Rangnick's respect for Potter's methods

The boss clearly respects the work Graham Potter is doing with the Seagulls and feels the south-coast club is a very different one to the side he used to watch in the early 1980s, while studying in the area.

The impressive visitors will provide tough opposition but Ralf believes Fred's return from a COVID-19 absence is a real positive and he wants to see more moves like the one that led to our goal against Southampton at the weekend.

Here is what the boss had to say in full...

You went to university in Brighton and, although they were in the top flight back then, is it a very different club to the one you remember back then?
“Yes, for sure. I think back in 1980/81, the season before I came to Brighton, they had just won promotion to the First Division [they came up in 1979]. At the time, Alan Mullery was the manager and they played at the old Goldstone Ground in Hove. Yes, quite a few things have changed since then. They’re now an established team in the Premier League, playing in a new stadium with a new training ground and I think the manager is doing a great job. Yeah, they are probably one of the three best teams in the Premier League in possession of the ball. It’s not so easy to take the ball away from them, even for top teams like Liverpool. We were watching the game against Liverpool and against Manchester City and, even they were having a hard time getting possession of the ball when they were playing the ball through their lines. So we are fully aware it’s a tough game again tomorrow. We also know we can be successful if we stick to our game plan and play hopefully then for the entire game and control the game for 90-95 minutes. It’s difficult in the Premier League but at least [let's] do it for a longer period of time and then get the result that we desperately need tomorrow.”

You briefly mentioned Graham Potter there and he’s winning admirers, so have you been impressed by his development?
“Yes, we haven’t met in person as of yet. It’ll be the first time tomorrow but it’s obvious that the development has got to do with his work and that this club has developed under his tenure. I can only show respect to what has happened there.”

There are a lot of games coming up, so is squad rotation key? How will you manage the players’ workload in the coming games?
“Yes, it’s possible that we need to rotate, maybe even for tomorrow’s game. In some positions, we could do with some fresh legs, some fresh energy. We have the next game coming up at Leeds, another intense away game, and then in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid and then Watford. We have quite a few games coming up, every three or four days, and that’s why it’s good for me as manager that I have enough players, two players for each position, in order to give some players a rest and others a chance to perform.”

In terms of team news, were there any knocks against Southampton or is anyone returning who might be available?
“Yeah, as I’ve said, Nema [Nemanja Matic] will still be out and, unfortunately, the same is true of Edinson [Cavani]. Those two are still missing. Fred will be back in the squad, which is good for us. We need his energy and also his physicality in midfield. Alex Telles is obviously back again – this is the situation right now.”

We have three games upcoming against very different coaches in Potter, Bielsa and Simeone – is it a good challenge personally to pit your wits against them?
“It’s what you’re doing all the time since I arrived in the job, as with any manager, no matter which league. You prepare the team for the next possible game to be prepared and aware of what kind of football they play and then just make it happen with our style of football. How can we break them down and take the ball away from them? How do we make sure they don’t play through our lines so easily? This is our job, all the time.”

Did you appreciate the way we created the goal on Saturday and is that the sort of unselfish work you want to see more often?
“Yeah, I’m in no doubt about our team being unselfish and giving the ball or passing the ball to the best possible team-mate. The goal we scored was exactly what we intended to do. A great ball from Bruno to start with, with a deep run by Marcus, and he played the ball to Jadon at the very right moment. You could see Jadon sprinting all the time and waiting for the ball to come. Yes, and we had a few other chances in that first half, we just have to put these games away earlier. That was an issue in the last couple of games [and] was also true against Southampton, as we could have been two or three up at half-time. The next step, as I’ve said, is to be smart enough to be compact, to stay compact, even if it’s not possible to press a ball high up, to stay compact, to stay in position and in shape to make it difficult for the other team to score.”

Raphael Varane is impressing and improving all the time, even though he’s an elite-level defender. Is he a good role model around the place?
“Yes, definitely. I spoke to him this morning [Monday] about how he feels and if he is willing and able to play again. He said ‘yes’, he feels good and I think the most important step for him was to stay in good health. And also, for him, to move to the Premier League was a big difference from the Spanish First Division to the English Premier League. It’s a different type of football, more physical, with more speed and more physicality. It’s good to have him in good shape. We need to make sure he doesn’t get injured again. Yes, it’s good to have him in our squad now.”

United v Brighton kicks off at 20:15 GMT.