Manchester United appoint Ralf Rangnick as interim manager

German coach will be in charge until end of season before taking on consultancy role at club for further two years

Ralf Rangnick has taken over as interim manager of Manchester United. EPA

Manchester United have appointed Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the end of the season.

The 63-year-old German coach takes over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the Norwegian was sacked following a 4-1 defeat at Watford. He will continue in a consultancy role at the Premier League club for a further two years.

Rangnick, who has left his role as head of sports and development at Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow, said: “I am excited to be joining Manchester United and focused on making this a successful season for the club.

“The squad is full of talent and has a great balance of youth and experience. All my efforts for the next six months will be on helping these players fulfil their potential, both individually and, most importantly, as a team.

“Beyond that, I look forward to supporting the club’s longer-term goals on a consultancy basis.”

Solsjkaer left the Old Trafford club after the disastrous defeat at Vicarage Road their seventh loss in 13 games across all competitions which left them eighth in the Premier League standings.

Rangnick has coached a number of clubs in Germany, enjoying great success. He achieved back-to-back promotions with Hoffenheim in 2006-07 and 2007-08 to get them into the German top flight for the first time.

He led Schalke to the German Cup in 2011, before helping establish RB Leipzig as a leading Bundesliga side during two spells as coach.

Rangnick enjoyed most success in his role as director of football at Leipzig, a position he fulfilled from 2012 to 2019. The club rose from the regional German fourth tier to competing in the Champions League during his reign.

“Ralf is one of the most respected coaches and innovators in European football,” United football director John Murtough said.

“He was our number one candidate for interim manager, reflecting the invaluable leadership and technical skills he will bring from almost four decades of experience in management and coaching.

“Everyone at the club is looking forward to working with him during the season ahead, and then for a further two years in his advisory role.”

First-team coach Michael Carrick has been in charge for the previous two games that has seen United win at Villarreal in the Champions League and then draw with Premier League leaders Chelsea on Sunday, when Cristiano Ronaldo was dropped from the starting XI. Carrick will remain in charge of the first team until Rangnick's work visa is finalised.

United, who are eighth with 18 points from 13 games, host Arsenal in the league on Thursday when Rangnick could be in charge for the first time, if his work permit issues are sorted out quickly.

Solskjaer, who scoring the winning goal for United in the 1999 Champions League final to complete a historic treble, was in charge for nearly three years.

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 1: player ratings

CHELSEA RATINGS: Edouard Mendy – 6, Another game with very little to do for Chelsea’s goalkeeper but was always up to the job when needed, including stopping Sancho running free on goal. Unable to intimidate the young player in a one-on-one after a horrible error by Jorginho and couldn’t stop Sancho poking the ball past him. AFP

Trevoh Chalobah – 7, Very quiet display in the back three but largely solid. Also did a great job at pressuring an unsteady United defence and force an error for Ziyech and James to take advantage of. AP Photo

Thiago Silva – 7, Another defender with very little to do in the first half but did produce a great tackle on Bruno Fernandes. Cleared a ball into the box just after United’s opener. Caught for the penalty, which saw Chelsea back on level terms. Read a Fernandes attack well but was hit hard. AP Photo

Antonio Rudiger – 7, Unlucky to see his long-range curling effort heading for the top corner hit the crossbar at the half-hour mark, De Gea looked to have managed to get enough on it to force it onto the bar. Should have scored the winner for the Blues after meeting Pulisic’s cross but his volley flew into the stands. AFP

Reece James – 7, Swung some great balls into the box throughout the game and unfortunate not to connect with a blue shirt. Could have easily seen his freekick on half-time trouble De Gea but the veteran goalkeeper was able to get a hand on it. Continues to be the Premier League’s in form right-back and always a threat. Booked. Getty Images

Ruben Loftus-Cheek – 6, Made his third start of the season with N’Golo Konte sidelined but it was a fairly quiet first half and he looked like a rusty starter. Was in a great position to shoot but dithered for too long and United were able to get back in time. PA

Jorginho – 6, Kept everything ticking along in the first half and in-charge. The Italian was the deepest player in a set-piece, which saw him fail to control a long ball clearance by United which Sancho pounced on at the half-way line to run free and score the opener. Made no mistake sending De Gea the wrong way from the spot. AP Photo

Marcos Alonso – 6, Benched for the past six games, the Spaniard made his return to the starting line-up following a devastating injury to Ben Chilwell. Looked rusty after some time on the bench and couldn’t quite piece things together the way he’d hoped. Getty Images

Hakim Ziyech – 7, Forced De Gea into an early save on the turn. Curled his effort in the 18th minute over the bar. Didn’t look affected by United’s goal and produced a lovely ball for Loftus-Cheek to run onto but overall, too often dispossessed. AP Photo

Callum Hudson-Odoi – 7, Ran free on goal to open Manchester United’s defence up in the first four minutes but shot wide from a tight angle. Lively influence as ever in the first half. Unable to trouble De Gea with a weak bouncing effort in the 36th minute. Insane tracking back by the winger on several occasions as United grew into the game. Getty Images

Timo Werner – 6, Played for the first time since October against Juventus and chosen to start as a named striker after Havertz and Pulisic struggled to fill the void. Needed to get himself more into the game with the wingbacks and wide men enjoying much of the first half. Had a great opportunity to score the equaliser by skewed his half-volley wide. AFP

SUB: Mason Mount (for Hudson-Odoi 78’) – 6, Another cameo from the bench for Mount following his tooth surgery. AFP

SUB: Christian Pulisic (for Alonso 78’) – 7, Will likely to be glad to be playing back on the wing after a spell as striker against Juventus and supplied a lovely cross into the box for Rudiger to overhit in the dying seconds. AFP

SUB: Romelu Lukaku (for Werner 82’) – 6, First piece of action for the Belgian striker since October to play against his former side. Getty Images

MANCHESTER UNITED RATINGS: David de Gea 7 - Early save from Ziyech after two minutes and a minute later from Hudson-Odoi. Rudgier rattled his bar after 30 mins. Confident behind a deep, defensive, United. Went the wrong way on the penalty. AP Photo

Aaron Wan-Bissaka 5 - Nervy start as Chelsea attacked him but gave as good as he got against Alonso. Gave away a penalty after 67 minutes after fouling Thiago Silva. He looked like he hadn’t seen the Brazilian. In poor form. PA

Victor Lindelof 7 - Another who didn’t convince as Chelsea dominated at the start and Hudson-Odoi got a chance on goal, but otherwise comfortable and even impressive against the league leaders. United’s defence has been poor lately. Not against Chelsea. PA

Eric Bailly 7 - Excellent at Chelsea in a 2020 win. Did little wrong today against the European champions and comfortable despite Chelsea’s dominance. Booked for time wasting after 95 minutes, an odd decision. PA

Alex Telles 6 - Rare league start for the Brazilian and he was steady. A defender who had to defend: Chelsea had 24 shots to United’s three. Did little wrong against the skilful Loftus-Cheek, then Mount and Pulisic. PA

Nemanja Matic 7 - Assured against his former club. Soaked the pressure up in a defensive United formation with the rarely chosen midfield three working hard to break up Chelsea’s midfield. AFP

Scott McTominay 8 - Booked for doing nothing at the end of the first half, which infuriated the United bench. Organised. Won the ball back. Protected his defence. Floored by a shot after 88 minutes. AP Photo

Fred 8 - United’s best player with McTominay. A rarity for a United player in that he found himself in the Chelsea box - after 43 minutes and appealed for a foul, but he was going down before any contact. Broke up Chelsea attacks, intercepted, tackled and passed forward. Tried to chip Mendy three minutes from time. Should’ve done better. AFP

Jadon Sancho 6 - Quiet in the first half but had a chance to put United ahead as he raced onto a clearance – and he took it. Two goals in two games now for United after none before this week. Good for his confidence that he’s finding his feet. Getty Images

Bruno Fernandes 6 - Floored after an early header. Did little in the first half, then cleared the ball from the edge of his own area to set up Sancho’s opener. Booked for a challenge on Jorginho. Tries the riskiest passes. Few of them came off. AP Photo

Marcus Rashford 7 - Hard for him in the first half when United played so deep that their players would have been in the Thames if they’d gone any deeper. Booked after 48 minutes. But much livelier in the second half. Getty Images

SUB: Cristiano Ronaldo 6 - Very rarely a sub, but he was dropped and came on for Sancho after 63 minutes. Did little. Booked after 91 minutes. And then didn’t get his man Pulisic who crossed for Rudiger to miss a chance in time added on. AP Photo

SUB: Jesse Lingard 7 - On for Rashford after 76. Plenty of running. AFP

SUB: Donny van de Beek NA - On for Fernandes after 88. AFP

Under his leadership United finished in the Premier League top four in back-to-back seasons for the first time since Alex Ferguson retired as manager in 2013 but they failed to win their first silverware since 2017.

United can boast abundant riches in attack, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Edinson Cavani, Marcus Rashford, Sancho, Marcus Greenwood and Anthony Martial all vying for starting spots. But their leaky defence has already conceded 22 goals in 13 games, more than four times Chelsea's total of five.

Rangnick has built an impressive coaching reputation during his time in Germany, with both Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp and his Chelsea counterpart Thomas Tuchel speaking highly about their compatriot.

Klopp described his arrival in England as bad news for the rest of the Premier League. “United will be organised on the pitch, we should realise that, and that’s obviously not good news for other teams,” Klopp said.

“But all coaches in the world need time to train with our teams and Ralf will pretty quickly realise he has no time to train as they play all the time, so that makes it a bit tricky for him. Apart from that, a really good man and an outstanding coach.”

Tuchel praised Rangnick’s influence on German football. “For sure he is an elite manager,” Tuchel said. “He was one of the very first to implement a back four in Germany and introduce the style of not man-marking and still being aggressive, and was one of the pioneers to introduce a 4-4-2 and high pressing.

“Still he is one of the leaders of this development in German football so tactically for sure he is an elite coach.”