Ralf Rangnick praised Cristiano Ronaldo for answering the critics of his defensive work during Manchester United’s win over Crystal Palace.
Some had doubted the 36-year-old’s ability to adhere to his new manager’s trademark style of pressing high up the pitch, however Rangnick was more than impressed with Ronaldo’s work rate.
“I am very happy with the way the team performed, especially the first half hour, with the pressing, it was exceptional,” said the interim boss post-game. “The only thing missing was the 1-0 or 2-0.
“The way we defended, we had control of the whole game, the clean sheet was the most important part.
“These are the things we must improve. We need to keep clean sheets. With just the one training session, I was really impressed. We did much better than expected.
“We wanted to play with two strikers, especially in the central position. By the way, Cristiano Ronaldo's work off the ball, chapeau.”
Fred’s late goal secured a 1-0 win for United and Rangnick was content with his team’s performance, particularly in defence.
“I am more than happy with the clean sheet,” he added. “Beautiful goal with this weak right foot from Fred and, as I said, for me, it was about gaining control and we had control most of the time of the game.
“Maybe the last three or four minutes, of course, they took all the risk they could, we had to defend a few corner kicks and free-kicks but we did that in a very brave way.”
