Are we sure Ralf Rangnick is the man to save Manchester United? – The Warm-Up

Despite largely spending the last decade staked out in the purgatory between dugout and boardroom, Ralf Rangnick was universally heralded as a sound appointment at Manchester United. Words like “sensible” and “visionary” were being banded about, with ex-players and journalists desperate to convince everyone else they had watched his Ulm 1846 side’s promotion push in the late 90s. This guy was the real deal. Stop having doubts!

But what if everyone was wrong? United were as hopeless as they’ve been under any of Rangnick’s predecessors in last night’s 1-0 defeat to Wolves. The widely used, rarely understood, term “philosophy” has been bandied about – the antidote to the eras of David, Louis, Jose and Ole. A revolutionary 4-2-2-2. The pressing the fans so desperately craved. A lifetime contract for Phil Jones.

The three things you should look for before taking over at a club are: a) soaring pessimism, b) a squad with much better players than results, and c) an easy fixture run to get you going. Just ask Antonio Conte, the master emergency parachuter. Sworn in after games against Chelsea and Arsenal, Rangnick had all that and the easiest run of all: Crystal Palace, Young Boys, Norwich City, Newcastle United, Burnley, Wolves. Give us the keys to Old Trafford and we’re delivering 5/6 wins minimum, but old Ralf could manage just three.

Here’s what we don’t understand. Why play a system that leaves Bruno Fernandes in the cold? When your USP is pressing, shouldn’t your team actually press? If 4-2-2-2 is so wonderful why haven’t we seen it before? Oh, and something about Cristiano Ronaldo, who was somehow handed the armband over our man Phil.

Yes yes, we know it can all turn around. United’s next six games are embarrassingly winnable and there have been some signs of hope. Against Burnley but still, hope. Cling to it. Don’t let it out of your sight. Because if United don’t turn it on soon, Rangnick’s replacement is going to be playing on Thursday nights and while that sounds delicious as a neutral, we suspect it’s not quite what the supporters are after.

Anyone missing Michael Carrick?

Among the army of disgruntled is Luke Shaw, who continues to veer from world class to horrendous at a whim. The full-back delivered a scathing assessment of his team-mates and refused to blame Rangnick, which is probably a wise move as he’ll be at the club for years to come.

"We're at home, our crowd behind us, we have to put more pressure on them, we have to have intensity,” he said.

"Even from the first minute, we didn't go for them, didn't pressure them, we let them feel at home and comfortable. That time is critical when you have to put your stamp on the game. We need to bring the intensity, especially with 75,000 fans roaring behind us.

"I don't think you can put it on [adjusting to a new manager]. Us players, we have been here a long time, we know what it's like when we have the intensity – when the motivation's there. But maybe tonight we struggled, I didn't think we were all there together.”

It’s not a football interview without the phrase “give 100%” and Shaw gleefully obliged.

"We felt like we were struggling,” added Shaw. “You look at the players we have, we have unbelievable quality but sometimes quality is not enough.

"We need to bring the intensity and more motivation. Inside the dressing room, we know what we want but, out on the pitch, we need to give 100%. To win these types of games we all need to be 100% committed. It is tough and disappointing."

If it sounds like we’re enjoying this a bit too much, spoiler: we are. But please try and understand, United fans. You hogged the glory for so many years and anyway, you could always save yourself some pain and start supporting City. It's basically the same journey from London.

While you were out celebrating New Year’s Eve, Joan Laporta spent the final throes of 2021 rummaging around the nooks and crannies of old furniture. “Nope, nothing behind the wardrobe. Or the bookcase. Hang on… Honey, I think I’ve found something down the sofa. Oh cool, €200 million!”

That’s right, Barcelona have money again and they want everyone to know about it. Gone are the days when they begged Lionel Messi to play for free and the whole first team squad to take a pay cut, this is a new era of statement signings and lots of hype. And sure, new recruit Ferran Torres can’t actually be registered until they reduce their wage bill, but stop nit-picking. Barcelona are back. Listen to the man himself:

“Everybody in the world should get ready, as we are back as big players in the market. Barca are back,” said Laporta.

Oblivion incoming.

Apologies if you’ve seen this previously, but this evaded the Warm-Up’s attention first time around and it’s absolutely wonderful:

Happy 36th birthday, James Milner! Pop open the Ribena, start counting those Mini Eggs and relive some oddly-edited footage from his breakthrough at Newcastle United. All set to an absolute retro banger from Shiny Toy Guns.

Plus we vowed we would never miss an opportunity to push the greatest mash-up of all time, so thanks Ralf for picking Phil!

A smattering of matches from the EFL Trophy while The Spartans face Civil Service Strollers in the Lowland League from 19:45 GMT. So we wouldn’t blame you for giving those unwanted Christmas gifts one last chance tonight instead.