MY ACCOUNT
Manchester United need to make more than “minor amendments” to fix the glaring issues at the club, according to Ralf Rangnick.
United were thrashed 4-0 by old foes Liverpool on Tuesday, and face a huge game in their hopes of securing Champions League football when they take on Arsenal on Saturday.
The match in north London comes two days after United officially confirmed Erik ten Hag as their new boss, though the Ajax coach will not join until the end of the season.
It leaves interim manager Rangnick with five games to salvage a top-four finish from another underwhelming season.
Rangnick is unsure if he will be staying on in a consultancy role at Old Trafford, but he believes the problems at the club are obvious.
“You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are,” Rangnick told a news conference.
“Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments or cosmetic things.
“In medicine, you would say that this is an operation of the open heart.
“If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together then it makes sense and I believe it doesn’t take two or three years to change those things. This can happen within one year.”
Rangnick hinted that Ten Hag, however, will need assistance in enacting these changes if they are to be successful.
“For sure [strong leadership is needed]. This is something that not just one single person as a manager can do,” he continued.
“With all respect to [Liverpool manager] Jurgen [Klopp] and [Manchester City boss] Pep [Guardiola], I’m sure that they didn’t do all the things themselves.
“There were also other people involved in those two clubs, people in certain positions, no matter what area it was, in order to rebuild and build something we want to build here. In all areas you have to have top people and they have to work together in a very close, reliable way.”
Asked if he wanted to stay on at United, Rangnick replied: “I still see where we could develop.
“We have perfect training conditions, a great stadium, massive fan support, probably the best I’ve ever experienced apart from Schalke. Of course I would want to be part of the process that has to happen.”
