Former Manchester United academy graduate Luke Chadwick expects Ralf Rangnick to change from his usual tactics for the upcoming clash with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

It is known that Rangnick likes to control games, with intensity and a high defensive line, but that will prove extremely difficult to pull off against the reigning Premier League champions.

Rangnick is highly regarded in the football world, like Pep Guardiola, but this is still a United team trying to find momentum under the new manager. We can see a change in style of play but there’s not enough consistency in terms of results.

Chadwick thinks Rangnick will be aware that Man Utd are unlikely to be able to get more of the ball than City, so might revert to a more counter-attacking style, utilising the pace of players like Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga.

This approach worked for previous manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, but it’s quite a departure from what we’ve seen from United under Rangnick.

“Man City are going to dominate possession, but United have got great weapons on the counter attack, with great pace and power in the wide areas,” Chadwick told Caught Offside.

“I think it’ll be the case of playing this game a bit like they have under Solskjaer in recent seasons, where they’ve had great success. Don’t get me wrong, it’s going to be an incredibly tough challenge, but we saw Spurs win there, and City had a difficult game at Everton even though they got the result.

“You never know in those derby games, you almost fancy City more at Old Trafford than at the Etihad, based on recent results. It’ll be tough for United but I don’t think you can count them out.

“Rangnick’s a hugely experienced manager, so I think he’ll understand that United are not going to go to City and dominate possession. He’ll surely set up in a similar way to Solskjaer and try to counter attack. I expect he’ll change from his normal style for this game.”

Chadwick added that there should still be a role for Cristiano Ronaldo in Rangnick’s team, even if some might question where the veteran goal-poacher would fit in with a counter-attacking game built around pacey forwards.

“I think Ronaldo will start the game,” Chadwick said. “He is having a bit of a tough time in front of goal at the moment, but again, it’s a big game and this is where he comes to the fore. I’d be surprised if Rangnick left him out of one of the biggest games of the season.

“There’s pace from Rashford, Elanga or Sancho out wide, but I expect Ronaldo will start in that number 9 position. He was frustrated at the weekend against Watford but if he keeps getting chances he’ll score goals.

“I think Elanga will start the game, he was one of United’s best players at the weekend. He’s really positive, always gives United options with his pace and he’s probably the most in-form wide-man they’ve got at the moment. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he started this big game.”

Even though the Red Devils aren’t enjoying the best run of results going into the Manchester Derby, Chadwick is optimistic about how the players seem to be improving under Rangnick.

“I thought United played really well in the first half against Watford, it was some of the best football I’ve seen at Old Trafford for some time,” the former United ace said.

“It was fluid, it was slick, Pogba was doing well coming in from the left, I thought there was some really good stuff. Still in the last 25 minutes you could sense a bit of edginess and the team sort of ran out of ideas.

“The manager’s philosophy does seem to be coming in a bit more, they’re playing higher up the pitch. And on another day this could easily have been 3-0 to United at half time and we’d be talking about it very differently. No disrespect to Watford, but if United want that top four spot then that’s definitely a game they need to be winning.”