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Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick was surprised with what he had witnessed in his new team.
Ralf Rangnick was able to pull off quite an impressive debut at Old Trafford as his Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 1-0 on Saturday.
Due to the sudden firing of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Rangnick didn’t have the luxury of having ample time to get to know his players well and moreso, to train them. Nevertheless, he was still delighted with the team’s performance.
“I must admit I was surprised,” Rangnick said via 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. I didn’t expect them to play at that level after such a short time.”
The 63-year-old also pointed out that in the first “45 minutes” of the game, Manchester United was already able to “explain” how the group wants to play on the pitch.
The win over Crystal Palace saw the Red Devils claiming their first English Premier League clean sheet at Old Trafford since March, and their first back-to-back wins for the first time since September.
Manchester United will be hoping to continue where it left off when the club faces Young Boys on Wednesday for their UEFA Championship final group stage match.