Man United came away with a 1:0 win against Crystal Palace, Fred scoring the lone goal, perfect all afternoon and encapsulated what United can be capable of under Ralf Rangnick.
Crystal Palace have become a thorn in United’s flesh in recent times, winning each of their last two games at Old Trafford and not losing any of the last three.
However, in spite of the narrow scoreline, United showed what Ralf Rangnick said in his Friday press conference, control.
A manager’s first game can be so good at revealing what his side could be capable of. Only three years ago, United defeated Cardiff City 5:1 in a chaotic game at Cardiff City Stadium. It never stopped being chaotic under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Sometimes his side looked exciting, matching some of the best sides in England in big games, and other times lost shamefully to Crystal Palace, Burnley and the likes (with all due respect to these teams).
Neutrals, without doubt, enjoyed games under Ole, even some United fans must have loved the thrills, edgy feeling until the final whistle, but that of course only when they got three points.
With Ralf Rangnick, despite his attacking philosophy, he has made it clear that he is more focused on helping this team gain control of matches, minimising the coincidence factor, and United never looked shaky in any moment of the game.
Fred got his tackles right, got his passes right and most importantly, got his shot right.
Diogo Dalot, usually poor under Ole, was solid. Maguire was barely exposed and looked like a good defender again. Bruno Fernandes was just Bruno. Greenwood came on for Sancho and provided the assist. Cristiano Ronaldo made mockery of those saying he couldn’t press.
It cannot be said that everything was perfect. There are still many things for Ralf Rangnick to work out over the coming weeks and months. There was the chance missed by Ayew at nil-nil which he would be fuming they got at all. Rashford could not stay onside to save his life which has to be worked on. The real pressing, of course, hasn’t begun and Ralf has promised to adapt to what the players can do as long as they believe he can show them a way to play.
The most important thing though was securing three points, dominating the game as much as possible, keeping a cleansheet at Old Trafford for the first time since God knows when and getting some players like Fred controlling a game from midfield.
It was a perfect performance in Rangnick’s first game going by what United fans have witnessed the past few months, but to the manager, you can be sure it was far from perfect.
It’s a performance United can build on and given the run of fixtures they have from now till march, Rangnick can get the players playing how he wants in that time.
Two wins from two games in December, three points off the Champions League places, the revolution Ralf-olution has well and truly began.
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