Manchester (AP) – Ralf Rangnick does not believe that Manchester United in the English football championship is threatened with a dry spell similar to that of Liverpool FC with 30 years without a title.
“That won’t happen because it’s pretty obvious what needs to change,” said the 63-year-old interim United coach ahead of the duel with the Reds, who are coached by Jürgen Klopp, at Anfield in Liverpool. “There has to be reconstruction for the future,” said the long-time Bundesliga coach, according to the BBC.
Klopp had won the first Premier League title since 1990 with Liverpool in 2020 and also won the Champions League the year before. For United, who were last champions in the mother country of football in 2013, the current series is about getting into the top four and still making it into the premier class.
Rangnick names Klopp as a prime example
Creating a new structure is “not rocket science,” emphasized Rangnick. “When you know what football you want to play and what profiles you want for each position, it’s all about finding the players and convincing them to come along.” As a prime example of how to do it, he named Klopp. “Liverpool were eighth in the season when Jurgen arrived. Then it took two transfer windows. They brought in the right players and got rid of the right players. That’s why they’re where they are.”
With seven games remaining, Liverpool are second in the Premier League with 73 points behind Manchester City (74) and still have the chance of a total of four titles. Manchester United are currently fifth (54) with one game more. United had lost the first leg 5-0 – an embarrassment that was followed just a few weeks later by the dismissal of Rangnick’s predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Klopp took this victory as an opportunity to warn his players against being too self-confident. To feed their own chance of winning the Reds would have to be “greedy” against United, as if “it’s about the three most important things in your life,” he said. “That’s the attitude we need for this game. If we let United do what they want, they’re going to give us massive problems.”