It took a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty and multiple saves from David De Gea to secure a 1-0 win for United down against bottom of the league Norwich City and for the first time this season keep two clean sheets in a row in the league and win three games in a row.
Rangnick: “From the start we controlled the game but didn’t always have the best possible solutions. Defensively we did well, tactically in the first half we didn’t allow them to have too many shots or chances.”
Rangnick: “It was a very intense game, very physical. They played well, they [Norwich] didn’t play like a bottom team. We had some problems in the first 15 minutes.”
Manchester United Starting XI: David De Gea, Diogo Dalot, Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire, Alex Telles, Scott McTominay, Fred, Jadon Sancho, Bruno Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Marcus Rashford.
Norwich City Starting XI: Tim Krul, Max Aarons Grant Hanley, Ozan Kabak, Dimitrios Giannoulis, Lukas Rupp, Billy Gilmour, Kenny McLean, Josh Sargent, Teemu Pukki, Przemyslaw Placheta.
The whole game was very cagey with no team controlling the game at any point, but Norwich had the momentum early in the game, easily getting through United’s press but never able to get a shot away to punish United.
After 30 minutes United started to play better, keep the ball more in Norwich’s half, but lack of cohesiveness in the new formation and bad decision making in the final third really limited United’s chances on goal, but United came close with Telles’s deflected free kick hitting the bar.
The best chance of the first half fell to Ronaldo, Fred intercepted the ball, found McTominay and he played in Ronaldo, his first touch took him out wide, he sat down to defenders in the box and his left footed shot was saved well by Krul.
The second half saw more of the first half, United’s press not being effective with Norwich going long with the ball, and when out of possession setting up in a low block to nullify United space around the box.
Pukki forced a really good save from De Gea, he received the ball with his back to goal on the edge of the box, he turned and fired a shot with his left foot which was flying into the top corner, but De Gea reacted well to tip it over the bar.
United opened the scoring in the 75th minute through a Ronaldo penalty, McTominay crossed the ball in from the right hand side and Max Aarons put his arm around Ronaldo’s neck and pulled him back to give away the penalty, which Ronaldo subsequently smashed past Tim Krul.
After the goal, United sat back and tried to soak up pressure but if it wasn’t for De Gea, they could’ve lost points today.
Kabak thought he scored as he jumped over Maguire to head the ball which was heading into the bottom corner, but De Gea with a strong hand saved the shot and cleared the ball out of danger.
The best chance from open play in the game fell to Ronaldo right at the end, a quick counter attack found Rashford running down the left wing and beating players, he got to the by-line and crossed the ball in, it was just behind Ronaldo but he got connection but put the ball over the bar from five yards out.
David de Gea: “I was feeling very good, I was enjoying the game, I was focussed, I knew I had to make a couple of saves so I made them and helped the team win the game. Every save is important – especially when the team wins.”
Harry Maguire: “We’ve been very disappointed with our defensive record this year, we know we need to do better. David de Gea did great today.”
It was a very cagey match and a performance that would’ve annoyed Ralf Rangnick, the attack was quite dysfunctional both on and off the ball, allowing Norwich to easily play through them, but two clean sheets in his first two games will make Rangnick happy, especially with that being United’s main downfall this season.
