Manchester United: 3 things we learnt from Ralf Rangnick’s first game

1) Rangnick’s first game in charge saw Manchester United in a 4-2-2-2 setup – attack with fluidity

From Rangnick’s previous coaching jobs and line-ups, we know that the 4-2-2-2 is a shape he often resorts to, and in watching Manchester United’s attacking shape against Crystal Palace, it seems like he set up his United team in that shape.

A line of 4 ‘attackers’ was seen every time the fullbacks had the ball and when one of the two deep midfielders brought possession forward, one of the players from the attacking quartet, most often Bruno or Sancho but occasionally even Ronaldo, would drop deeper to offer a passing option and look to receive a pass, turn and create with the 3 attackers ahead of him.

Fluidity seems key in making this dynamic setup work. We constantly saw the 4 attackers move between and take up one another’s roles, including in who would drop deep to receive possession as well as in their movement.

Rashford, as was previously speculated, was the player trying to stretch the backline with runs in behind however we saw Ronaldo pulling high and wide right and Sancho high left occasionally to offer this out-ball option in different moves – the defense looked to pick out a runner with a long ball at least 4 times in the first half itself suggesting that this could be a commonly seen ploy from Rangnick to turn winning possession into an attacking opportunity within 8 seconds as we’ve famously heard him discuss before.

Bruno Fernandes is playing a role as one of the 4 ‘attackers’ in this system and even though he and Sancho are often deeper than Ronaldo and Rashford, they’re still operating fairly high up the pitch and occasionally making bursts beyond the two “strikers”.