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

Status
Not open for further replies.
To be fair to Ralf.....he's working with basically nothing right now in the attack

rashford is shit, cavani hasn't played in months, sancho is new to the squad and just starting to play like expected, ronaldo is hit or miss and elanga is young .....it's not like he has the forward line from city or liverpool or hell even spurs right now to work with and actually solidify the team
 
Is he the worst interim manager in football history? I don't recall Chelsea doing that badly with their interim managers. Tuchel came in during the end of January and turned Chelsea around amazingly. There is no doubt the current squad lacks the mentality and motivation but I find his managerial qualification questionable. He came in during November and that's more than enough time. We should have just gotten in ETH or Zidane.
 
These players could make klopp look like an amateur. They have shit the bed on numerous occasions. For Feck sake they are professional players. They can’t play shit and then blame the coach as if he was asking them to miss shots and make mistakes in defense.
 
Is he the worst interim manager in football history? I don't recall Chelsea doing that badly with their interim managers. Tuchel came in during the end of January and turned Chelsea around amazingly. There is no doubt the current squad lacks the mentality and motivation but I find his managerial qualification questionable. He came in during November and that's more than enough time. We should have just gotten in ETH or Zidane.
Clippity Klopp and the Pep Guardiola is my idol wouldn't get a tune out of our squad.
 
Is he the worst interim manager in football history? I don't recall Chelsea doing that badly with their interim managers. Tuchel came in during the end of January and turned Chelsea around amazingly. There is no doubt the current squad lacks the mentality and motivation but I find his managerial qualification questionable. He came in during November and that's more than enough time. We should have just gotten in ETH or Zidane.

He's been underwhelming but if anyone is the worst in history at this club in this moment, it's the players. Professional footballers being crybabies and refusing to adapt to the manager's methods is absolutely shocking. Almost all of them should find other careers because they're a disgrace.

For the record, ETH was never going to come mid-season and Zidane didn't want us, either.
 
Is he the worst interim manager in football history? I don't recall Chelsea doing that badly with their interim managers. Tuchel came in during the end of January and turned Chelsea around amazingly. There is no doubt the current squad lacks the mentality and motivation but I find his managerial qualification questionable. He came in during November and that's more than enough time. We should have just gotten in ETH or Zidane.

United has only lost like four or five times since his arrival. The players just aren't functioning at all because they really aren't bothered. Some are, but most aren't.

People point at Tuchel, but what he did first and foremost was provide Chelsea a sense of familiarity with the back 3 and giving the players a platform to compete from. And that served them well in the CL, but it wasn't really that impressive in the league campaign where they were very solid, but had issues scoring, but still picked up points. Chelsea have had their issues again this season and that's after spending on more players like Lukaku or drafting in Saul, who admittingly isn't that good with Chelsea. Now they are down 3-1 to Real Madrid going into the 2nd leg away match.

Ralf isn't a top tier manager, but he's also working with average mentality players who had more than enough to play for. He's had to change the way United have played three times just to get a kick out of them, yet the players are so fickle and dismal as a collective unit. He's done well to really laid bare at how frail many of these players are and it is so crazy to think that the majority of them were at the club last year and did not act or perform like this.
 
Ole version 2

Matic - Fred&McTom

Both version = safe peoples and not take big risk = defensive minded into the matches = No Top Guts = No glory

Both City and Liverpool are playing in the front foot. Both weakness of City and Liverpool are the high back line. Liverpool against Villa last season. And again and again. Having 2 pacey and skill full wingers can punish City and Pool a lot more often.

But both Pep and Klopp shall have for theirs top guts, passion and engine. And they spread that energy to theirs players.

Look at which friends you have then i am telling how you are. And if you look at the energy of United players. You imagine the energy and guts of the managers.

No more safe and mr.nice guys
 
But there is barely anything in him that suggests that he will do a better job upstairs. That’s equally frightening. People are assuming he will be an inspired figure “upstairs.”

I think his CV "upstairs" at least gives him some credibility though.
 
The only question to ask yourself is 'Do you want to win stuff one day?

If you do then you need two things. A high press system and a top manager. That's what Liverpool and City have and that's why they are years ahead of us.

To get those things you have to go through some pain. The top manager won't come unless someone prepares the way. Come too soon and you risk looking like a loser of football games. Come too soon and you can't be sure the club is really committed at every level to your aims. Come too soon and you get into fights with old guard players. Come too soon and you fail.

And that's Ralf's job. Nothing else. And if Ten Hag comes at the end of all that then he will have done it well.

The problem we have is that the Glazers don't care if we win anything or not. They only care about the credible possibility existing so that people continue to pay to watch. That Ralf is not letting them get away with fudging speaks a great deal to his integrity for me. Their window of operation is shrinking and shrinking...
 
But Ole did? Ole is a better manager than Klopp and Pep?

People have gone mental. The fraud is Ralf….
So you are blaming Ralph for the players not putting in performances. You been smoking weed?
 
Rangnick may not be an elite manager and ultimately not good enough for United's ambitions but I think it is much more important to see the bigger picture. If your squad isn't capable to play a cohesive pressing system for whatever reason, your chances to win major trophies will always be smaller than those of your rivals who do play that way. Of course it's not impossible but it wohld be more like Chelsea's UCL win under Di Matteo than what City or Liverpool are currently producing.

And while Rangnick may not be an elite coach, he is definitely very strong on the theoretical side of football. Plus Ten Haag apparently agrees that he can't play the way he wants to play with your current players.

I believe you're generally on the right track and acknowledging your mistakes of the past. The upcoming window might be crucial though since it will probably show how serious you are with the good resolutions.
 
Is he the worst interim manager in football history? I don't recall Chelsea doing that badly with their interim managers. Tuchel came in during the end of January and turned Chelsea around amazingly. There is no doubt the current squad lacks the mentality and motivation but I find his managerial qualification questionable. He came in during November and that's more than enough time. We should have just gotten in ETH or Zidane.
Tuchel was not the interim manager, he had a 18 months contract initially if I'm not mistaken. And no, of course Rangnick is NOT the worst interim manager in football history. What an absolutely nonsensical thing to say. Man United were 7th when he took over and are still 7th. So he just hasn't improved things much, although he did in fact improve the ppg average compared to the part of the season before him (including Carrick's games). This constant urge to go into hyperbolic overdrive is doing my head in.
 
Last edited:
Is he the worst interim manager in football history? I don't recall Chelsea doing that badly with their interim managers. Tuchel came in during the end of January and turned Chelsea around amazingly. There is no doubt the current squad lacks the mentality and motivation but I find his managerial qualification questionable. He came in during November and that's more than enough time. We should have just gotten in ETH or Zidane.
Chelsea already had a much stronger squad to begin with, so there’s no comparison.
 
You can't believe Ralf was brought in as a preferable interim over a DOF role? The most logical situation would be the club approached him as a DOF consultant but he was only willing to do this if he got his shot as interim. I can't see how this could be argued when Ralfs main strength is in the DOF department. He's basically the only man at the club with this sort of experience. Why wouldn't the club use him if they're serious about getting back to the top?

Not really sure what you mean with that first part, I don't think that was my point.

As for the club being serious about getting back to the top, who knows are they? Personally I don't have much faith that there is much of a plan in play here really beyond Rangnick seemed a popular choice in the press and among fans for Interim manager when Solksjaer was sacked so they hired him.
 
Last edited:
One thing I will say is that Rangnick has managed to alienate some players that we thought were decent going into the season. Despite the poor results at the start of the season, I thought our midfield and Maguire were what actually looked weaker to start the season. Ole never had Rashford or Shaw being this alienated or playing badly. In addition, he hasn't been able to get a tune out of Bruno, Ronaldo, Pogba or anyone. AWB is a complete afterthought, his reputation has taken a hit despite not getting nearly as much game time. Same thing goes for Shaw. Most of which has been based more on ideas Rangnick has or has had prior to his arrival at United. Noone believed Dalot was anywhere near AWB or that Telles was anywhere near Shaw. Yet now we can't seem to get a decent performance from anyone.



I just feel its way too easy to group all the players together and say its them as a unit. We let the Pogba saga run too long, we kept too many of our deadwoods sitting on the bench, we overpaid too many unproven players, but we were not what we are now. This is LVG second season bad and Rangnick has to take a lot of blame for that. All of a sudden our fans want to slice and dice a squad that people thought might challenge for the league this season. I also blame the media for this too. After certain games, the issues we have on the pitch are discussed. The midfield being terrible and not up to par to even beat some mid table teams is discussed. However, when it comes time to talk about what we need or how the club needs to move forward, this is hardly ever presented. It's always a more grandiose project that needs to occur like the Glazers leaving or the club as a whole being rotten, when in reality our problems on the pitch are actually where all the angst stems from. Most decent teams in world football have at least 3 players that can operate deep in midfield; meaning they can find spaces to receive the ball from deep and move it to more dangerous areas of the pitch. Chelsea have 3, City have about 5, Liverpool have 3. We don't have any outside of an aging Matic. To make matters worse, we don't have a midfielder with the positional sense to help us sustain pressure in the opposition half and avoid counter attacks. Again, most decent teams have 2. Almost all premier league teams have one, we don't even have a bad one. We don't have a player who can play as a defensive midfielder or deepest midfielder at a premier league level on our team. Add that to the fact that our full backs are not great at carrying the ball, it means our ball progression is static and our attackers are often left isolated or crowded out, having to make spectacular passes or have spectacular touches to create magic. Yet we lump all our players into the same category or worst of all blame our attacking players ( who are more popular) for our issues.
 
Rangnick has just highlighted the players that are not fit to continue at utd. If we act swiftly we could avoid wasting another season on these snakes, so in effect rangnick might have just saved the next season and the next manager from some buffoonery from our snakes.
 
Rangnick has just highlighted the players that are not fit to continue at utd. If we act swiftly we could avoid wasting another season on these snakes, so in effect rangnick might have just saved the next season and the next manager from some buffoonery from our snakes.

You only need to watch our games to know which players need to go. One morning on the training ground will confirm this to a top coach.

What will save next season is the manager having the authority to get rid of any players he wants without interference from the board.

Rangnick has been an absolute disaster.
 
Not really sure what you mean with that first part, I don't think that was my point.

As for the club being serious about getting back to the top, who knows are they? Personally I don't have much faith that there is much of a plan in play here really beyond Rangnick seemed a popular choice in the press and among fans for Interim manager when Solksjaer was sacked so they hired him.
In your own words you said Ralf was brought in as Interim manager with the consultancy role thrown in for good measure. Maybe it's true but for me it makes more sense he was given the interim job as a way of bringing him in for what he's best at. Which is building clubs up from the bottom which is exactly where we are now.

I have to say I share your pessimism on how serious the club are about restructuring. At the start it seemed like Ralf would be given a predominant role as a consultant but the more time goes on the less involved it seems he's going to be which is indicative on how the club has been run since SAF retired.
 
Im suprised that everyone seems so suprised that Rangnicks consultancy role seems to be marginal. They didnt want to sack Solskjaer. They enjoyed the commercial vibe and nosthalgia. They needed to make a change. They want to keep the idea of youth and flair. Conte was never that man. Rangnick was the best availible option. He wanted a longer solution and it suited the communication to the fans too. Now, they want a top name that plays offensive football and likes young players. Ten Haag and Pochettino are the options. As Pochettino´s reputation has taken a hit, Ten Haag is commercially safer. It was always strange that the old manager (Rangnick) should have impact on the new one. If it was a real appointment he would have been offered the DoF-role and himself suggested a manager that suited his model.

Rangnick himself doesnt seem to hungry anymore. He is now using the knowledge and network he already has (see the assistant).

He doesnt take any conflicts within the club, except from being transparent about what is his and not his fault in relation to players.

United is an empty shell.

Is there any reason why Ten Haag or any other manager won´t be as frustrated as Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho? No.

Are the owners like Citys or Chelseas driven by glory? No.

Does everyone around the club - journalists, pundits, ex-players, fans - pretend that there is an ambition to get the club back to the top? Yes - every year calling for a new rebuild and estimating how many transfer windows it will take for United to get back. They could get better and more structured, yes. But they will keep being far from Chelsea, Liverpool and City as long as the current owners stays. And they will stay way beyond the CL turns into Super League.
 
In your own words you said Ralf was brought in as Interim manager with the consultancy role thrown in for good measure. Maybe it's true but for me it makes more sense he was given the interim job as a way of bringing him in for what he's best at. Which is building clubs up from the bottom which is exactly where we are now.

I wouldn't disagree mate but United post SAF have a habit of reacting to fan dissatisfaction by placating us with what seem like popular choices. Things were going bad for Moyes sign Mata in January, hiring club legend Solskjaer as Interim after Jose making the place Toxic, Hiring Ole on the back of a good run and the PSG tie, Announcing a fan share scheme and talking about renovating OT after the Super League debacle. And I fear this is another instance of that, the season imploded with many angry about the teams tactics/strategy under Solskjaer or lack thereof. So hire one of the few experienced and respected tacticians available mid season, then agree a 2 year advisory position to replace his Moscow salary.

I have to say I share your pessimism on how serious the club are about restructuring. At the start it seemed like Ralf would be given a predominant role as a consultant but the more time goes on the less involved it seems he's going to be which is indicative on how the club has been run since SAF retired.

I agree mate, form the very start I just had a feeling that Ralf wouldn't have much influence after this season. I could still be wrong but the club has been dragging their heels for a decade on modernisation, we still really don't have a DOF as Murtagh is technically a Football Director.
 
Depressing is right but for the first time since SAF it finally looks like the club is finally taking baby steps in restructuring the club by bringing in people like Ralf and ETH??

Yes, spot on, I agree with you, actually it might be better to finish up with no European entanglements next year (sorry will wash my mouth out with soap ;)) so the decks can be cleared.

Proper 'Succession Planning' starts with Ralf! Almost a decade late, but better than never!!
 
Ralf's being judged as a manager but I hope he's really been asked to report to the new team about the exact issues within.

I don't agree with using the juniors either - these highly paid pros need to wear the consequences of this season.
If they show little respect to an Interim, then that says a lot also.
Overall though I can't even judge Ralf as a manager in these circumstances, having thought about it, I do honestly feel this team is the worst of ours I've seen in 42 years. What hurts is they could do so much more but have opted not to, it's not a case of just being mentally weak or not that great. The last three games, I'll never forget.
So, I'm optimistic Ralf is going to be a great upstairs appointment and he will help get the club using technology better and serve the staff on the training pitch and behind the scenes. Thanks Ralf!
 
Last edited:
I think the "honest truth" being told by Ragnick has backfired on the team. So many players feel entitled to a lot they don't deserve, the moment they start getting criticized they lowered their guns and that was it.

I like that "hard truth" approach from Ragnick, but unless it's followed by a massive clear out it will mean we threw the season for nothing.
 
Those who are having a go at Ralf, think about this.

Ralf R has more football knowledge in his pinky finger than most of us.
Those of you who say he is no good: are you seriously thinking that his idea of good football is to sit back and hit on the counter, while running as little as possible? Not pressing. Not harassing the opposition. Not pushing the ball forward, towards the goa?

His footballing ethos is to press in the upper third of the pitch, take the ball from the opposition and score within 10 seconds.
He also preachers square or forward passes. NOT back passes.
His focus is on keeping the ball in the upper third of the pitch by pressing and attacking relentlessly.
He has a whole bunch of footballing philosophies which is why he is so highly regarded.

The problem is that when we tried to play like a Ralf R team against Crystal Palace, our players got tired after 30 minutes. If an athlete can't run for more than 30 minutes, that's not Ralf R's fault. I'd have fired any player not willing to run and replaced him with a youth team player who would be more than happy to run for 90 minutes.

Unfortunately, these players are protected by the board and managers are unable to remove them.

And I will leave you with this:
Harry Maguire has consistently been the worst defender under Ralf R. If we can all see this, do you honestly think Ralf R doesn't see this? And if so, why is Harry Maguire played in almost every game?
 
One thing I will say is that Rangnick has managed to alienate some players that we thought were decent going into the season. Despite the poor results at the start of the season, I thought our midfield and Maguire were what actually looked weaker to start the season. Ole never had Rashford or Shaw being this alienated or playing badly. In addition, he hasn't been able to get a tune out of Bruno, Ronaldo, Pogba or anyone. AWB is a complete afterthought, his reputation has taken a hit despite not getting nearly as much game time. Same thing goes for Shaw. Most of which has been based more on ideas Rangnick has or has had prior to his arrival at United. Noone believed Dalot was anywhere near AWB or that Telles was anywhere near Shaw. Yet now we can't seem to get a decent performance from anyone.



I just feel its way too easy to group all the players together and say its them as a unit. We let the Pogba saga run too long, we kept too many of our deadwoods sitting on the bench, we overpaid too many unproven players, but we were not what we are now. This is LVG second season bad and Rangnick has to take a lot of blame for that. All of a sudden our fans want to slice and dice a squad that people thought might challenge for the league this season. I also blame the media for this too. After certain games, the issues we have on the pitch are discussed. The midfield being terrible and not up to par to even beat some mid table teams is discussed. However, when it comes time to talk about what we need or how the club needs to move forward, this is hardly ever presented. It's always a more grandiose project that needs to occur like the Glazers leaving or the club as a whole being rotten, when in reality our problems on the pitch are actually where all the angst stems from. Most decent teams in world football have at least 3 players that can operate deep in midfield; meaning they can find spaces to receive the ball from deep and move it to more dangerous areas of the pitch. Chelsea have 3, City have about 5, Liverpool have 3. We don't have any outside of an aging Matic. To make matters worse, we don't have a midfielder with the positional sense to help us sustain pressure in the opposition half and avoid counter attacks. Again, most decent teams have 2. Almost all premier league teams have one, we don't even have a bad one. We don't have a player who can play as a defensive midfielder or deepest midfielder at a premier league level on our team. Add that to the fact that our full backs are not great at carrying the ball, it means our ball progression is static and our attackers are often left isolated or crowded out, having to make spectacular passes or have spectacular touches to create magic. Yet we lump all our players into the same category or worst of all blame our attacking players ( who are more popular) for our issues.
Yes, I agree with a lot of this.

‘What I can’t figure out is why Ralf, knowing that we don’t have a decent DM that can play most every match, why didn’t he move to a back 3 of Lindelof, Varane and Maguire to mitigate our lack of steel in midfield. McFred are both box-to-box, and tend to chase and don’t have great positioning. That 3rd CB allows them to step between the lines to challenge with ample coverage behind.

Secondly, I don’t understand why Ralf persists with Telles and Dalot as FBs. Neither would remind you of Phillip Lahm on the ball, and they are, collectively and individually, way below average defensively. Shaw and AWB are much better defensively IMHO.
 
Those who are having a go at Ralf, think about this.

Ralf R has more football knowledge in his pinky finger than most of us.
Those of you who say he is no good: are you seriously thinking that his idea of good football is to sit back and hit on the counter, while running as little as possible? Not pressing. Not harassing the opposition. Not pushing the ball forward, towards the goa?

His footballing ethos is to press in the upper third of the pitch, take the ball from the opposition and score within 10 seconds.
He also preachers square or forward passes. NOT back passes.
His focus is on keeping the ball in the upper third of the pitch by pressing and attacking relentlessly.
He has a whole bunch of footballing philosophies which is why he is so highly regarded.

The problem is that when we tried to play like a Ralf R team against Crystal Palace, our players got tired after 30 minutes. If an athlete can't run for more than 30 minutes, that's not Ralf R's fault. I'd have fired any player not willing to run and replaced him with a youth team player who would be more than happy to run for 90 minutes.

Unfortunately, these players are protected by the board and managers are unable to remove them.

And I will leave you with this:
Harry Maguire has consistently been the worst defender under Ralf R. If we can all see this, do you honestly think Ralf R doesn't see this? And if so, why is Harry Maguire played in almost every game?
He isn’t all that highly regarded in Germany. He’s a purist, and he’s brought a lot of ideas to the game, but as a manager, he really wasn’t that successful.

Knowledge of the game when you are managing at the CL and PL level is pretty damn equal. Sam Allardyce has a ton of football knowledge. So does Unai Emery. Carlo Ancelotti has probably more football knowledge than Ralf, and he pretty much plays counter attacking football. Under SAF, we played counter attacking football all the time in Europe and in big matches vs top PL clubs.

There is a lot more to managing a huge club with top players than just tactics, mate. He’s failed to achieve the board’s target of top 4. I actually feel sorry for Ralf as he has to deal with the douchebags that are the Glazers and our dysfunctional management.

‘But that doesn’t make him a good manager.
 
He isn’t all that highly regarded in Germany. He’s a purist, and he’s brought a lot of ideas to the game, but as a manager, he really wasn’t that successful.
He is actually well respected in Germany both as a coach and as a DoF. Certainly unproven at elite level, but to say he's not regarded highly is likely wide of the mark.

Also re. the bold bit, he broadly overachieved at the clubs he was manager at, what are you basing this off?
Knowledge of the game when you are managing at the CL and PL level is pretty damn equal.
No it isn't.
. Carlo Ancelotti has probably more football knowledge than Ralf, and he pretty much plays counter attacking football.
Uh, no he doesn't.
Under SAF, we played counter attacking football all the time in Europe and in big matches vs top PL clubs
A big reason for our under performance in Europe under SAF, and likely why he hired queiroz to try and unlock European tactics better.
Sustained counter attacking football doesn't win you games. You need to dominate the vast majority of games you play in which is why you cant just go "we'll go for a counter approach" week in week out. Ancelotti doesn't do that either, by the way.
There is a lot more to managing a huge club with top players than just tactics, mate. He’s failed to achieve the board’s target of top 4. I actually feel sorry for Ralf as he has to deal with the douchebags that are the Glazers and our dysfunctional management.
‘But that doesn’t make him a good manager.
Yes - for starters you need players suited to the style you are implementing. Rangnick does not have this. You also need time - which Rangnick didn't have. And you need control over the squad, which Rangnick doesn't have.

But of course you only want to count the things that go against Rangnick's credentials and given the above, make a whole load of shit up on the way.
 
I wasn't expecting a massive turnaround because the players are what they are.

But he's had no impact whatsoever. I'd imagine Ralf himself would admit there should be some sort of change at this stage. Even something minor that we can tangibly say yes that's improved.
 
He is actually well respected in Germany both as a coach and as a DoF. Certainly unproven at elite level, but to say he's not regarded highly is likely wide of the mark.

Also re. the bold bit, he broadly overachieved at the clubs he was manager at, what are you basing this off?

No it isn't.

Uh, no he doesn't.

A big reason for our under performance in Europe under SAF, and likely why he hired queirozto try and unlock European tactics better.

Yes - for starters you need players suited to the style you are implementing. Rangnick does not have this. You also need time - which Rangnick didn't have. And you need control over the squad, which Rangnick doesn't have.

But of course you only want to count the things that go against Rangnick's credentials and given the above, make a whole load of shit up on the way.

When did this happen?
 
When did this happen?
For all our dominating squads in the league, across 20 titles, we won the CL only 2 times. How would anyone not point to this as an underachievement given the squads we had on offer?

Moreover how many finals did we reach? Or semi's? We had a good flurry at the end of Fergies tenure with 3 finals but there was a prolonged stretch in between where we kept getting knocked out in either group stages or round of 16s or quarters against more than beatable sides. Or we'd lose when tested against the top sides because the "counter attack" approach just wouldn't work against continental teams.
 
Yes, I agree with a lot of this.

‘What I can’t figure out is why Ralf, knowing that we don’t have a decent DM that can play most every match, why didn’t he move to a back 3 of Lindelof, Varane and Maguire to mitigate our lack of steel in midfield. McFred are both box-to-box, and tend to chase and don’t have great positioning. That 3rd CB allows them to step between the lines to challenge with ample coverage behind.

Secondly, I don’t understand why Ralf persists with Telles and Dalot as FBs. Neither would remind you of Phillip Lahm on the ball, and they are, collectively and individually, way below average defensively. Shaw and AWB are much better defensively IMHO.

He's alot more rigid than he would like to admit. Not saying he's a terrible manager, but our fans bought into the idea of him being near perfect and our players being completely useless. You can argue that he doesn't have the right coaching staff, but failure on his part, to connect with the squad has been poor from him. Like our players, we paid him a lot of money to come in. People talk about slipping standards with our players, but I think Rangnick has also highlighted how easily pleased our fans are with mediocrity. Magath failed at Fulham, as have the likes of Benitez and Ranieri at smaller clubs. Because a manager has a reputation( one which is more idealistic in nature) doesn't mean he's a good manager. Rangnick wasn't special before we brought him in
 
He is actually well respected in Germany both as a coach and as a DoF. Certainly unproven at elite level, but to say he's not regarded highly is likely wide of the mark.

Also re. the bold bit, he broadly overachieved at the clubs he was manager at, what are you basing this off?

No it isn't.

Uh, no he doesn't.

A big reason for our under performance in Europe under SAF, and likely why he hired queiroz to try and unlock European tactics better.
Sustained counter attacking football doesn't win you games. You need to dominate the vast majority of games you play in which is why you cant just go "we'll go for a counter approach" week in week out. Ancelotti doesn't do that either, by the way.

Yes - for starters you need players suited to the style you are implementing. Rangnick does not have this. You also need time - which Rangnick didn't have. And you need control over the squad, which Rangnick doesn't have.

But of course you only want to count the things that go against Rangnick's credentials and given the above, make a whole load of shit up on the way.
Ah, I see @VP89 is back for more punishment.

Ralf Rangnick managerial stats for United:
Matches 22
W9 D9 L4 40.91%

‘Worst manager for United by results since Dave Sexton….

I don’t even blame Ralf. I blame the board for thinking he could actually turn it around. Ralf’s been a £100m disaster. We’d most likely be in 4th if Conte had been hired.
 
For all our dominating squads in the league, across 20 titles, we won the CL only 2 times. How would anyone not point to this as an underachievement given the squads we had on offer?

Moreover how many finals did we reach? Or semi's? We had a good flurry at the end of Fergies tenure with 3 finals but there was a prolonged stretch in between where we kept getting knocked out in either group stages or round of 16s or quarters against more than beatable sides. Or we'd lose when tested against the top sides because the "counter attack" approach just wouldn't work against continental teams.
This is an appallingly bad take….
 
For all our dominating squads in the league, across 20 titles, we won the CL only 2 times. How would anyone not point to this as an underachievement given the squads we had on offer?

Moreover how many finals did we reach? Or semi's? We had a good flurry at the end of Fergies tenure with 3 finals but there was a prolonged stretch in between where we kept getting knocked out in either group stages or round of 16s or quarters against more than beatable sides. Or we'd lose when tested against the top sides because the "counter attack" approach just wouldn't work against continental teams.

What?
 
When did this happen?
I mean it's pretty obvious we did underperform in Europe under SAF. In 19 seasons with the CL:
  • Ro16 minimum 15 times
  • QF minimum 11 times
  • SF minimum 7 times
  • Final minimum 4 times
  • Winner 2 times
Over his time with United we were easily one of the 5 best teams in Europe consistently, with Bayern, Barca, Milan and Real Madrid. Yet only basically a 1 in 10 win rate is really low. We should have had more semi finals and finals during his time.
 
For all our dominating squads in the league, across 20 titles, we won the CL only 2 times. How would anyone not point to this as an underachievement given the squads we had on offer?

Moreover how many finals did we reach? Or semi's? We had a good flurry at the end of Fergies tenure with 3 finals but there was a prolonged stretch in between where we kept getting knocked out in either group stages or round of 16s or quarters against more than beatable sides. Or we'd lose when tested against the top sides because the "counter attack" approach just wouldn't work against continental teams.

Well we couldn't play a first choice XI till about 1996. The 3 foreigner rule killed us with it including British players.

Then of course you had to win your league or at least come 2nd to qualify for much of the 90's. Imagine how that would affect champions league records now. No winners medal for Chelsea last year.

And of course financially we weren’t competing with Europe's biggest clubs till the end of the 90's.

So all that has to be taken into consideration.

But still, two winners medals, four finals, three semi finals, numerous quarter finals.

If we win those two Barca finals I don't think anybody could call Fergie's record an under achievement.

And I don't think getting beaten by that Barca team was an underachievement.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.