The previously glowing Fernandes has stunted under Rangnick at Manchester United. Why didn’t it work with the Austrian coach?

If there is one thing that Manchester United have really failed to do in recent years, and that is to really choose from, it is the engagement of Ralf Rangnick, under whom the Red Devils’ play has looked incredibly resigned. Watching these games, especially at the very end of the season, was tough for fans. Why was that?

At the start of last season, Manchester United still had high hopes of finally getting things right. However, this fell very quickly and on 5 December, in the league game at Old Trafford against Crystal Palace, Rangnick was already sitting on the bench.

The Austrian coach had a victorious debut and in the next 19 games his charges fell only to Wolves and Manchester City in normal time. However, it was more or less clear by then that big changes were on the way, and this of course affected the team as well.

The turning point came after the defeat to Atlético Madrid, which knocked out the Red Devils in the Champions League eighth-finals right at Old Trafford, and after that the team only finished the season.

“Ralf came up with the idea of playing with high intensity and pressing, just like he had in Germany. But it didn’t work because at that time there was a very bad atmosphere in the team and there was really low trust in each other, everything just went wrong,” Fernandes told The Athletic.

It was the Portuguese midfielder who experienced the biggest dip in form, scoring 18 goals and assisting 11 more in 37 league games in the 2020/21 season. He was unstoppable and with the arrival of more reinforcements led by Cristiano Ronaldo, big things were expected.

By the next season, he was only 10 goals and 6 assists in roughly the same amount of games, and he managed exactly half that by the time Rangnick arrived. That’s a big difference and it has to be added that he still hasn’t been able to pick himself up.

In fact, this season, his overall record is 1 goal and 1 assist in 8 games. But then again, Erik ten Hag has a different style of play and logically different challenges for the Portuguese midfielder. And even if he is not as productive as before, he is very valid for the Red Devils, which proves that he is one of the highest rated players this season.

“But it has nothing to do with Ralf. He tried to do the best he could. He’s a good manager with good ideas, but it just didn’t come together. And that’s mainly because the team was built on Ole’s vision and then a new coach came in with his. I think that was the main problem, everyone had their own vision and they brought in their own players for that purpose,” the Portuguese midfielder concluded.

It is too early to judge United’s current squad, but after a tragic start the team is starting to do very well and it is a great pity that the break came at this time due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Manchester United now face a city derby with City, which again will show a lot. However, the Red Devils have shown that they can handle these tough games, as the duels with Liverpool and Arsenal have already shown.

Source: The Athletic, Transfermarkt