’I don’t know if we are fit enough’ - Rangnick takes aim at poorly trained Man Utd squad
Stefan Bienkowski
- Updated: 14 Feb 2022 08:58 CST
- 4 min read
Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has suggested that his squad aren’t physically capable of playing the high-pressing style of football that he prefers as a coach.
The German tactician is considered one of the founding fathers of the gegenpressing style of football, which prioritised a high press and the team’s efforts to regain possession as quickly as possible.
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Such tactics have been used to great effect at Liverpool under German manager Jurgen Klopp and many believed Rangnick would implement a similar style at Old Trafford.
However, when asked about the prospect of playing gegenpressing football at Man Utd, Rangnick suggested that his team simply aren’t physically prepared to do it just yet.
🗣 "It's pretty obvious that the players are getting the ideas across the pitch, with every game it goes better."
Ralf Rangnick is confident the Manchester United players are implementing the changes on the pitch game by game pic.twitter.com/zPYGJUNu0H— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 14, 2022
’I don’t know if we are fit enough’
“To be honest, I don’t know if we are fit enough to play that way because, as you said, I came in the middle of the season, we had no pre-season and, in essence, we had in total two weeks in between where we could train in a normal way,” Rangnick said in a press conference on Monday.
“If I watched the team in training that is being prepared for games I wouldn’t allow myself to say we are not good enough to play like that. I don’t think this is the case because then we would also struggle in the last 20 minutes of the game and then in the game against Burnley and today we showed that we are physically able to play forward.
He added: “I don’t think it’s a question of physicality with regard to fitness but yes, it might well be. As I said, the players we have are technical players, they like to play technical football.
“But in the Premier League, no matter against which team - and especially in games like those against Southampton - you cannot win games only in a technical way. You also have to show some physicality.”
🗣 "Finishing 4th is exactly what we need to want. It's the highest possible achievement we can get. There is no other things."
Ralf Rangnick says the team are fully focused on achieving a 4th place finish which is their main objective pic.twitter.com/x1ExYlSgZd— Football Daily (@footballdaily) February 14, 2022
Is Rangnick right?
While some may think the Man Utd manager is simply making excuses and blaming his predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the stats do back up his claim that this squad simply haven’t been pressing at all this season.
In fact, according to Instat, Man Utd have the second worst stats in the league this season when it comes to team pressing. Crystal Palace are the only side that press as a team less often than the Old Trafford side, while league leaders Manchester City are second.
Similarly, when we look at how many high presses each team achieves per match, Man Utd are once again near the bottom of the table with just seven per game. In contrast, Man City average 11 and lead the league in such metrics.
Even when we consider more simplistic metrics such as interceptions per game, the evidence continues to point to Man Utd doing very little work off the ball. So far this season the Old Trafford side average 46 interceptions per game, which is the second worst tally in the league.
Whichever way we look at it, Man Utd simply haven’t been a high pressing team at all this season and Rangnick is probably correct in saying he couldn’t get them playing that way until he’s had an extended period to train them.
