Manchester United may as well have stuck with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for a bit longer after their total lack of improvement under interim manager Ralf Rangnick.
That’s the view of former Red Devils ace Luke Chadwick, who has admitted to being unimpressed with the way things have gone since Rangnick replaced Solskjaer earlier this season.
Chadwick concedes that things weren’t going well for his old team-mate either, and that in turn left Rangnick inheriting a difficult job, but overall he gave a pretty damning assessment of how the club’s season has gone under the German tactician.
“It was always going to be hard for Rangnick … the results took a bit of an up-turn when he first came in, even if the performances didn’t. He got some wins together that were needed at the time, but the recent run – two wins in the last ten games in all competitions – has been really poor,” Chadwick told CaughtOffside.
“It’s not easy being an interim manager, you don’t see a lot of massive clubs like Man United going down that route too often. Of course it worked out quite well when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took on that role and ended up getting the job full time, but you wonder about the reasoning of this appointment, it feels like Ole might as well have stayed for the rest of the season.
“A new manager will change things a lot and this doesn’t really look like it’s been the positive change that the club will have been expecting. It was a bit of a strange decision, with Rangnick coming in because no one else was available. Obviously things weren’t going well under Ole, but things haven’t really improved. It was a tough job inheriting an under-performing team, but his time in charge has been disappointing overall.”
Chadwick also discussed the state of Man Utd’s top four hopes after the disappointing back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Arsenal.
“Obviously the Liverpool game, going into it you maybe felt, more with your heart than your head, that because it’s a big rivalry that perhaps the team could pull something out of the bag. The manager went with a back three, which you can understand given the attacking players they were up against, but that early goal put all those plans to bed really. It was an awful night for the club, they were outclassed and well-beaten,” Chadwick said.
“I think the game on Saturday was another poor result, even if there was an improved performance. There was a bit more fight and they could arguably have had a couple of things go more their way, like Bruno Fernandes’ penalty miss, that could’ve changed the outcome of the game.
“It was a poor result in the end, losing 3-1, and it’s put them in a very difficult position with regards to getting into the top four.
“Obviously the new manager’s been announced and that’s positive news, but not getting into the Champions League will affect recruitment plans.”