I also said our squad wasn't good enough, even before he did. Give me a multi million pound consultancy contract.
Ralf Rangnick's consultancy role has been scrapped
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haha it's SO WEIRD that people hail him for saying that our squad wasn't good enough, that's exactly what EVERYONE on caf said.
Is he back?
It was a weird time looking back. Like when people believed he was writing a dossier on every player to hand over to Ten Hag.
If I remember correctly Rangnick suggested or stated that the team needed to bring 10 new starters in order to be decent. On that point he was utterly wrong, ETH didn't bring 10 new starters in order to turn the team trajectory around, it took him a couple of bad games and a couple of starters(Lisandro and Eriksen) because neither Casemiro nor Antony were part of the initial turnaround.
It's an insult to ETH to even suggest that Rangnick was remotely right. He was wrong, he gambled on the idea that his successor would have early struggles and he lost that gamble.
It's an insult to ETH to even suggest that Rangnick was remotely right. He was wrong, he gambled on the idea that his successor would have early struggles and he lost that gamble.
What he said gets exaggerated quite significantly at times. The last two lines are the main part, but the rest of what he said is relevant for context.
So basically that we had to get the manager and decide how the team was supposed to play, and then build a squad towards that goal. Considering we've already signed seven, likely about to be eight from the Hojlund reports, for ETH and quite heavily linked with a 9th (Amrabat), he obviously wasn't wrong. If anything he was underselling it. Especially when taking into account an argument could be made that we would still need another CB, RB, DM, RM and ST.
That's not to say that what he said was some amazing bit of management. It was actually quite obvious that the entire squad needed a significant rebuild so it's not something that strongly works in his favour. It's just also not something that is negative either. Hell, depending on what was happening behind the scenes (if the people above him were saying that the squad was mostly fine and only needed a tweak) it actually might have been good for him to come out and say it.
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I don't really follow, his statement is clearly incorrect unless we ignore last season in which case his point becomes useless because teams generally bring 3 to 4 new players every year. ETH turned the team around in September 2022 with 2 new players in the starting eleven and 2 players that he integrated in the following weeks but when the team was already transformed.
There is a difference between freshening the squad each season to ensure longevity and what we've had to do, which is build to a large degree from scratch. How many players two years ago had the ability, drive, mental fortitude to be a "united player"?
ETH is freshening the squad yes, but getting rid of slabhead, mcfred, bailly, telles is because they have NEVER been good enough not that they are in decline.
How many of them would you utter in the same breath as their equivalents in united teams of the 90s/00s?
This thread needs to be locked. Seeing this clowns name pop up related to our club reminds me of our darkest moment on and off the pitch post Fergie and people are still trying to spin this man's legacy as a positive.
EtH saw through this charlatan and wanted nothing to do with him. His first great decision amongst many.
EtH saw through this charlatan and wanted nothing to do with him. His first great decision amongst many.
Again I don't follow your point here. The team attitude and form turned in September 2022, Rangnick claimed that it would take a number of players and time to make that change which has been proven wrong nearly 10 months ago. That change was made with McTominay starting in midfield, the only new regular starters were Lisandro and Eriksen.
Rangnick take was proven wrong and I don't really see why people are trying to pretend otherwise. ETH didn't need to drastically change the personnel in order to affect the general mentality of the team, he also didn't need it in order to adjust and respond to the early couple of poor results. Rangnick was just wrong which is fine, we don't need to bring it up every 6 months whether it is as a dig or a praise.
He was talking longer-term, saying that the teams that were dominating had been built by their managers over the course of years with significant player turnover. For us to reach that level (not just to be 'decent' or start turning it around) we would have to do the same.
As you said, teams normally bring in 3-4 players every year so what he said wasn't actually strange or out-there. Which is why it's strange that so many people get caught up in those comments. He was just pointing out the obvious and the media jumped on the 'Ralf said Utd needs 10 new signings immediately' angle.
Was that his claim? Or that what it would take to get United back to challenging?
What a time to be alive, that was. A season being managed, split between Ole and Ralf 
Rangnick's "ten new players" argument was always such a empty statement. Thanks Ralf. If any team gets an entirely new first 11 then I imagine they could also be title contenders. He should write a book on the subject and let the other 19 clubs in the league know this mystical truth.
I would agree with you if he didn't mention the mental side of things and the attitude that the manager needed(answering a question about players checking out, among other questions). The quote that you shared was Rangnick giving himself excuses because again ETH changed the attitude and energy of the players last season without having to bring 6 to 10 players.
Is he going to ultimately bring more than a dozen of players? Absolutely but it's not the context of the quote, the context of the quote was Rangnick pretending that the performance of the team againt Liverpool was due to uncontrollable circumstances that he couldn't affect in any way outside of bringing a number of new players which is BS.
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The club would never have backed him benching Ronaldo considering he was interim, they wouldn't even let him spend a penny.
EtH got the backing as he was full time.
Rangnick would've happily sold Rashford I reckon given some of the things he said, glad that clown isn't with us anymore.
Being able to turn things around short-term is one thing (Ralf himself had a new manager bounce), ETH ultimately bought in 5 players to manage the season and then bought another two in on loan. Unless you think we could have continued the season with McTominay at DM and Elanga on the right? Then ETH has gone out and already signed two more with a third almost certain, and another again heavily linked and we're not even out of July yet.
Rangnick talked about quality, attitude and energy. Not sure why you are only focusing on the one. ETH himself has obviously focused on similar attributes considering every player he has bought in (with the exception of Eriksen) has been a 'fighter' with a lot of energy, not just quality.
Was Ralf making an excuse for himself? Yeah probably. But it was also accurate. In the space of just over 12 months ETH has already changed over half our strongest 11, and at least one of the remaining ones (the AWB/Dalot combo) is probably only staying first choice because of lack of funds. ETH has required a higher than usual turnover to change the team how he wanted. Hell, it looks likely that Bruno will be the only midfielder left in the squad from the time ETH took over one season ago.
What a time to be alive, that was. A season being managed, split between Ole and Ralf
Carrick was our best manager that season by miles.
Yeah he was built up as a real guru/hero figure in his time here. The noble knight we needed but didn't deserve. The only man who would stand up to the squad, the Glazers, the board.
By spending the entire time he was supposed to be managing the team and improving results talking absolute shite about everything and anything releated to the club. Throwing long term club servants like Fletcher and Phelan under the bus while spinning a narrative to protect his own reputation.
Ah but that 45 minutes against Palace, eh?
Casemiro, Eriksen, Antony and Martinez, who else a reserve keeper? We unexpectedly lost Ronaldo and Donny mid season to be fair which is why we got two emergency loans in.
Elanga wasn't needed for the right we had Sancho. And that's probably where he would have played all season had we signed DeJong, doubt we would have signed DeJong and Antony.
City - a team which regularly wins the league - has signed 6 players since summer 2022 and they will most likely sign more in this transfer window.
Shock horror that a United side which regularly finishes between 2nd and 6th needs to sign new players as well. It’s not like everything around us stands still. Other teams including those who were already better than us keep improving their squads as well.
Add to that that from the United team which finished 2nd/3rd four players who got enough game time weren’t there / available any longer when ETH arrived (Cavani, Matic, Pogba, Greenwood). Of course we needed signings.
In 2-4 years we will need a few signings again regardless if we are successful in this period or not. Players get older, some are not good any longer and not every ETH signing is going to work out or stay here for 5+ years.
Shock horror that a United side which regularly finishes between 2nd and 6th needs to sign new players as well. It’s not like everything around us stands still. Other teams including those who were already better than us keep improving their squads as well.
Add to that that from the United team which finished 2nd/3rd four players who got enough game time weren’t there / available any longer when ETH arrived (Cavani, Matic, Pogba, Greenwood). Of course we needed signings.
In 2-4 years we will need a few signings again regardless if we are successful in this period or not. Players get older, some are not good any longer and not every ETH signing is going to work out or stay here for 5+ years.
And the one likely to go on to have the best future career as a manager.
Ralf Rangnick certainly had the better understanding of the situation at the club than most. I am sure even Ole did understand the situation. What prevented them from handling the situation with Cristiano Ronaldo better than they did was, on one hand for Ole, being in a state of disbelief about Ronaldo not being the most constructive to the team (superstar player just recruited etc.), and on the other for Rangnick, as an interim manager, he banked on what seemed the the surest asset in terms of goalscoring especially since Ronaldo had been in decent goalscoring form. Calling Rangnick spineless about benching Ronaldo is definitely quite harsh, now, isn't it? I admire ten Hag for having had the clarity, objectivity and the courage to bench Ronaldo as he did. I am guessing one should not discount the fact that ten Hag also had the benefit of being able to use the analysis of the Ole/Rangnick season with Ronaldo to make a more objective assessment of Ronaldo's ability to play the high-press game. The comparison of Ole/Rangnick with ten Hag along the lines of managing Ronaldo is unfair, I feel because the circumstances were different for each.
With you 100% on the system-drive approach and that ideally DoF strategically overseeing things is desirable. Seeing how things have gone on so far sice Erik ten Hag has become manager, it is true that he has overseen the recruitment, and from that angle, you are right in saying that we are manager-recommended in player acquisition. Where I think the current approach is in line with the functioning of a DoF-led system is that in some ways, ten Hag is wearing that strategic thinking hat in terms of the recruitments he is demanding and that is something that is happening in a much more positive, strategic, system-based approach than the recruitments that happened under Jose Mourinho or Ole. I personally feel very positive about the acquisitions having been done so far and what would add more value to this and allow ten Hag to oversee more the team performance side of things would be to have a DoF who actually matches the current strategic approach we have been having over the past season. In the interim, I think we are doing way better on the strategic approach over the past year than we have since SAF left, and I would not rush into getting a DoF just for the sake of it. EtH is definitely contributing his part very well, I would argue.
The streets will never forget
Don't you have better things to do Ralf?
Interesting. The real headline here isn't "we need to sign ten players" as some have inferred, but rather "we need to figure out what style of play we want, and then sign players who fit that profile".
Rangnick was spot on in that regard. It's exactly what we've been doing in the transfer market since ETH joined, and what we weren't doing in the years prior.
I'm not german but I imagine he is how german dads are like.
Sure. But you think Van Gaal wasn't also aware of this? You think Van Gaal didn't have a style of football in mind, and didn't want exclusively signings that suited it?
Anyone, including plenty of people outside the club, could have pointed to this problem by the time we swapped LVG for Mourinho. No consistency beyond manager level and therefore a carousel of different coaches, philosophies, styles and signings, all always a season too late to match up to one another.
The reason Rangnick was able to say it was because he was openly signed with an eye on becoming part of that process of introducing consistency above the level of the manager. If Van Gaal had been hired to manage for a year and then become DoF, he likely would have said the same thing. But he, Mourinho, Ole etc really could only come in, try and implement their own style, and ask for their own kind of signings. None of which is to defend the varyingly bad jobs they did of it, just to identify that it's unfair to expect a manager to fix - or critique - problems above their own head in the structure.
Boring?
He definitely was, but I don't think everyone at the club was, judging by our scattergun "Galactico"-focused approach to transfers at the time.
Youtube recommended me to watch both of our Semis against Schalke back in 2011...
He looks so young on their bench, and his team looks equally as crap as his United were.
they were criminally open (they would have lost against us either way, but were created chances at will).
I don't think we created as many chances against bottom PL teams.
Neuer was immense in the first game, what a GK he's been.
He looks so young on their bench, and his team looks equally as crap as his United were.
they were criminally open (they would have lost against us either way, but were created chances at will).
I don't think we created as many chances against bottom PL teams.
Neuer was immense in the first game, what a GK he's been.
Malacia was the fifth. And considering Rangnick was talking about the squad as a whole and what options other teams had off the bench, the fact that we had to go to the loan market to replace players that we unexpectedly lost as opposed to actually having suitable players already is relevant.
Fair point with Sancho, although he and Elanga were alternating on the right up until we signed Antony. The games I originally looked at were the ones Elanga played so Sancho slipped my mind (which isn't exactly a great testament to him
).Exactly. Like I said in another post what he said was hardly rocket science (half the posters on this forum could have told you the same thing) so I don't actually give him much credit for saying it, but it annoys me when people take what he said out of context as a stick to beat him with.
Ole finished 2nd before Rangnick as well truth be told.
He definitely well underperformed looking back with the players as he just wrote them off.
Yes we needed better players with different attributes but you can’t just write a squad off mid season either.
Arguably Neuers best game of his career came for Schalke but looking back the tactics allowed his goal to get peppered sometimes.
I’m still confused at what Rangnick achieved in his career if he’s such a genius and why he ended up in Russia.
Rangnick was partially right: probably ten players out of the complete first team squad weren’t good enough. To win the league.
But not ten new starters, six at the most.
Wait another two years and some people will claim Rangnick was right.
But not ten new starters, six at the most.
Wait another two years and some people will claim Rangnick was right.
Ralf notably said the squad needed a heart transplant. It turns out we just needed a better manager who worked with the “damaged” goods from the previous era and added his own signings to boost the squad.
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