The Galactico whisperer...
● Rangnick holding talks with club’s biggest ‘egos’ ● Ronaldo wants to be recognised as team leader
RALF RANGNICK has turned into the Galatico whisperer this week, soothing some of the biggest stars and some might say egos in the Manchester United team with his words. One-on-one meetings have been held with Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes among others. For the German coach, who is famed for his tactical innovation and strategic intelligence on the pitch, it is a new challenge.
Every manager has to deal with man management, of course, but never have Rangnick’s skills in this department been tested quite like this. The biggest club he has managed is Schalke in Germany and the two clubs where he was most successful, Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig were non-entities playing non-league football, but thanks to his legacy they now sit fourth and seventh in the Bundesliga respectively.
But at those clubs he had young, hungry players largely devoid of ego and eager to learn. ‘It was crazy, unbelievable football we were playing, pro-active, aggressive attacking football,’ said Demba Ba, the former Newcastle and Chelsea striker who made his name under Rangnick as Hoffenheim took the Bundesliga by storm in 2008. ‘We were the age 21, 22 when whatever the coach says, you take it in, you listen.’
Now comes the crunch for Rangnick, squeaky bum time as one of his predecessors might say, though United no longer compete for titles. Can Rangnick have the same effect in the final third of the season on a 37-year-old billionaire, a free-spirited No10, and a 28-yearold World Cup winner who is out of contract at the end of the season?
Last week, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford both took to Twitter to deny unrest at United, specifically the charge that there is a English camp which baulks against Ronaldo’s attempted dominance of the dressing room.
Yet no one can convincingly deny that the arrival of Cristiano, logical though it looked on paper, has disrupted the equilibrium at the club on and off the pitch. Those close to the dressing room speak of his constant need to be the acknowledged leader. Maguire will remain captain but the body language between Ronaldo and his English teammates will be scrutinised intensely today at Leeds and for the rest of the season. And Ronaldo’s body language isn’t hard to read.
Rangnick said this week that he believes any tensions in the dressing room have been alleviated by clearing out players who wanted to leave in the January, though that doesn’t address the issue of whether the players left actually appreciate Ronaldo or even want him there. Whatever, Rangnick’s job in the last three months of the season is to mould this disparate group of individuals, all signed by different managers with divergent philosophies, into a coherent team.
‘It is an ongoing process,’ said Rangnick. ‘The challenge for me was in coming mid-season at a time when the team was lacking confidence and not doing well. And, of course, to work with a group that was not put together by me — that’s not alibis or excuses, just a mere fact. For me, it was about getting the right mix, the right moments in which we had to play offensively and defensively.
‘Obviously we had to reduce the number of goals conceded, which we did, and on the other hand still be dangerous in possession. I think we have shown some improvement in the weeks and months, but there is still space for more in the future. We just need to play continuously, to stick to a game plan.
‘I think since it’s obvious that the team has developed, that we control, not for 90 minutes, but for larger parts of the game. We are dominating and controlling games, this is what it’s all about in football. The team needs to know how to play and this will also raise their level of confidence, if you have a feeling of controlling games.’
United are better than the side that lost 5-0 to Liverpool and 4-1 at Watford, a low bar of achievement. Yet they are far from what one imagines Rangnick would want. Ba recalled that at Hoffenhiem: ‘We were built to destroy other teams. We would not and could not breathe from the minute we started the game. We were very dominant and this is what he was asking us to do every single weekend.
‘I remember playing Hamburg when we got promoted and one of their players in interview after the game saying: “I don’t know what they had for breakfast, but I want the same thing” because of the intensity we put on them. But it wasn’t what we had or breakfast. It was the way we were training.’
Contrast that with the damining assessment of United from Southampton manager’s Ralph Hasenhuttl, a Rangnick protege at RB Leipzig: ‘It is not a big secret that when United lose the ball that the reverse gears are not the best from everybody.’
Marvin Compper played for Rangnick at both Hoffenhem and RB Leipzig and was recruited by him as a coach at Lokomotiv Moscow last year. He acknowledges that not all players are built to play the Rangnick way, but insists his former boss can adapt to United’s stars. ‘It’s not for everyone. But, if you buy into it, if your heart skills are made for it, you definitely grow in it,’ said ex-Celtic player Compper.
‘You need speed and if you’re not quick you need to be quick in your head. He’s looking for players who have intrinsic aggressiveness in pressing. He uses the word “hunting”. You hunt opponents down.’
Ba concurs. ‘Ralf has triggers. We would target one player. When he has the ball, we close every pass option that he has. When that is done, we go with two, three, sometimes four players to press one guy. But not half pressing. It was 150 per cent.’
At United, Compper says he sees signs of that. ‘His philosophy is developing and adapting. Even now that he has a team with big-value players who might not fit the typical philosophy, and even though it wasn’t an easy moment when he took this job and there’s not a lot of time to build something, I see bits of behaviours implemented by him.
‘He is more than capable to find a solution to bring his philosophy on pitch.’ As Ba puts it: ‘Who has to adjust to who is the big question. If United brought him in they know he can have a big impact.’
Rangnick has 13 games to demonstrate that.