FIVE ASIDES FA Cup, third round: United 1, Villa 0
Are Manchester United a mess? Or merely a mystery? The results are telling us they’re not too bad. In seven games under Ralf Rangnick, they’ve now won four, drawn two and lost one. He has two points per game in the league and he’s made it through his first knock-out fixture. Every game of his stint has been a banana skin and United have slipped on only one of them – a respectable outcome for a team who are capable of falling flat on their faces at any time.
The performances, though, are saying something quite different. Rangnick was hired to restore order, to bring clarity and identity. He arrived with one simple watchword: ‘control’. In the first half of his first match, against Crystal Palace, United delivered, but at some point during his first half-time team-talk, the honeymoon ended. Since then he’s brought them something that looks suspiciously like chaos. He’s been halfway from Jurgen Klopp to Alan Pardew.
When Rangnick arrived, he was United’s third manager in two weeks. You might have thought they could do with some consistency, but instead a man with clear principles has ended up being wildly pragmatic. He’s had four formations in the past two games. In the first half against Wolves last week, it was his favoured 4-2-2-2; in the second, 3-4-1-2. He liked the way United played better in the second half, but that was when they conceded the only goal of the game.
Against Villa last night it was a game of two halves again, though one was three times as long as the other. Rangnick played 4-3-3 for the first 72 minutes, 4-D-2 for the last 24. Again he was happier after the switch, although the scoreline said otherwise (Scott McTominay’s crisp glancing header, from Fred’s uncharacteristically immaculate cross, had come in the eighth minute, just like McTominay’s goal against Burnley). The midfield diamond, Rangnick felt, had brought ‘control’. But to get it, he had to bring on Donny van de Beek, the last resort for any United manager bar Carrick. And he had to take off Edinson Cavani, thus leaving only two wide strikers (Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford). Half the point of the diamond is to have two centre-forwards, which should suit this United squad, yet here there were none. If not a mess, it was definitely a muddle.
Another caretaker manager, Avram Grant at Chelsea, was the subject of a memorable line. According to Giles Smith, Grant stood on the touchline with the air of a man who had been told that his house had burnt down and had suddenly remembered that he hadn’t renewed the insurance. Rangnick, by contrast, looks as if you could trust him to do all your household admin and sort out your cupboards too. But the house is still on fire, and the arsonists appear to be a bunch of superstars.
United beat Villa by the jammiest of margins – 1-0, with a lot of help from the VAR. Rangnick’s results now look like something from the scorebook of a cricket match played by small children on a big outfield: 1-0, 1-1, 1-0, 1-1, 3-1, 0-1, 1-1. Except when facing Burnley, Ralf’s getting them in singles. To be fair, he has tightened up the defence, after a fashion. While still giving the fans a heart attack every ten minutes, they’ve somehow conceded only four goals in seven games. But if the price we pay for that is that United only manage a goal a game themselves, we’re being ripped off.
It’s understandable, up to a point, that Rangnick is trying different things. He has already had four captains – Harry Maguire when available, even if he’s obviously out of form; Nemanja Matic for the dead-rubber game against Young Boys; Cristiano Ronaldo when Maguire wasn’t fit to face Wolves; Bruno Fernandes last night after Ronaldo sustained a rare injury. Then, with ten minutes to go, Rangnick substituted Fernandes, who handed the armband to David de Gea.
The good news is that Rangnick is learning a bit about the contenders for a crown that is an uneasy fit for Maguire. The only one to lift the team has been Fernandes, who can be a petulant captain but is at least a passionate one. United had more heart and togetherness with him in charge. He played in a puzzling position, often in front of Cavani, but, released from the shadow of Ronaldo, he made it halfway back to his best. He produced United’s two most impressive passes – one to Rashford, one to Greenwood, both through balls, both volleyed over his shoulder from throw-ins. It’s quite a feat to be that nonchalant when you’ve got steam coming out of your ears.
The captaincy, you might say, isn’t central to football – but have a look at what’s been going on with the centre-backs, who are. Rangnick has already used six different pairings: Lindelof and Maguire; Bailly and Matic; Lindelof and Maguire again; Varane and Maguire; Bailly and Maguire; Phil Jones and Varane; Lindelof and Varane. OK, there have been injuries. But when Matic was at centre-back, Rangnick had a specialist, Tegen Mengi, on the bench (and then brought him on at left-back). Now Mengi has been allowed to join Birmingham on loan, just as Axel Tuanzebe is being passed like a parcel from Villa to Napoli. All good experience for the lads, but with Jones lining up next to Maguire in the physios’ room, there was not one centre-back on the bench against Villa. Lindelof, who was not himself after a month out, had to carry on when he took a blow to the knee. This is today’s United: simultaneously over-staffed and over-stretched.
Last night, just like against Wolves, they kept giving the ball away freely, even lavishly, spraying the sort of passes that make the crowd groan. When it came to the nearest team-mate, United were not so generous. Both Greenwood and Rashford were guilty of racing into the box and then failing to pass to each other. You’d think they might have learnt from watching Ronaldo that if you’re going to be selfish, you have to be clinical too. Greenwood is a big talent whose ice-cool left foot has started hitting the ball straight at the goalie. Rashford is busting a gut, trying to make things happen and sometimes succeeding, but is rounding off each run with the wrong decision. He’s a little bit Thierry Henry, a little bit Daniel James. He has the air of a man who’s just co-written a bestseller called You Are A Champion while forgetting how to be one himself.
So yes, United are a mess. And they’re also a mystery. Where they go from here, God only knows.
Tim de Lisle has been supporting United since the days when Lou Macari was not the name of a fish-and-chip shop. Do follow him on Twitter, and do follow United Writing too.