7 Man Utd stars singled out by Ralf Rangnick for performances in new system

Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick singled out no fewer than seven stars for their performances in his new system after The Red Devils beat Crystal Palace 1-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday.

United dominated the game but struggled to capitalise on their chances until defensive midfielder Fred popped up with the winner 12 minutes from time.

The Brazilian's strike on his weaker foot was his second league goal of the season, which left Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita with no chance.

The win moves United up to sixth in the Premier League, three adrift of the Champions League places, and 11 behind league leaders Manchester City.

Speaking after the game, Rangnick heaped praise on several of his players for their displays in the win over Vieira's side, with a special mention to none other than Cristiano Ronaldo.

"I am very happy with the way the team performed, especially the first half hour, with the pressing, it was exceptional," Rangnick said.

"The only thing missing was the 1-0 or 2-0. The way we defended, we had control of the whole game, the clean sheet was the most important part.

"These are the things we must improve. We need to keep clean sheets. With just the one training session, I was really impressed. We did much better than expected.

"We always tried to be on the front foot. We were never not apart from maybe the last five minutes. At all other times we were trying to keep them away from our goal.

"We wanted to play with two strikers, especially in the central position. By the way, Cristiano Ronaldo's work off the ball, chapeau."

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But Ronaldo was not the player who received praise from Rangnick, with the German boss also noting the performances of Jadon Sancho and Bruno Fernandes.

£73million signing Sancho hasn't had the easiest of starts in a United shirt, but the England midfielder showed glimpses of the performances fans witnessed in the Bundesliga.

"It was a little bit new but not that new, it doesn't make that much difference if Jadon plays a little further inside or outside but defensively they both did well," said Rangnick.

He continued: "They [Bruno & Sancho] almost played like wing-backs. Especially in the first-half, Alex [Telles] and Diogo [Dalot], did extremely well offensively and that's why I played 4-2-2-2. I'm a big fan of every player plays in his best possible position."

Meanwhile, both Scott McTominay and Fred came under fire during the latter stages of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's rein, but Rangnick admitted he was pleased with the pair's display against Palace.

"Scotty and Fred are almost perfect defensively on that," he said. "There were one or two mistakes. In the first-half, two square passes - one from Scott and one from Fred. I don't like those kind of balls in midfield from those positions."

United and Rangnick will now switch their focus to the Champions League where they will play host to Swiss champions Young Boys in the final round of the group stage on Wednesday.