Who is Ralf Rangnick and what are the bits to expect ahead of his imminent arrival as the interim boss at Manchester United

Finally, Manchester United have a candidate to take over as the interim manager until the end of the season and German tactician, Ralf Rangnick has emerged as the man to succeed Ole Solskjær on a temporary agreement.

Ralf Rangnick looks on prior to the UEFA Champions League group E match between FC Bayern Muenchen and Dinamo Kiev at Allianz Arena on September 29, 2021 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Roland Krivec/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)

The man, Ralf Rangnick

Ralf Rangnick is a German tactician, one of the very best in the trade. He is a name in management in Germany, having remained in his country since he began his trade and never move out of the country until now he is expected to take over as United's interim boss.

Rangnick 63, started his managerial career at a very young age of 25, after an uneventful time as a professional footballer. He is also known as the godfather of Gengenpressing football, commonly employed by German coaches.

Managed at Stuttgart, Schalker, Hannover, Hoffenheim and was an integral part in RB Leipzig’s rise from the very low to becoming one of the best in the Bundesliga. In fact, it was Rangnick who helped them gain to the BundesLiga in 2016.

He returned to the club for a second spell in 2018 and helped them to a third place finish in the league while he also got them to the final of the DFB-Pokal, where they eventually lost to Bayern Munich.

That was after he has had two stints at Schalker, which were also some of the highlights of his career. In his second spell at the club, he reached the semi final of the Champions League in 2011, where they eventually lost out to Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.

He is also an important figure in the history of TSG Hoffenheim as he only took over at the club when they were playing in the Regional Süd, a third tier league in Germany, and have them playing in the Bundesliga after just two seasons.

In his four years at the club, he helped them come from the Regional Süd to become one of the top ten teams in the league. He is an experienced manager and has shown a rare adept character and ability to get on quickly in new environment.

Approach to the game

Answering questions on his style of play in an interview, Rangnick said: “Well, it’s very simple, it is a very proactive style of football, similar to the way in which Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool have been playing under Klopp.”

“We like to press high, with a very intense counter-pressure. When we have the ball, we do not like any square or back passes.”

“The goalkeeper also should not be the one with the most contact on the ball. In almost every league and every country, the goalkeeper is technically the most limited football player on the pitch and therefore we have to make sure that he has the lowest contact with the feet.

“It is a fast, proactive, attacking, counter-attacking, counter-pressing, exciting and entertaining football.”

The exciting football United faithful demands maybe about to kickstart with Rangnick, who is known as the godfather and the Orchestrator of Gengenpressing, a high-pressing aggressive football, in which teams always look to win back possession from the opposition immediately after losing it, instead of falling back to defensive positions.

It is a system adopted by the likes of Jürgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann and other German coaches. Dominating games is one of the bits of getting good results and this system has brought success for the likes of Klopp and Tuchel.

The high-pressing style makes the team enjoy more of the possession, allowing the playmakers get more time on the ball and to make deadly decisions in attack. The best might be yet to come from Bruno Fernandes, who was also impressive under Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

The likes of Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel are managers inspired by Ralf Rangnick and are doing exceptional in the Premier League. With the players at United, the Premier League might be set to witness the best of the lot.

Speaking earlier in the year, Ralf Rangnick said: “Thomas(Tuchel) became a coach through me. He was my player at ULM and had to finish his career due to knee problems. I gave him a job as our Under-15 coach. He did not even intend being a Coach, he was working at a bar in Stuttgart”.

Of course it is important to keep mind that it is not Thomas Tuchel taking over at United and Rangnick might probably not have the same luck as his countryman is currently having at Chelsea, but no doubt the club have made a good decision taking him as an interim manager.

The former Hannover manager has adopted several formations from the 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 and 4-2-2-2, which will give him various dimensions to approach games at United, who have better players in all ramifications compared to any of his former clubs.

The only trouble would have been that Rangnick is not a manager that stays at a club for a long time but since United are taking him on temporary terms, it does not get any better than it looks. Coupled with the fact that he settles down to life quickly, United's season might be about to get a new definition.

Moreso, the experience he has gathered working as the Sporting Director of the Red Bull clubs and Locomotiv Moscow can also be of help to Manchester United, who have not had so much good fortunes under the current administration.

While at the Red Bull clubs as their Sporting Director, one of the significant feat he achieved was raising the market value of the clubs from €120million to €1.2billion. Astonishingly, the revenue were generated through player development and sales. The clubs were also able to sign good players and Salzburg won the Austrian Bundesliga multiple times in that time.

Rangnick will be coming as a short time fix and safe to say there are not many better manager to take up the role than the German. Surely the likes Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba and others will relish playing under the animated manager.

His imminent arrival is already starting to lift spirits around the club. And what more do you need than positive atmosphere in difficult moments like this for the club, after an awful start to what was supposed to be a promising season.

Afolabi Kehinde Hassan