Manchester United scraped past Aston Villa in a close FA Cup third round tie at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils scored early through Scott McTominay and managed to hold on for the 1-0 victory despite Villa having a Danny Ings goal chalked off by VAR.
It was a much-needed result for Man Utd’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick, with the club perhaps unlikely to be serious contenders for any other trophies this season.
Here’s how the players rated in the 1-0 win at Old Trafford last night…
David de Gea (7) – Forced to make some important saves in order to get that clean sheet, the United goalkeeper showed his worth to the team once again here, justifying Rangnick’s decision to start him over Dean Henderson.
Diogo Dalot (7) – Provided some spark going forward, Dalot continues to show himself to be one of the team’s most improved performers of the last couple of months.
Victor Lindelof (4) – A very shaky display from Lindelof as Villa seemed to target the Swedish defender, particularly as they forced him into some errors in the first half.
Raphael Varane (6) – Still settling in and yet to perform at his very best, but Varane did well to hold the defence together last night in a challenging tie, particularly as his defensive partner wasn’t really on song.
Luke Shaw (6) – Solid defensively, but Shaw hasn’t quite looked himself going forwards recently and will surely know he has to do better, especially with an improved Alex Telles breathing down his neck.
Scott McTominay (8) – Scored the winner and led by example with an energetic display from midfield, McTominay really looks like an ideal midfielder to make Rangnick’s demanding tactics work.
Fred (6) – Like McTominay, Fred worked hard in midfield and has generally improved under Rangnick, but his passing remains a bit sloppy at times, and it keeps letting him and the team down.
Bruno Fernandes (6) – Tried to make things happen, but it’s just not quite happened for Fernandes for a while now. A big job for Rangnick will be to get the Portugal international playing with that joy and freedom that made him such a hit when he first joined the club.
Mason Greenwood (5) – Slightly disappointing by Greenwood’s standards, the youngster just didn’t do enough to really stretch that Villa defence.
Marcus Rashford (3) – A worryingly poor performance from Rashford, who often failed to look on the same wavelength as his team-mates, and even frustrated the crowd at points with his poor decision-making.
Edinson Cavani (7) – A hard-working and unselfish performance from Cavani, who did his best to make things happen even though the service wasn’t really there for him.
Subs:
Donny van de Beek – 6
Jesse Lingard – 5
Anthony Elanga – 6