How daunting the task That Rangnick faces at Manchester United is, then when he sees Manchester United against Newcastle with a potential relegation, he will be acutely aware of how tough the next few months will be. There are countless examples that may make Rangnick wonder if this group of United players will be able to execute his style of football. Fred made multiple pass errors, Newcastle repeatedly jumped across the United backline and Fernandez lost possession 26 times.
Before considering United's new style and formation, the manager needs to get back to the basics if he wants to save United's hopes of a top 4 in the Premier League this season. He stood on the sideline, shook his head, rubbed his forehead and, with 30 minutes left, shrugged his shoulders to say he didn't know why the players were behaving like this, with a look of disbelief.
Most of the players have recovered their health after the suspension caused by the new crown, and he feels confident in this game, but now, after the three league games in his tenure, he does not have much time to solve these problems, and Manchester United will play Burnley away on Thursday, a life-and-death battle that United cannot afford to lose. So what's the problem? Is the new 4-2-2-2 formation too complicated for players? Are the players not reaching their full potential?
For example, Fernandez, his performance on the right side is not natural, and the lack of quality in the midfield also makes the middle of the road exposed when Manchester United push forward. Against Newcastle, the 4-1-3-2 formation in the second half improved slightly, but fundamental problems remained and reinforced the idea that formation wasn't necessarily the biggest problem.
"It's not a matter of formation, it's a matter of player quality and strength," Rangnick said after the game. "And the speed, how we play in those one-on-one scrambles, we have to do better on that." Rangnick's problems with Manchester United are twofold. First, there are too many unforced and technical mistakes on the part of the players, and secondly, they lack intensity and aggression.
Front-back Gary Neville sees it as a matter of player behaviour and attitude: "They're a bunch of grumbling people with their arms up in the air, they did a shocking first half, they fired the last manager, and there will be a lot of managers who will be fired like this in the future. "While Rangnick admits he has bigger problems, the attitude of the players needs to change and that's why Sancho came off the bench.
Fernandez received a yellow card for disagreement, cristiano Ronaldo was lucky not to be sent off for provocation, and every one of the starting 11 waved their arms in the air and complained to their teammates. Not only do United lack the quality and precision of possession, but the players also seem to lack trust in each other.
United's attack has neither cohesive nor has it been problematic in defence, as evidenced by the opponent's first goal, which is problematic both inside and outside the possession. These are all questions related to Rangnick's predecessor, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and while the new manager only has a few weeks to express his thoughts, and this was interrupted by the coronavirus outburst that led to the closure of the training ground, Rangnick knows what he wants, but the players need to go further, as Cavani did when United equalised.
"In 3 days we will have the next game, we can do better, we have to do it, we shouldn't make excuses. We need to get better, we need more physical exercise. He said after the game. Leaving aside the different attacking systems and coordinated attacking formations, Rangnick needs to start with the basics before he can start building his own things, and United have a long way to go in rebuilding.