Ralf Rangnick reveals delight at 'better than expected' Man United display after his spell as interim boss began with a 1-0 win against Crystal Palace - with the German hailing his side's 'exceptional' first-half pressing
- Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 1-0 in Ralf Rangnick's first game as boss
- The German only officially took charge on Thursday due to work permit issues
- United have barely had any training time to implement Rangnick's style of play
- But he admitted he was impressed with their performance against the Eagles
Ralf Rangnick was surprised at how well Manchester United pressed Crystal Palace after winning his first game as interim boss, and singled out Cristiano Ronaldo for praise.
Rangnick only had one rain-interrupted training session at Carrington on Saturday to work on team tactics, and was delighted with the response as they beat Palace 1-0.
Questions have been asked of Ronaldo's willingness to play a pressing game but Rangnick paid tribute to the Portugal star.
![Ralf Rangnick praised Man United's 'better than expected' performance against Crystal Palace](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/05/19/51367491-10277451-image-a-3_1638732014292.jpg)
Ralf Rangnick praised Man United's 'better than expected' performance against Crystal Palace
![A stunning finish from midfielder Fred (pictured) gave the Red Devils three points on Sunday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/05/19/51365337-10277451-A_stunning_finish_from_midfielder_Fred_pictured_gave_the_Red_Dev-a-4_1638732014301.jpg)
A stunning finish from midfielder Fred (pictured) gave the Red Devils three points on Sunday
He said: 'I was positively surprised by the physical state and intensity. The first half-hour was amazing. I felt it was extremely high-tempo, high intensity, always on the front foot.
'The only thing missing was not scoring one, two or three goals. For me, it was clear you cannot play the whole game at this level of intensity but even after that we had control of the game.
'By the way, Cristiano Ronaldo's work off the ball. Chapeau! I must admit I was surprised because not only did we play Thursday, a late kick-off, we also had two days less to recover compared to Crystal Palace.
'We did not even have a full training session yesterday. It was 45 minutes because it was pouring. It was not just Manchester weather, it was disgusting. It was heavy rain and windy so it was almost impossible to train in a concentrated and focused manner.
'But they still did it in those 45 minutes on the pitch. We explained how we want to play and the rest was video footage, a lot of personal conversations with players, individually and in groups, explaining to them how we want to play. I didn't expect them to play at that level after such a short time.
'It was about gaining control and we had control most of the game.'
![The German also praised the off-the-ball work of 36-year-old forward Cristiano Ronaldo (left)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/05/19/51365333-10277451-The_German_also_praised_the_off_the_ball_work_of_36_year_old_for-a-6_1638732014418.jpg)
The German also praised the off-the-ball work of 36-year-old forward Cristiano Ronaldo (left)
![The Red Devils have now won three of their four games since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/12/05/19/51367483-10277451-The_Red_Devils_have_now_won_three_of_their_four_games_since_Ole_-a-5_1638732014356.jpg)
The Red Devils have now won three of their four games since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was sacked
Fred scored the decisive goal with a curling effort off his weaker right foot in the 77th minute. It was only the Brazilian's fourth goal in the Premier League since joining United three and a half years ago.
'It was a beautiful goal with his weak right foot,' added Rangnick. 'I had to ask my assistant coach if that was Fred's right foot. I thought he could only shoot with his left.'
Bruno Fernandes also paid tribute to his team-mate, saying: 'Fred has these moments — one shot per year! Everyone is happy for him because he's such a nice guy. He works a lot and people don't talk about him. Everyone knows the manager wants more pressing from us. The first 25 minutes was unbelievable, a great tempo.'
Palace boss Patrick Vieira was left to rue an awful miss by Jordan Ayew just moments before Fred scored as his side suffered a third straight defeat.
'In these games you have to score those. Against the big teams, you get punished,' said Vieira.
'He (Ayew) is a team player but the forwards are judged by their number of chances and those goals they score.'
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