Ralf Rangnick vowed to get into the “hearts, brains and blood” of Manchester United's players after recruiting a sports psychologist to his staff.
Rangnick is famed for his meticulous approach and is bringing in German psychologist Sascha Lense, with whom he worked at RB Leipzig, to train the brains of United's players.
“The players have to buy in,” said interim United boss Rangnick.
“I can tell them whatever I want, but I need to convince them. I need to get into their heart, into their brains, into their blood.
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“So we've decided to bring in a sports psychologist in Sascha Lense. I worked with him for three years at Leipzig.
“One year we won promotion from the second division to first with myself and the following two years with Ralph Hasenhuttl as head coach and Thomas Tuchel as his assistant.
“He'll be introduced to the team as soon as he's got his visa and work permit. I very much hope we'll have him on board either tomorrow or, at the latest, Thursday.
“In Germany, most clubs have employed sports psychologists. For me, it's absolutely logical.
“If you have special coaches for goalkeeping, physical education, even for strikers, fitness, whatever, you should also have an expert for the brain.
“It’s not so much putting them on the red sofa and holding hands for the players, because most of them won’t do that anyway.
“For me, it's about helping the players see that the brain should assist the body, not work against it.
“Whenever we speak about football, we know the major part is up here [the brain].
“Sascha is hands on, he's not working too much on the theory. Having worked together at Leipzig, I know we'll benefit a lot.”
Rangnick, whose United side host Young Boys in the Champions League, has also appointed ex-New York Red Bulls coach Chris Armas to his coaching staff.
“Hopefully he'll join us in the next two days,” said Rangnick.
