The Manchester United dressing room seems to be a cause of concern for new manager Ralf Rangnick. A lack of unity is clear to see and rumours of divides are rife as the players show a complete lack of cohesion on the pitch. The players are living up to the nickname the Red Devils for all the wrong reasons.
Ralf Rangnick Needs to Solve the Manchester United Dressing Room Dilemma
January Transfer Window Could Provide the Opportunity to Remove the Dissenting Voices
In the short term, Manchester United’s goal was to finish in the top four. However, after their recent match against Wolves, United sit in seventh place, two points behind Tottenham Hotspur who have a game in hand. Now, manager Ralf Rangnick needs to decide to prioritise long or short-term success. A dressing room cull may solve the dilemma and adding new, complementing personalities would improve the situation further. Although shopping for players in January is expensive, especially for a club like Manchester United, can Rangnick risk removing the problem players now without any recruitment to replace them?
Ralf Rangnick spoke in his post-match interview of the difficulty of galvanising the squad: “Today we showed similar problems the team had three or four weeks ago before I arrived.
“It is not an easy job to develop a DNA with and without the ball. The game today showed there are still quite a few steps to go.”
He went further in saying that the hopes of reaching the top four seem unbelievable at this stage. It is clear that the club is suffering from a mismatch of talent, personality, and desire.
Luke Shaw Comments Show the Team is Aware of the Problems
Luke Shaw is a contrasting figure at United. Once a highly-rated youngster, now a fully-fledged professional, his previous issues with Jose Mourinho are now far behind but a new problem emerges. Shaw is now questioning the team’s togetherness, admitting Wolves were “miles better.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, Shaw was damning in his report: “Sometimes quality isn’t enough. Like I said, we need to bring the intensity, we need to bring being more aggressive and we need to bring more motivation. Maybe from the outside today it didn’t look like we had any of those three, but inside the dressing room, we know we want to win. We know what we want.”
With some of United’s senior players questioning the motivation of his teammates, it is clear that the dilemma starts in the dressing room.
What to Expect This January
According to the Mirror, a source close to the squad claimed as many as 11 players now want to leave the club after becoming disillusioned with life at United. On top of this, as reported by the Express, Some players were supposedly made assurances of opportunities by former manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. These broken promises may be the reason that many leave the club. It seems that Anthony Martial, Donny van de Beek, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani are all potential transfer candidates.
And where there are departures, there are arrivals. Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice, Franck Kessie, and Frenkie de Jong are all players held in high regard by United. With the bookies tipping these players to be on the move it is clear that United will look towards their midfield for recruitment.
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