Probably also because of such criticism, Rangnick renounced his agreed advisory role with the “Red Devils” and is now fully concentrating on the head coaching job in Austria. A position that – sticking to Cox’s analysis – should appeal to the Swabians significantly more.
Rangnick meets players who have been trained in his style
As national coach, Rangnick will have weeks, even months, to scout and analyze his player material. This will give him the opportunity to show his team tailor-made match plans and alternatives for the few joint appearances.
Rangnick may have disenchanted himself as a club coach in Manchester, his self-image of being able to coach a world-class club may have collapsed. However, all this does not mean that his era in Austria is doomed even before the first kick-off. The team is probably too good for him for that.
In Austria, Rangnick finds a young, dynamic group. His first 25-man squad has an average age of 26.7 years. Well-established professionals, who also offer significant potential for development. In addition, he can fall back on a number of pupils from the Red Bull squad school.
Maximilian Wöber, Valentino Lazaro, Stefan Lainer, Xaver Schlager, Konrad Laimer, Marcel Sabitzer, Nicolas Seiwald, Hannes Wolf: They all play or have played at Red Bull Salzburg, some also at RB Leipzig, in a system that ranks Nick in a variety of responsible roles implemented in the cops clubs. To put it bluntly, as national coach he has more than half a dozen potential regular players available who have absorbed his philosophy with the footballing mother’s milk. The industrious hole pluggers Sabitzer and Laimer could play a central role in Rangnick’s running-intensive system.
Meanwhile, it will be exciting to see how Rangnick gets along with top dogs like Marko Arnautovic and David Alaba. By not considering the 100-time national player and previous co-captain Aleksandar Dragovic, he has at least set a first exclamation point in terms of personnel. “A shock” was the decision against him, explained the former Leverkusen player. “It hurts me,” Arnautovic regretted the elimination of the 31-year-old.
Due to this controversial decision, Rangnick may have more time on paper to work out the theory in Austria than in Manchester. But if the practice is not right in the Alpine republic either, the results are not there – in other words, the secure qualification for the EM 2024 – and he does not know the team behind him as a whole, his coaching career on the hard bench of the Ernst Happel Stadium could end very quickly be terminated.