Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United are a team with absolutely no identity, style or results at all

After Manchester United marked the first game of Ralf Rangnick’s tenure with a 1-0 home win over Crystal Palace last December, the pundits on the club’s in-house TV station cast an eye over the next eight fixtures and suggested they could all be won. After 90 minutes, they had seen enough to be convinced.

There were some encouraging signs that day at Old Trafford. Rangnick’s players — freed from the uncertain management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — played on the front foot, tried to press and offered more energy to their play.

All were recognisable Rangnick trademarks but none of them were to last. Four-and-a-half months on, United are a team with absolutely no identity at all.

Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United are a team with absolutely no identity at all

There were encouraging signs initially, with the players freed from the uncertain management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

The German has not brought consistency of results, style or tactics to the team. Rangnick, though, is expected to stick around. When the Ajax coach Erik ten Hag assumes control this summer, his predecessor is due to take on his much-discussed role as a consultant. 

United have been light on the exact detail of this position so far. In terms of Rangnick’s duties, his hours and his sphere of influence, neither he nor the club have said anything. It is almost as though the idea was conceived last winter without much forethought.

Recently this paper reported that the 63-year-old would work just six days a month for United, something that the club have not denied.

The anomaly of this is that Rangnick’s reputation in the industry — one forged at places like Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig in Germany — is of a man adept at building long-term structures.

But four and a half months on from Rangnick’s first game in charge, the German has not brought consistency of results, style or tactics to the team

Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann said of him: ‘He puts the puzzle together, he makes a club whole.’ But how he can do that at Old Trafford without being in the building is hard to fathom.

United need to be better at recruitment. That much is clear from results in recent years and Rangnick — growing increasingly exasperated with this group of players as the season drags on — has been happy to spell it out in a series of frank press conferences.

On Wednesday, United made two changes to their scouting department with the departures of Jim Lawlor and Marcel Bout. Lawlor has been chief scout for 16 years since being brought to the club under Sir Alex Ferguson.

There has already been an overhaul of the football department. Darren Fletcher is the club’s technical director, John Murtough is football director and Matt Judge is across the club’s transfers and contracts. Where does Rangnick’s part-time football consultant role fit into that hierarchy? Nobody seems to yet know.

United made two changes to their scouting department with the departures of Jim Lawlor and Marcel Bout (above)

United is a club where boundaries continue to be blurred. Fletcher is often seen in the dugout on match days. Mike Phelan, meanwhile, is the first-team coach, a man supposed to form a valuable link to the days of Sir Alex. 

But usually, Phelan is nowhere to be seen. So it is this strange, disjointed world that Ten Hag will walk into. He could be forgiven for wondering why, nine years after Ferguson left, it is still the way it is.

In terms of Rangnick, it would be wrong to judge him on his performance as a short-term firefighter. That was never something he had on his c.v.

So it is this strange, disjointed world that  Ajax boss Erik Ten Hag will walk into in the summer

Equally, it is hard to ignore the mediocre calibre of coaching staff he recruited to help him — not a single one had any Premier League experience — and indeed the way his team have failed to find any kind of identity on his watch.

For the most part, the amiable German with an endearing habit of telling the world how it is has seemed rather out of step with what is required at the top end of English football.

That does not mean he has nothing to offer moving forward. It doesn’t mean he can’t be of assistance in mending some of the holes in this listing institution. But if Rangnick isn’t going to be front and centre of United’s latest attempt to evolve, it is tempting to wonder what exactly it is that he will be doing.