’ll have noticed that the first five or six games under him, we looked worse than the opposition much of the time, and were a bit lucky with goals winning us marginal victories. These last games, we have conceded less and less chances, and created more and more ourselves. The last two games we’ve had three suspect goal decision gone against us, have missed several clear chances including a penalty, and have let in two goals on three dangerous attacks against.

Luck varies, perfomances dictate results in the longer run. Our performances have clearly improved. Will they improve more? How would I know?

 

[Grande]

I think we are worse under him. We are just not creating much high quality chances.

Also concede silly goals.

We had the easy run and not improved at all from it. Last year we played better.

I guess we can blame VAR, but we should not need it against Middlesbrough and Burnley-

Strange night to say we don’t create chances. Our play created three goals, good heaing chances for Ronaldo twice, Maguire and Cavani, good shooting chances for Rashford, Bruno, Sancho, a finish from close range from Varane, away to a team that have four clean sheets in the last seven games. It’s not fantastic, but it’s more than enough chances to win comfortably. They score on their one chance. It’s tough luck, but performance wise this was possibly our best game yet under Rangnik.

 

[Marcus]

I am satisfied with the way the team has grown under Ralf.

 

[Greck]

I'm just glad our play no longer looks like aimless passing till someone pulls a moment of brilliance. If anything is the other way around where the system is carrying the players who have been woefully underproducing. No one dares talk about a lack of service anymore. If you suck it's because you suck.

 

[Bebestation]

This guy is intelligence but an intelligence that doesn't reach his hands or feet.

He is not a successful manager and expecting him to be at United is wrong.

Will keep United in the top 6, but will improve some players performances and ability through coaching.

 

[HailtotheKing]

Anyone who can’t see that Ralf has improved us is blind. At least in terms of performances. But for some crazy luck against us at Middlesbrough and another dodgy VAR decision, we’d have been fine. And as opposed to Boro where we just kept firing them at the keeper, at least today it was Tarkovsky, Mee and Pope that were the ones heroically throwing their bodies in the way of everything we threw at them. It wasn’t so much misfiring. Considering this was a rainy, windy night at Burnley, I think we performed excellently first half and are progressively getting better under Rangnick. Looking more fluid and cohesive as a team. If we keep it up the results will surely follow.

 

[Foxbatt]

There are huge disappointments with him. It is not the pressing but it is the passing. We only seem to pass most of the time when there is no other options. We would have scored a lot more if we do not try to take the entire opposition defence by one player. I remember one incident when we had a counter going, Rashford received the ball on the right and they had two defenders running to get back. Yes it is Rashford vs two but he stopped and eventually they all got back and he played it back to midfield and it went back to Maguire etc.
If we move the ball sooner in the final third too we will create a lot more opportunities.

 

[Sky1981]

You gotta give Ralf the benefit of doubt, our players are not only "stupid" but also "morally bad"

If this is a fully functioning team (Chelsea, Leicester, Bayern, etc) then 10 games is enough to judge him, but we're United. Our squad is a collection of ragtag bunch who haven't got coaching for 3 years thanks to mr. United DNA "I don't coach" Ole.

You can teach an old dog a trick or two, but you can't teach 11 old dogs new trick. We can't even run for 90 minutes, how can we expect the team to gegenpress?

Give him 2 years to clear the deadwoods.

 

[Berba's_Flick]

Anyone who can’t see that Ralf has improved us is blind. At least in terms of performances. But for some crazy luck against us at Middlesbrough and another dodgy VAR decision, we’d have been fine. And as opposed to Boro where we just kept firing them at the keeper, at least today it was Tarkovsky, Mee and Pope that were the ones heroically throwing their bodies in the way of everything we threw at them. It wasn’t so much misfiring. Considering this was a rainy, windy night at Burnley, I think we performed excellently first half and are progressively getting better under Rangnick. Looking more fluid and cohesive as a team. If we keep it up the results will surely follow.

Good post. It's not all doom and gloom as one would think reading through some of the posts. There are major gaps in the squad that need filling, but on the whole the performances have been getting better. I personally am not too arsed about some of the results, they will come I am quite sure of it.

 

[Jibbs]

He seems like he aged 10 more years since joining United.

 

[Jaykespeare88]

Taking off Scott to Jesse, that's a move I'd make on footy manager, I'm here for it. Long may it continue!

 

[Red_toad]

Did he do a post match presser?
Wouldn't surprise me if he hadn't our VAR issues are getting tedious.

 

[OT1214]

We have improved in terms of creating chances in the last few games, but those are against lesser teams. If we keep this up, and of course finish the chances, against better teams then there is progress. Ralf, just like he was willing to ditch his 4-2-2-2, should stop picking one of either Ronaldo or Cavani to start games in PL. It should be a front 3 of Elanga-Rashford-Sancho. I know Rashford has been stinking the place with some of his recent performances, but I guess this front 3 is still better than having one of the older guys upfront. Of course Ronaldo starts the CL games.

 

[Tarrou]

I'm pretty happy with him so far

if we keep improving we have a decent shout of top 4

 

[Seij]

Can't see us finishing above 6th unfortunately. I think West Ham will lose steam and end up around 7-8th, but Spurs and Arsenal will both finish above us. Arsenal have 2 games in hand and Spurs have 3. Spurs look just so much better with Conte who was practically throwing himself at us, but making sure no feelers of our board members are hurt of course takes priority.

 

[ti vu]

I think some people have a different and too high expectation that make them feel disappointed by Ragnick approach and the progress being made.

We're not an established top 4 team that can achieve necessary result to secure top 4, while going through style modernization mid season. Finishing 3rd and 2nd under Ole proved nothing. I doubt established top 4 is a thing the past few seasons, seeing how Poch's Tottenham crashing down so fast despite previous seasons consistent top 4 finish. And last season Klopp's Liverpool barely wrap up top 4 finish despite arguably the top team the previous 2 seasons.

This season was a write off seeing how slow the people at the club act to sack Ole. Choosing an interim manager in Ragnick instead of going for Conte or whoever else as the permanent also signaled that the result. Ragnick is leaving the manager role after this season, so to go extremist we can say anything beside relegation is within acceptance threshold.

IMO I rate Ragnick level around Brendan Rodger which is a decent coach with good ideas, and decent style, but with better vision and know how to build the club. In more ideal situation, Ragnick can get the team in higher place, but ultimately I don't see Ragnick have the ability to win against the elite coaches. If we have that more ideal situation, we want a better coach.

Right now, we're so behind from the like of Liverpool and Man City in style building. Even Tuchel Chelsea with a head start, and more collected approach to football from executive level is showing gap of the progress. It's unrealistic for us to get a helicopter improvement from the directionless messy football style we just came out of.

What we need from Ragnick is setting the first building block for our style, and starting to create that more ideal environment for the next coach. Klopp and Pep were trophyless in their first full season. With Pep had the benefit of his friends doing some basic building block prior to his arrival. The squad Brendan Rodgers left is nothing great to crave about, but there is element of fundamental in style that help shorten the learning curve for players when Klopp took over. Ragnick doesn't have that benefit. He's almost building up from ground zero in term of coaching.

Without preseason, long term fitness, stamina build up regime, new signing, there is a limit to what we can progress within this season too. Now getting some fundamental of his style imprinted into the team, and priming some future key players of this squad is what I personally expect. Low standard? Maybe. I fully accept this season as a write off. I am content (not truly happy) with the progress this far. The style has some sense in its despite still full of hole, error, selection (management) issues (I disagree with).

 

[Fredo]

Average manager, day by day it shows why no top club hired him before, a lot of stats and analysis and justifications for games against average to mediocre to bottom teams. Should have worked for Opta instead...

 

[DRJosh]

All the analysis of why we didn't go for Conte stems from hindsight, which is for the most part 20/20. There were several people on here who were vehemently against Conte's appointment.

I think Ralf is a decent appointment, but there are players in the team that need to be sold or relegated to the reserves for an extended period of time.

 

[steve.crowford]

This whole “Vibes FC” or “Moments FC” under Ole was a meme but a meme based on a fact. Ole’s team had a very very rudimentary shape and yes it had tactics but the whole philosophy was mainly based on players being happy, expressing themselves and making their moments count. It wasn’t as much a meme as it was an actual philosophy. Ole set up the general shape of the team and likely told players just to do what they do and sometimes it would work and sometimes it wouldn’t.

 

[hobbers]

We'll learn an awful lot about him in a short space of time based on whether he brings Lindelof back in to partner Varane.

 

[V.O.]

We'll learn an awful lot about him in a short space of time based on whether he brings Lindelof back in to partner Varane.

I understand why he didn't play yesterday. We've seen Lindelöf bullied enough times by shithouse strikers to not give Weghorst the chance.

But yeah, I'd much rather see him than Maguire in the games we have coming up.

 

[Canucantona20]

I think are playing some decent football under Ralf. Been very unlucky these past two games with VAR and horrible finishing. He’s an interim so wasn’t expecting massive improvement but he’s been better than I expected given the squad.

 

[Drizzle]

It's obvious that Rangnick is improving the team tactically. They're so much more cohesive now and clearly exert more control over the opposition.

Rotten luck and a continuing poor mentality means this is not translating to results, yet.

If he only he had half of Ole's luck as a manager we'd be OK this season.

 

[Tomshark]

He seems like he aged 10 more years since joining United.

who didn't? almost everyone looked like that after Fergie's era. Look at Ole before and after photos. very obvious. it's a curse...

 

[pratyush_utd]

We are playing better but just not consistent enough for full 90. Hopefully with Lindelof back and Eric back from Afcon, hope he drops Maguire and we dont see Maguire again this season.

 

[Real Madras]

We played better football under ole and that’s a fact. I don’t see what Rangnick is doing to this team. We look so monotone and I feel like we’re playing worse than when we had LVG. He is out of his depth at United. Don’t get me started on the players.

 

[Mike Smalling]

We played better football under ole and that’s a fact.

That’s the complete opposite of a fact.

 

[Josh 76]

We played better football under ole and that’s a fact. I don’t see what Rangnick is doing to this team. We look so monotone and I feel like we’re playing worse than when we had LVG. He is out of his depth at United. Don’t get me started on the players.

Better football under Ole? Really ?

 

[Yagami]

He's been shafted by the January transfer window. No depth at all. When we start to fade in games after a positive start, we have to rely on the likes of Lingard and Elanga who aren't going to kick things back up a notch. Then there's the non-existent midfield options.

It beggars belief how some thought our January window was good. It's going to cost us European football, which, in turn, could cost us in the summer in terms of transfers. Along with the fact that missing out on European football in general sucks, but hey, that's been the new norm since 2013.

 

[phelans shorts]

He's been shafted by the January transfer window. No depth at all. When we start to fade in games after a positive start, we have to rely on the likes of Lingard and Elanga who aren't going to kick things back up a notch. Then there's the non-existent midfield options.

It beggars belief how some thought our January window was good. It's going to cost us European football, which, in turn, could cost us in the summer in terms of transfers. Along with the fact that missing out on European football in general sucks, but hey, that's been the new norm since 2013.

It’s absolutely wild that you picked out the two substitutes who offered something, particularly Elanga with that brilliant ball in that he played, and not the one who was absolutely abysmal. Again.

 

[CloneMC16]

I was pissed after the first few games, but I do think we're making progress. We've started to make more chances and we're not conceding as many at our end. We were starting from rock bottom. We hoped for instant results, and that didn't happen. The next best we could hope for is slow progress, and I think that's what we have right now. The last two games were really unlucky. We should have won both. He coached two wins there.

who didn't? almost everyone looked like that after Fergie's era. Look at Ole before and after photos. very obvious. it's a curse...

It shows how hard this job is. I think most of us don't fully understand how much pressure it is to manage a club as big as this. Every single result is scrutinised to hell and back. The fanbase expects wins every week, and if it doesn't come, they go mad. Our club is also not well run in comparison to other clubs. It puts our managers under more pressure and stress.

We played better football under ole and that’s a fact. I don’t see what Rangnick is doing to this team. We look so monotone and I feel like we’re playing worse than when we had LVG. He is out of his depth at United. Don’t get me started on the players.

Our football under Ole was terrible. Especially this season. We looked extremely vulnerable in 95% of our games under him this season. We were being counter attacked multiple times every match. We looked like conceding whenever the opposition stepped into our own half. It was a complete mess. We've stopped conceding as many goals under Rangnick. The amount of chances we concede has also decreased. That is the first step to improving the team.

 

[Yagami]

It’s absolutely wild that you picked out the two substitutes who offered something, particularly Elanga with that brilliant ball in that he played, and not the one who was absolutely abysmal. Again.

Ronaldo's in poor form but I can't complain about having him as a sub.. Regardless of how rubbish he's been, he's at least a threat. Elanga and Lingard are just average and aren't players we should be relying on to get us out of bother.

 

[Judas]

Our football is better, but we've simply got so many annoying players to watch with characteristics that still need to improve, we just still seem so far away.

He's interim manager, and as long as that's all he ever is, I think he's doing alright. Not buying a midfielder in the window was just baffling though, and hasn't helped anyone.

 

[Gurtej]

We played better football under ole and that’s a fact. I don’t see what Rangnick is doing to this team. We look so monotone and I feel like we’re playing worse than when we had LVG. He is out of his depth at United. Don’t get me started on the players.

You must be joking…

we playing good but luck not on our side…

 

[phelans shorts]

Ronaldo's in poor form but I can't complain about having him as a sub.. Regardless of how rubbish he's been, he's at least a threat. Elanga and Lingard are just average and aren't players we should be relying on to get us out of bother.

He was only a threat to the poor folk on the front row when he booted his first touch right at them.

Elanga created a brilliant opportunity that was softly passed to the goalkeeper and Lingard helped us gain some momentum back when we lost it, no complaints about either of them.

 

[M16Red]

We played better football under ole and that’s a fact. I don’t see what Rangnick is doing to this team. We look so monotone and I feel like we’re playing worse than when we had LVG. He is out of his depth at United. Don’t get me started on the players.

Go and look at the Watford games stats or watch the highlights.

We are clearly starting to control games better and stopping more shots on our goal.

 

[Lee565]

Extremely underwhelming, he has been gifted a great set of fixtures to pick up points and produce good performances but has done neither in reality.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Its still the same, good patches of form that don't last longer than a half. I don't understand how both Pogba and Bruno went from pulling all the strings in the first half to going completely anonymous in the second.

 

[Yagami]

He was only a threat to the poor folk on the front row when he booted his first touch right at them.

Elanga created a brilliant opportunity that was softly passed to the goalkeeper and Lingard helped us gain some momentum back when we lost it, no complaints about either of them.

Average players are capable of moments of quality, sure, but we're in trouble now that we're going to need to constantly rely on them because, more often than not, they'll flatter to deceive.

 

[Glorio]

Come on folks, it's obvious the performances are getting better. The recent results however are not good enough and we seem to fall away in the second half of games. Having 2 aging options where reflexes and high intensity bursts need to be sharpest doesn't help (CF if you're wondering). The team also appears "softer" these days. It's a bit worrying and most probably a fitness/confidence issue.

Hopefully it's more a case of the growing pains of early Klopp's Liverpool than the status quo of the pretty but weak versions of Spurs/Arsenal back in the day.