Are Man Utd worse under Rangnick than Solskjaer?
Robin Bairner
- 20 Apr 2022 13:00 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United are experiencing their most traumatic season in years and neither Ralf Rangnick nor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been able to do anything about it.
Solskjaer was the manager when the campaign began but was sacked in the autumn after a 4-1 defeat to Watford left the Red Devils eighth in the Premier League.
Rangnick was appointed on a temporary basis to lift Man Utd back into Champions League contention, but the turnaround that the board might have hoped for has been scantly evident. The Old Trafford side are sitting sixth in the league having played more games than their closest rivals at the time of writing.
Trending
The chastening nature of Tuesday’s 4-0 defeat to Liverpool, in which Man Utd mustered only a single shot on target, has fans questioning if the club have even moved forward at all under the German.
The evidence suggests that they have improved under Rangnick – and quite significantly so.
Rangnick v Solskjaer
Through the opening 12 games of the Premier League season, which were the matches that Solskjaer oversaw, United only manged to pick up 1.42 points per game.
Since Rangnick took command, though, that has increased to 1.74 points per game.
Over the course of a whole season, that works out at around 66 points. Although there has been an improvement, this is still not the level that a Manchester United team is expected to attain. Indeed, it would only have secured Champions League football once in the last five years.
There is a perception that Rangnick is performing worse than Solskjaer because his side are less exciting. They are more organised, but they are scoring fewer goals.
Furthermore, there is recent bias working against the German due to a poor run of form over the last month. With just two wins in nine matches, it is little wonder his stock is low.
Rangnick, then, is picking up more points than fan-favourite Solskjaer – but still not enough for a club like Man Utd.
Read more about: Premier League, Man Utd
