Winners and losers of Rangnick’s Man Utd debut

FT Desk

• Updated: 5 Dec 2021 11:05 CST
• 4 min read

Ralf Rangnick began his Man Utd reign in perfect fashion as his team beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Fred scored the only goal of the game on 77 minutes in a game in which Man Utd controlled proceedings from start to finish.

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So who were the main winners and losers from Rangnick’s first match in charge?

WINNERS

Fred

Naturally, the biggest winner of the afternoon was the match-winner.

Fred has been a much-maligned figure at Old Trafford ever since his £47 million move from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2018.

But he produced a man-of-the-match performance at Old Trafford, winning seven tackles and showing that he could play an important role in Rangnick’s aggressive pressing system.

Cristiano Ronaldo

There were fears ahead of this game that Cristiano Ronaldo would not be part of Rangnick’s Man Utd plans going forward.

The main reason for this was because Rangnick is considered the godfather of modern football pressing and Ronaldo – understandably at the age of 36 - is one of the worst pressers in the Premier League.

However, Ronaldo started and Rangnick’s tactics of playing with a high line, dominating possession and whipping in plenty of crosses actually played to Ronaldo’s strengths.

Much more so than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s counter-attacking which required Ronaldo to cover large spaces he is no longer capable or willing to do.

Ronaldo also had five shots. There will be far toughest tests to come but this was a decent start for Cristiano.

Harry Maguire

Like Ronaldo, there were tactical fears over Harry Maguire going into this game.

Maguire is someone who has generally looked more comfortable in his career playing in a deep line due to his lack of pace. How would he cope in a high line near the centre of the pitch?

Against Palace, he did just fine. He was combative and cut out the mistakes that have characterised his season so far. Palace barely created a chance but, once again, toughest tests await.

LOSERS

Aaron Wan-Bissaka

Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s continued selection under Solskjaer caused constant bemusement among fans and critics as it has been clear for some time that this is a player who technically and offensively is not good enough for Man Utd.

Diogo Dalot may prove to not be of the very high level required, either, but Rangnick has immediately shown that he prefers the Portuguese’s attributes.

Dalot’s ability and enterprise in the final third is superior and the Portuguese played his part in Fred’s winner. Wan-Bissaka, who sat on the bench the whole game, will be concerned whether he will work his way back into the starting XI.

Luke Shaw

It was a good day for Man Utd’s starting full-backs as Alex Telles was arguably the best player on the pitch until Fred grabbed the winner.

The Brazilian was up and down the pitch and impressed going both ways. He had two shots – hitting the woodwork – and also made seven tackles.

Furthermore, it has been well-documented through some past quotes from Rangnick that the German coach does not rate Shaw.

Is the writing already on the wall for the injured Englishman, who has had a poor season in 2021-22.