Manchester United achieved first victory with Ralf Rangnick at the bench against Crystal Palace with 1-0. This was first clean sheet for the Red Devils at Old Trafford in 15 games, the last one been 2-0 win over Granada in Europa League in April.
Ralf talked before the match that controlling the game and reducing the conceded goals per game will be the main focus of his work and today he made the first steps to achieving that. United dominated in possession, controlled the pace and was stable in defense.
Diogo Dalot was preferred to start at the right side instead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, reason been his better attacking ability. Fred and McTominay were at the hearth of the midfield behind Bruno, Sancho and Rashford. At the top of the attack was Ronaldo, who often changed places with Rashford to keep Palace defense on their toes.
United started with expected high line and pressure in the Palace half. Surprisingly first chance presented itself to the Viera’s team. Benteke found a gap in the defense, but his shot was weak and De Gea caught it easily. In the 12th minute Ronaldo shot went over the bar after a free kick.
Everything interesting in the first 25 minutes was connected to Ronaldo, who had 6 goal attempts from 9 overall United created. After that the game calmed and until the last minute nothing of note happened. In the added time Dalot had a good opportunity to score, but his shot went inches over the bar.
United again started the second half very aggressive, but again the first chance was for Palace. After a good run from the wing the ball went to Cheikhou Kouyate , but his header went wide.
Mason Greenwood came on instead of Sancho in the 62th minute. Five minutes later Alex Telles hit the crossbar after direct free kick. Rangnick and his team was starting to get nervous when the long waited goal finally came. Fred sent a long shot towards Palace’s goal after pass from Greenwood for 1-0.
Nothing interesting happened in the remaining time, Palace couldn’t create any chance in front of De Gea and United got its second win in a row in the Premier League and first under Rangnick claiming to the sixth place above Arsenal, who is playing on Monday.
