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Norwich City vs Manchester United: Match Report

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Ralf Rangnick is still unbeaten after leading Manchester United to a 1-0 win over Norwich City at the Carrow road yesterday.

Norwich started the game well, intercepting United’s poor passes to stifle any forward movement in the first five minutes. Despite the Canaries having the stronger start to the game, United left-back Alex Telles had the finest chance when his free-kick bounced off the wall and onto the crossbar.

After Ronaldo’s challenge on Hanley left him holding his shoulder, and an already injured Norwich was forced to make a change early on.

Despite the fact that Ronaldo was booed by the home crowd for injuring their captain, he didn’t let it bother him because he had a fantastic chance just after the half-hour mark. He moved around the defenders in the penalty area calmly and collectedly, forcing Tim Krul to be alert at all times.

On the stroke of halftime, it was Maguire who had a chance. A sluggish header appeared to be dropping below the bar, but Krul raced back and tipped it over. At the break, the scoreline was goalless. United struggled to hold possession in the first half.

In the second period, it was much of the same, with Pukki getting the opening chance of the half with a rocket of a shot. David de Gea came to the rescue by pushing it over the bar with his fingertips.

Rashford was struggling to hold possession of the ball and lacked confidence when taking shots, but he did have a chance on the hour mark that brushed the outside of the post. Many expected Mason Greenwood to start after his amazing goal midweek, but he was brought on in the 67th minute to try to influence the game.

Victor Lindelof was soon encouraged to leave the field after he was knocked down by no contact. United continued to play with ten men because no one had warmed up. The Norwich defenders were caught off guard by a ball into the box, and Aarons grabbed hold of Ronaldo, dragging him down in the penalty area — United was awarded a penalty kick.

It was taken by the Portuguese, who fired it past Krul. Norwich quickly replied, and it took a fantastic stop from David de Gea to prevent substitute Pierre Lees-Melou from equalizing. They just kept coming, and United was on the verge of collapsing.

Late in the game, Ronaldo had an opportunity to end the game. In a swift counter-attacking move, Rashford broke free and crossed it to Ronaldo on the six-yard line, but his shot was poor, and the ball sailed over the bar.

Norwich came knocking again, and Donny van de Beek gave away a free-kick near the penalty area. Kabak headed it goalwards, but De Gea made another outstanding stop to deny Norwich.

United put in a dreadful effort but still managed to eke out a win, although an undeserved one. It was De Gea’s 200th career clean sheet, and he put up a strong showing.

Here are the three things we observed from the match:

Red Devils being less aggressive: 

United was not ambitious enough from the outset and sat too deep.

The Reds failed to push as a unit, allowing an average Norwich City side to match them in every aspect, but the lads showed enough heart to get over the line due to a second-half penalty.

It didn’t help that our passing was as sloppy as our performance in the final third, but it appeared to be more of a case of small problems as we won the game, kept a clean sheet, and extended our Premier League winning streak to three games.

Winning boosts self-confidence:

United is in desperate need of a winning streak. We’ve already won three games in a row in the Premier League, and we should make it four next week against Brentford.

As the team moves through a difficult and packed run of games in December, the team will need to have the momentum by their side and extract maximum points on the trot.

Ralf Rangnick has been able to instigate his ideologies into his players up to some extent and winning games will help them analyze their strong points.

The best goalkeeper on the planet:

Yes, we believe we can once again talk about David de Gea as the best goalkeeper in the world. This must be incredible for the fans who backed the Spaniard when others argued that Dean Henderson should be the first pick.

Today, again they had David de Gea to thank for his two excellent saves to deny Teemu Pukki and Ozan Kabak in a feisty Norwich performance.

De Gea has had a bittersweet season, having to pick the ball out of the back of his goal far more frequently than he would have liked, especially given his superb personal form throughout the campaign. However, two league clean sheets in a row is a significant step in the right direction.

He was named man of the match today after making three crucial saves to keep United in the game.

What’s next:

Manchester United now face Brentford on Wednesday at the Brentford Community Stadium. Another three points awaits.

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