Premier League: Ronaldo Saves Manchester United Again

Ronaldo won and converted the second-half penalty kick that gave Rangnick a second successive league victory since he replaced the sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

They found it difficult to impose themselves for long periods and it took several fine saves from David de Gea who continued his tremendous form to keep them on level terms before Ronaldo’s 13th goal in all competitions since rejoining the club from Juventus in August.

Up against the bottom of the table team Norwich, United put on a mediocre display. However, the team recorded successive clean sheets a stark contrast to the woeful defending seen towards the end of Solskjaer’s reign. It was the same starting- 11

as the team that beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in Rangnick’s first match last weekend. The German wants to introduce a high-tempo pressing style to United but United lacked intensity in the press as Norwich were able to beat their press with ease.

Norwich had problems of their own as they were without several players after boss Dean Smith hinted at COVID concerns in the squad on Friday, but they still matched United stride for stride.

In the post-match Press Conference, the German said “It was a very intense game, very physical, We need to be able to compete on that kind of level.

 There’s still room for improvement in this area. The second half was, a little bit better but at the end we were lucky to have a clean sheet. 

It’s another clean sheet but still a lot of work to do. It’s also a question of body language and physicality and this was one of the major issues that we could have done better.”

United now sits in fifth place in the Premier League, level on points with fourth-placed West Ham who still have a match in hand.