Maybe Manchester United should have appointed Rangnick as director of football

04/01/22 1611

On Monday night, Manchester United suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat against Wolves at Old Trafford.

The result leaves the Red Devils four points outside the top four, with a game in hand on fourth-place Arsenal. However, there seems to be fierce competition for the last Champions League spot, with the top three seemingly out of reach of the teams below them.

The loss added to the question marks placed on the team and some fans were also questioning some of the choices made by head coach Ralf Rangnick after the display.

The former Schalke head coach is renowned as one of football’s thinkers, an innovator of the game. He is credited with being responsible for the rise of the teams in the Red Bull group.

The likes of RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg have been major successes under a structure that Rangnick implemented throughout the group.

There is no doubt that Rangnick is a highly intelligent and brilliant operator when it comes to football. He is credited with influencing many modern German head coaches with his football ideas, including Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann.

The problem is that Rangnick has only been a head coach sporadically in recent years. Notwithstanding two short spells as RB Leipzig head coach, the 63-year-old has spent most of the last decade overseeing club structures and systems.

He has not been working with players on a one-to-one basis. There is a vast difference between a role as director of football or a managerial role in the structure of a club than that of a head coach.

Rangnick has a job as the interim head coach until the end of the season in Manchester. Reportedly at the end of the term, he will take up some sort of consultancy role.

Maybe that role would suit him more at this stage of his life and could prove to be a vital figure in moving United forward in the near future.