Ralf Rangnick picked up his first win after replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as Manchester United manager, yesterday against Crystal Palace, and the German has now heaped praise on Cristiano Ronaldo for his performance.
Recently there were rumours suggesting that Ronaldo would struggle under the 63-year-old German manager and the Portuguese international would have to tweak his style of play.
Rangnick prefers a high pressing style of football and he demands a high defensive work rate from its players. Ronaldo produced a quality display against Crystal Palace and Rangnick has revealed that he was very happy with the exceptional pressing on display.
The German also highlighted Cristiano Ronaldo’s work off the ball and appreciated the hard work from the Portuguese international.
He said to the Athletic: “We wanted to play with two strikers, especially in the central position. By the way, Cristiano Ronaldo’s work off the ball, chapeau.
“I am very happy with the way the team performed, especially the first half-hour, with the pressing, it was exceptional. The only thing missing was the 1-0 or 2-0.”
The German also lavished praise on his players because of the way they performed against Crystal Palace.
Manchester United played on Thursday and had very little time to recover for their game against the Eagles.
Apparently, they had just one training session because of the poor weather conditions. But the players managed to step up and deliver a professional performance and it left Rangnick surprised to see them play at such a high level after such a short time.
“I must admit I was surprised,” Rangnick said to Manchester Evening News. “I was a bit surprised, because not only did we play Thursday, a late kick-off, we had two days less to recover compared to Crystal Palace.
“And we had not even a full training session yesterday because it was 45 minutes, it was pouring. It was not just Manchester weather, it was disgusting, it was heavy, raining, 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, which manner we want to play and the rest was video footage, a lot of personal conversations with players, individual, 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.”
Meanwhile, the German has admitted that the Manchester United job is a massive challenge for him but he is in the right place at the right time.
Rangnick claims that the Red Devils have made a mediocre start to the Premier League season and getting the campaign back on track will be a massive challenge, especially with so little preparation time.
Rangnick said to the Athletic: “Managing Manchester United, even in an interim capacity, is a massive challenge but, to me, this feels like I am in the right place at the right time.
“Right now, I am here because development is what needs to happen again. Nobody at the club is happy to be where we are in the Premier League table.
“It has been an average season so far, there is no avoiding that, but the club has players who are much better than the position we currently occupy and it is my job to improve those players and that position.
“It is a challenge, especially with so little preparation time, but it is a challenge that I am relishing.”
