Rangnick shows signs of shaping longer-term Manchester United future

Ralf Rangnick: should he stay in the Manchester United hot seat next season or should he go? This is the question the club will grapple with if the interim manager secures a top-four finish, claims (or just misses out on) FA Cup glory and shows well in the Champions League; basically, if he performs as an impressive mid-season Mr Fixit who deserves a chance to have a No 1’s contract drawn up.

The German is open to the full-time job, so might United’s incoming CEO, Richard Arnold, be minded to keep him by mid-May? After the best part of two months and nine matches a picture is forming of Rangnick and his managerial smarts. Wednesday, at Brentford, was particularly instructive because, with United 2-0 up, the 63-year-old made Cristiano Ronaldo his fall guy and a 3-1 victory was the reward. It took the team to 35 points and maintained their status as back-runners hoping to overtake on the curve in the chase for a Champions League berth.

So, rewind to the moment in west London when Rangnick assesses United’s 2-0 lead, Mason Greenwood’s strike having been initiated by Ronaldo’s clever chest-down pass, and decides the 36-year-old should be sacrificed for a back three to shut the shop in the way he failed to do at Aston Villa, when United slipped from 2-0 up to a careless 2-2 draw.

Ronaldo, as is his modus operandi, is not happy at being hooked on 71 minutes and, as a man on £490,000 a week who is a five-times Ballon d’Or winner with 801 career goals, demands a reason. “Why me?” he asks. Moments after Marcus Rashford – brought on for Greenwood (who does not demand an explanation) – scores the third, Rangnick, in the heat of battle when he should be focusing on the field, decides to explain. Later he tells the media what he told