Man Utd stars fed up and have disparaging ‘nickname’ for Ralf Rangnick’s trusty assistant | Football | Sport

Manchester United‘s players are growing increasingly disillusioned with Ralf Rangnick and the 63-year-old’s assistant coach, Chris Armas, according to reports. United have endured a torrid campaign to date and currently occupy sixth place in the Premier League table, just one point adrift of West Ham in fourth.

They have consistently struggled to dominate matches this season and have already fallen to a number of disparaging defeats over the course of the campaign.

United crashed out of the FA Cup at the hands of Middlesbrough earlier this month before failing to claim all three points against Burnley on Tuesday evening.

The Red Devils were also comfortably beaten by Liverpool and Manchester City during the first half of the campaign, with Rangnick having been unable to improve the club’s fortunes in the wake of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s departure as of yet.

There have been plenty of suggestions that United’s players are not on the same page as the German coach, who took charge of the club on an interim basis back in November.

A number of stars are believed to be unhappy with Rangnick’s tactical methods and his treatment of fringe players such as Jesse Lingard, who was denied a January move to Newcastle at the end of last month.

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It seems as though some players have also taken an issue with Armas, who was sacked by Toronto FC last year before joining United as an assistant coach in December.

The 49-year-old has led the vast majority of training sessions over the last few weeks and United’s players are of the opinion that his approach is too old-fashioned, according to ESPN.

The report also claims that Armas has jokingly been compared to fictional coach Ted Lasso, the hapless American tasked with managing AFC Richmond in the popular Apple comedy series.

Meanwhile, other players have complained about Rangnick’s insistence on leading 11 vs 11 sessions, insisting that shorter drills would be helping them to stay as sharp as possible between matches.

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It remains to be seen whether Rangnick and Armas will be prepared to change their approach to training over the coming weeks as they look to bring United back into the Premier League’s top four before the end of the season.

The pair have never worked together previously but Rangnick became aware of his assistant’s credentials during his time with the New York Red Bulls between 2015 and 2020.

The United boss recently claimed that Armas had made an immediate impact behind the scenes at Carrington after he was drafted in to replace Kieran McKenna, who left the club to begin his managerial career with Ipswich Town in December.

“We haven’t worked together before that, the same is true with Ewan Sharp,” Rangnick told reporters last month.

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“With Chris Armas, we knew each other from our mutual time with Red Bull when he was head coach and assistant coach with New York Red Bulls.

“He’s very helpful, not only very loyal but also very helpful and it’s very helpful he’s a native speaker, he knows how to communicate with players.

“He also has a high level of respect now from the players, they know that he’s a good guy and also a good expert in different areas. I’m very happy to have him on board.”

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