1:0 victory on debut against Palace
After his successful debut as ManUnited coach, Ralf Rangnick (63) spoke about a surprising performance, room for improvement – and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It didn’t take a whole half for English journalists to get excited about Ralf Rangnick’s “new” ManUnited, which fielded the same eleven players against Palace on Sunday as Michael Carrick’s ManUnited did in the 3-2 win over Arsenal on Thursday. Coordinated pressing they had seen there, a plan and more work against the ball.
“Especially the first half hour” was later also found “extraordinary” by Rangnick. The interim coach praised an “extremely high intensity” and “an extremely high tempo”, but also saw United fall back into old patterns after around an hour, hardly creating any chances and relying more on the skills of individuals.
How Cristiano worked against the ball today… Chapeau!
“But,” Rangnick pointed out, “how the team defended together throughout the game… we were in control all the time. We always tried to play forward. That was always the case, except maybe in the last five minutes. At all other times we tried to keep them away from our goal.” He also included the offensive line with their pressing: “By the way, the way Cristiano worked against the ball today… Chapeau!”
That’s why the 63-year-old was “very happy” with the manner and also the result in the end, because Fred’s artistic shot with his weak right foot still ensured victory on Rangnick’s debut. “I thought he could only do it with his left,” laughed the coach.
Rangnick: “I want the players to believe in this kind of football “
For the first time since September, United have now won two games in a row and moved a step closer to Champions League fourth place. For Rangnick, “the clean sheet was the most important part. Those are the things we have to improve. After only one training session – and that wasn’t even a whole session – I was really impressed. It was better than I expected, to be honest.”
That’s the way to go now in the Champions League against Young Boys and in the league against promoted Norwich and Brentford. “It’s always easy to build on something when you’ve already celebrated success. I want the players to believe in this kind of football. We have to continue in this direction, stay without conceding a goal and still get better at creating chances.”
