Since taking interim charge of Manchester United, not much has bothered the man who has been obsessed with English football since 1979 when he turned out for non-League Southwick.
He was unnerved by the portrayal of a manager as a miracle worker.
The influence of Sir Alex Ferguson and his 26 years at Old Manchester is what makes the seduction to believe in a messianic figure most pronounced.
Since his retirement, United has been shaped by the past as they were built into intelligent modern bastions.
Despite the importance of the people and the practices behind the scenes, there is still a tendency to credit both tacticians for the success of their teams.
If United want to eventually compete with City and Liverpool, they need to change a lot more than just the manager.
He told Sky Sports News that in Germany there is a head coach and then there is usually a minimum of two skilled people continuously in the club.
They bring in the best possible head coach for the team. Only a few clubs have the job of a sporting director or director of football.
The Sky Sports main event and the premier league will be broadcasted on Tuesday.
For a big club like Manchester United, you can't put all those jobs and tasks on the shoulders of one person. I am not sure if this can be dealt with by one person.
I think this is an issue for our club, where they have to pay attention to, because they have smart people who take care of recruitment, scouting, the medical department.
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When he speaks about sustainable structures, he deserves an audience. Hoffenheim were transformed from a third division club with no medical, scouting or operations arms to technological pioneers by his design.
The recruitment and academy models used at Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig have become a template for other clubs, with their market gems moving on to bigger clubs for hefty profits.
He makes a club whole by putting the puzzle together. It is sustainable with style and is really football smart.
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It is no wonder that the appointment of Rangnick by United on an interim basis followed by a two-year consultant role was well received.
The 63-year-old was tasked with focusing on training and games to save the season.
He has still given guidance on what should change, but it's not clear if United will apply it.
After the first couple of weeks, I told the board members what I had experienced and what I thought were the important things.
Right now my focus is on the remaining six games that we have to play, and hopefully we can play as well as we can. The rest has to wait until the end of the season.
While drafting a rebuild, United are trying to finish in the top four. Despite a gross transfer spend of over a billion dollars in the last decade, the squad is unbalanced and needs surgery.
There is no identity or surety. We looked at the immediate issues facing United and the ones that need to be fixed in the summer.
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Is it more challenging than you anticipated?
I think we had a good start, winning the first two games without giving up a goal. The first goal was to reduce the number of goals conceded. The amount of goals conceded was reduced. The problem was to be playing on a high level consistently, but we didn't manage to do that. We have had too many games when we were one or two up and only got a point. We dropped eight points in games where we were ahead and didn't win the game. We had some injury problems and things that could not have been foreseen, like with Mason. He was one of the most promising players at the time. We are still in the race for number four, but we could have had more points.
You talked about being ahead in games, but not having the stability to see it out. Is it psychological? What would you do with that?
It has to do with confidence. It has to do with finding the best balance. There are a lot of offensive players who should play. We did not have the same number of defensive players. The McTominay's are missing. We don't have many other defensive midfielders and that has been a problem in the past, and that's why we didn't see those games out after being one or two up.
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Is offensive protection one of the core struggles at the moment?
It is a problem to score enough goals. We scored three against Norwich and three against Spurs, but we also conceded two. If you are 2-0 up in your own house against the Canaries after 30 minutes, you shouldn't have any problems, you shouldn't make that game as difficult as it was at the end. We would have been fourth already, so we are still struggling.
How do you change that? A lot of the players that are missing are defensive players. How do you address the psychological problems when you talk about balance?
Being successful is the only thing to do. It was important to win that game against Norwich. We have to try and win as many games as we can, and hopefully we can do that at Liverpool.
You have talked a lot about the lack of physical strength in United. One of the most aggressive teams in the world is there. How will you find their strength against them? Is it something that can be conditioned on the training pitches?
It is clear why they are playing as aggressive as they do - it has been since the arrival of Jurgen. I think there are at least four or five players still in the squad that he inherited six years ago. How do we want to play is one of the questions the others have been asked. They need to be willing to run and sprint a lot. They have to be strong. They need to be technical. They need to be clinical. The profile for each position has been clear. This has not been the case with every change of manager at Manchester United. It was not under that pre-condition of how we want to play that new players came in, but it is something that needs to be changed in the future. We have to get the best out of the players we have available. It will be difficult for us. We know that we need to raise our level to the highest possible level. Our ambition is to win that game, and this is how we are going into it.
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It doesn't help that recruitment has not been good. Is it possible to improve solution conditioning, aggression on and off the ball, rapid transitions and such on the training pitches?
To a certain extent. It is important that you have players who are naturally born aggressive and this is something that is difficult to change. This is something for the future. Right now it is about getting the best out of the players and pulling together a formation and shape on the pitch where we can be successful.
The staff and squad have been affected by the noise of the new manager.
The players have to give their best no matter who the next manager is, and if he is announced in a couple of weeks, I don't think that will affect the current. To find the best possible players, you need to know who the new manager is and how he wants to play. I have already named those players to the board that are independent from formation, style of football, and a new manager, that could be of interest to a club like United. It is not enough to bring in three or four new players because the team needs to be rebuilt. With the contracts running out, it will be more, bearing in mind how many players will no longer be here.
With that squad rebuild, you have said before that United needs to invest in an elite forward, but requires a lot of surgery as well?
We need to make sure that we improve the squad in all areas, apart from goalkeeping. It is about the profile to bring in players who help the team get better. What kind of players do we need to play whichever kind of football we want to play?
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You mentioned the goalkeepers. Is the build-up from the back suffered because David de Gea doesn't really progress?
This has not been an issue this season, but it is something that needs to be considered when you know your manager. David has been outstanding since I arrived. We can only speak about this when we know who the new manager is and how he wants to play.
One point on building a squad for the new manager is if you don't want to plan for the next five, eight, 10 years in terms of the direction the club should go in and what the identity should be, and then recruit managers based on that? The man in charge of the recruitment of players?
That is it. We did that in Hoffenheim and in Salzburg. This is the exception to the rule. It is possible that you have people who can tell the club and the supporters what they want to do. What kind of players do we need in order to play like that? I don't know if this can or will happen in the future, as this role has so far not a big tradition in this country.
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You are familiar with the style of play of many of the players that you scouted at previous jobs. We haven't really seen the best of Naby Keita for a variety of reasons, but he came with such a big billing, and yet we haven't really seen the best of him. I don't know if you've watched him recently, but it seems like he's finally consistently being that aggressive player that everyone knew.
I have known him from the very first day when we signed him from a third division team in France for Salzburg. After two years, he had a big offer from Paris Saint-Germain, but we convinced him to stay within our family. He had an amazing two years there. He is the kind of player who needs the attention of the manager, but everything has to be in the best possible way. It was hard for him to get used to the new style of football. He has been close to his very best this season. He can still be an amazing player, as he is getting more game time, playing more frequently, and still being an amazing player. He is one of the best we have ever had.
In terms of your own squad, it is challenging enough to represent Manchester United with the pressures and expectations, but is there an element of players also being so clouded by all the noise around the club?
This has not happened in the past. It was the first time Paul Pogba was on the field. I don't think it makes sense to have a go at one individual player because it is a collective responsibility. I don't think this will affect our performance and I'm pretty sure that our supporters will support us in the remaining five games because they know us well.
Sky Sports will show the match between Man Utd andLiverpool from 7pm to 8pm on Tuesday.
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