Rangnick reflects on "Open Heart Surgery" Comments

Former interim Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has reiterated his belief that the club required "open-heart surgery" during his tenure.

Rangnick, who stepped in after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was dismissed, managed United for over five months.

Although it was initially expected that he would stay on in a different capacity after the 2021/22 season, this plan did not materialise. Instead, Rangnick departed shortly after Erik ten Hag was appointed as Manchester United’s new manager.

Before leaving the club, Rangnick made a notable statement when asked what Manchester United needed to do to become title challengers again:

“You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are. Now it’s about how do we solve them? “It’s not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things. In medicine, you would say that this is an operation of the open heart.”

In an interview with Dutch outlet AD Sportwereld in July, Erik ten Hag acknowledged Rangnick’s remarks, stating, “Rangnick was absolutely correct” in his evaluation of United's circumstances.

Rangnick, now the head coach of Austria’s national team, was questioned once more during the international break about the remarks he made just before leaving Manchester United.

Speaking to Norwegian TV Channel TV2 Rangnick said, “I probably made that statement when the season was almost over about two years ago. It is probably only two or three weeks since Erik ten Hag was asked the same thing.

“Then he said that I was right in my analysis. I don’t know how many players they have signed since, but it looks like I was right.”

So do you agree with Rangnick? Was he correct in what he said?