Rangnick delivers reality check in Man Utd ‘monsters’ claim

Will Ford
Ralf Rangnick has been appointed the new Man Utd interim boss

Ralf Rangnick claims it will take time for him to turn his Manchester United players into “pressing monsters”.

Rangnick will take charge of his first game as United boss against Crystal Palace on Saturday but insists he has to be “realistic” about the progress of his side this season.

“I am more than optimistic, but I also have to be realistic,” he told the Daily Mail. “Five weeks ago, our team lost 5-0 against Liverpool — and it could have been a lot more if we are honest.


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“Against City it was 2-0 — but it could also have been more. It was important to win the point at Chelsea but the performance? I don’t know. They had 24 shots on goal and we had three.

“So right now, to say I will challenge the top Premier League managers in the next few weeks or months, is not realistic.

“I cannot turn the players we have into the pressing monsters I want them to be within two, three or four weeks. The same happened to Jurgen when he came in the middle of the season.

“Liverpool had a lot of muscle injuries in that time because they were not used to that kind of training so we have to be smart.”

It’s rumoured he German boss will be handed £100million to improve the squad in January and Rangnick was asked about recruitment.

“It’s about recruitment but also making sure every year we have academy players good enough to make it into the first team. One doesn’t exclude the other,” he said.

Rangnick is known as the ‘godfather’ of modern football in Germany and is credited with mentoring the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel.

“Jurgen and myself have known each other since 1997. We’ve always had a good relationship,” he added. “He called me before his first job as head coach at Mainz. He asked me what kind of money he should be asking for because he didn’t have an agent.

“I advised him and he said, ‘Ah, do you not think that is too much to ask?’ I told him it was the right thing to do — and I am pretty sure he got what he wanted.

“With Thomas it is different. He was my player at Ulm first, but only for six months because he had to finish his career because of a knee injury. Two years later, when I was at Stuttgart, I asked him if he wanted to become the coach of our Under-15s team and that was the start of his coaching career.

“To do what he did in four months to win the Champions League at Chelsea was incredible.”