Ralf Rangnick has been appointed as Manchester United’s new interim manager for the rest of the Premier League season, know more about him his tactics and formation
The Red Devils fans will keep their fingers crossed about the German manager being able to fit in at Old Trafford.
Rangnick has taken over as head coach for the rest of the Premier League season after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer departed from the club he loved so dearly. But will Rangnick’s past contentions affect his tenure at United? Will he be able to fit in well considering the fact that he has a history of not seeing eye to eye with many of his previous clubs?
Let’s take a look at Rangnick’s past controversies to know more about what he might bring to the club shall we?
Ralf Rangnick Controversies, Fights, History, Tactics, Formation: Playboy Dispute
Rangnick’s interview with Playboy Germany in 2018 was due to be released but that did not happen because his agent cut a major chunk of the German manager’s interview, which led to playboy deciding against printing an authorised article. When asked about it, Rangnick acknowledged the actions of his agent with the reason being the off-topic nature of the interview.
When it comes to clubs and especially players, the 63-year old is extremely austere and does not entertain laid-back attitude or a no work-only play lifestyle. So much so that last year he reprimanded his RB Leipzig players for flying in a top British barber, Sheldon Edwards, just to give them a trendy haircut, following which they lost a game 2-0.
Ralf Rangnick: Touchline Dispute
Rangnick was absolutely furious when his Leipzig side were denied a penalty in a fixture against Bayern Munich in 2017. At half-time he paced from the VIP stand over to the referee team around Felix Zwayer, in order to let them know by showing video evidence on his phone that their decision was wrong. This led to a scuffle between Rangnick and Bayern Munich’s Matt Hummels which had to be broken off with the involvement of Bayern goalkeeper Sven Ulreich.
As for his temperament- he repeatedly had arguments with Hannover 96 president Martin Kind and sporting director Ricardo Moar. Rangnick was accused of making repeated efforts to bring his ideas and concepts at VfB Stuttgart.
He even fell out with FC Schake 04’s general manager Rudi Assauer during what was only his first stint and even angered the board in December 2005 before his side’s game against Mainz when he set off on his own lap of honour around the stadium which resulted in his sacking.
A Rather Difficult Childhood
Ralf Rangnick was born in 1958 in Backnang which is supposed to be a Swabian part in Deutschland. He talks about how he was an only child who had started earning his own money from an early age of 18. He did not want to burden his parents financially which is why Rangnick possesses the zeal to work hard from early on.
Even though he seems very strict from his negative accounts with clubs along with his altercations with players and staff members, Rangnick is sensitive when it comes to his players and their duties towards their respective families.
The underlying reason for him putting players and their families before everything else is the fact that Ralf’s mother herself suffered from a serious illness when he was young which required him to play an adult role and take responsibility towards taking care of his mother when his father was out to work.
Ralf Rangnick Type Of Football: Tactics, Gameplan And Formation
After having studied to be a teacher of sport and English at Stuttgart University in 1977, Ralf is today considered as the discoverer or pioneer of counter-pressing/ fast-paced/ quick thinking control type of football which we now witness in the Premier League, especially in the tactics implemented by Jurgen Klopp in all of his games. The Liverpool manager along with Thomas Tuchel of Chelsea are in fact disciples of Rangnick and his philosophies.
It’s certainly going to be a joy to watch Manchester United fight against all odds under the German manager who will hopefully bring a lot of knowledge and the “rock ‘n’ roll” type of football at Old Trafford for the remainder of this season.
During his time at Germany, he preferred the 4-4-2 formation or 4-2-2-2.