Krishnan Sreekumar
Ralf Rangnick is confident new appointment Erik ten Hag will spark Manchester United improvement
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Arsenal game, as quoted by the club’s official website, Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has backed incoming new permanent manager Erik ten Hag to spark an improvement at Old Trafford next season.
ten Hag will pick up the reins from Rangnick at the end of the campaign when the German’s tenure as interim boss expires. He had been given the role late last year after the club sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after a string of poor results.
The interim manager showered praise on the incoming new boss, saying that he liked the kind of football ten Hag plays, from his time at Bayern Munich as the Under-23 coach and at Ajax Amsterdam. The Dutchman has led the Eredivisie side to back-to-back league titles in the past.
“We don’t know each other in person, we haven’t met in person yet. But, from what I have seen him doing, both at Bayern Munich when he was the Under-23 coach and at Ajax now, I like his football.”
The 52-year-old is currently on course to win a hat-trick of league titles in Holland, with Ajax sitting on top of the Eredivisie points table. They lead rivals PSV Eindhoven by four points, and will be looking for revenge as PSV recently beat them 2-1 in the final of the KNVB Cup.
“I’m pretty positive”
ten Hag has built up a reputation in Europe as an excellent manager and tactician, given his trophy haul in the Netherlands. He also impressed the football world with his young Ajax team’s fairytale run in the Champions League in 2019, reaching the semi-finals of the competition.
Rangnick backed his successor to be successful at Man United, saying he was pretty positive that having a full pre-season, and getting to build and mould his own staff and a new team will see improvement on the pitch.
“I’m pretty positive with a full pre-season, with having the chance to build and mould his own staff, also a new team, which is obvious, we will have a new team, with a full pre-season, I am pretty sure that we will see a different team and improvement on the pitch.”
ten Hag will have quite a task on his hands when he takes on the job in the summer, having to rebuild the squad and get them firing again in order to compete for trophies as soon as possible. This, of course, cannot be an overnight fix and is likely to take time.
His impressive CV will put pressure on his to deliver silverware at Old Trafford, and given that the Red Devils have not won a trophy in five years, there will be even more scrutiny on him. United last won the UEFA Europa League title in 2017, beating Ajax in the final.
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However, Rangnick’s seal of approval and encouraging words will excite fans about what could be in store for us in the near future. As the German said, having a pre-season to implement his ideas and get his style of football across to the players will be crucial to how we perform next term.
Hopefully, we see some results from the opening day of the season itself as we welcome United’s fifth permanent manager since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. Expectations are high for ten Hag, but only time will tell how he gets on in his new role in England.
