Why Rangnick's tactics could spell the end for Pogba at Man Utd
Stefan Bienkowski
- 11 Dec 2021 02:55 CST
- 5 min read
New Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick made a rather clear-cut warning to Paul Pogba this week, when the topic of the player's rehabilitation and future arose at a press conference.
After expressing his frustration at the player choosing to recover from his injury in the Middle East, Rangnick turned to the topic of players needing to be convinced to sign a new deal at the Old Trafford club.
"Players have to want to play and stay for a club and a big club like Manchester United," Rangnick said.
"If a player does not want to play for a club like Manchester United medium or long term, I don't think it makes sense to convince him to change his mind.
The France international‘s contract is set to expire in the summer, which means he’ll be able to entertain offers from other clubs in January.
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However, before the club can even begin questioning Pogba’s loyalty to Man Utd, they may need to consider whether Rangnick’s own tactics will be able to accommodate a player like that going forward.
What are Rangnick’s new tactics?
As we’ve already seen from Rangnick’s first few games in charge of Man Utd, the German manager prefers to use a 4-2-2-2 formation, which calls for two box-to-box midfielders in the centre of the pitch and two inside forwards that can either join the attack as traditional forwards or play out wide as wingers.
In this system, Rangnick has used Scott McTominay and Fred and then Donny van de Beek and Juan Mata as his central midfielders, with a number of players filling in on either wing as the two additional attacks.
Can’t Pogba play in that system?
The problem with this formation is that Pogba doesn’t exactly fit into any of the roles that Rangnick is looking to make use of in his system.
The French midfielder could play as one of the central midfielders, but he often lacks the discipline to defend in his own half as much as he enjoys attacking.
Similarly, while Pogba could be used on the left as an inside forward, he still struggles to provide enough width for the formation to work or indeed the attributes needed to be an extra forward.
Add to that the simple fact that Rangnick now has a number of options for the two additional forward roles in Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford, Bruno Fernandes, Anthony Martial and even Cristiano Ronaldo.
In other words, Rangnick’s tactics not only don’t fit with Pogba that well at all, but they also point out how the French midfielder simply isn’t needed at Old Trafford anymore. Which may be a way of the new manager preparing for Pogba’s departure in the near future.
