Ralf Rangnick has praised the performances of Fred and Scott McTominay in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace though revealed there was one aspect of their display he did not like.
The midfielders gave solid, disciplined displays at Old Trafford with the Brazilian bagging the only goal of the match with a brilliant, right-footed finish that curled into the top corner.
Rangnick named an attack-minded front four, trusting Fred and McTominay to do a huge amount of defensive work, and was pleased with their work off the ball, though will be looking to eradicate some sloppy passes from their game.
Praising the duo at his post-match press conference, Rangnick said: ‘If you play the way that we played today, with regard to intensity, being on the front foot, playing very proactively, and having four offensive players ahead of Scotty and Fred – with Jadon, Bruno, Cristiano and Marcus – it’s highly important that you have players who are very disciplined, who are proactively aggressive against the ball.
‘And both Scotty and Fred are almost perfect defensively on that. They did one or two or three mistakes, especially in the first half there were two square passes – one from Scott, one from Fred.
‘I don’t like those kinds of balls in midfield in those positions. But overall, when the other team is in possession of the ball, both Fred and Scotty they are almost perfect for that kind of football.’
Rangnick chose to name the same starting lineup that beat Arsenal on Thursday, though tweaked the formation and was happy with the way they adapted.
‘For me it seemed logical to not change too many things or too many positions after the win against Arsenal. So in the end, after everybody was fully fit, nobody injured, fully recovered, I decided to play the same starting XI,’ he continued.
‘And for me the question is how do we get pressure on the ball, how do we get control? And then I decided to play in a 4-2-2-2 with two strikers, no Cristiano alone up front, go with Marcus, use his pace for vertical balls and at the same time with Jadon and with Bruno in the two 10 positions.
‘For the rest it was the same [as against Arsenal]. And we had enough space with Bruno and Jadon on those 10 positions for our full-backs to always play forward and ask for the ball on the wing, so they both played almost like wing-backs especially in the first half. Alex and Diogo both did extremely well offensively.
‘That was the reason I decided to play in a 4-2-2-2 and every player could play in their best possible position.
‘The most challenging, the most demanding, positions in that formation are the two 10s but I still think, especially when Palace were in possession of the ball, Jadon and Bruno did well even in those positions. For them it was a little bit new – not that new because it’s not that much of a difference if Jadon plays a little bit further outside or inside – but defensively they both did well.’
