Ronaldo made Manchester United 1-0 win against Norwich

Ronaldo made Manchester United 1-0 win against Norwich. 

On Saturday, Cristiano Ronaldo converted a 75th-minute penalty to hand Manchester United a barely deserved victory by 1-0 against Norwich City. The opponents struggled to make opportunities on Carrow Road.

The win lifted United to the fifth position in the table with 17 points after 16 matches, in fourth place behind West Ham United on goal difference and Norwich was bottom with 10 points.

United’s interim manager Ralf Rangnick was happy with the result and pleased with the defensive performance but acknowledged that they had to improve all areas.

“From the beginning, we were in control of the game, but we did not always come up with the best solutions to solve the problem,” Rangnick told the BBC. “It’s an excellent clean sheet, but there’s still plenty of work to be done.

“The second half was the time I wasn’t thrilled with the number of corners we conceded, but we did get three points.

“Now there are two clean sheets, which is great, but we must improve our performance away, particularly against physically-strong teams or teams that play with a high level, as Norwich did. They weren’t playing as a bottom team.”

Ragnick’s opponent Dean Smith was pleased with Norwich’s determination to fight and challenged the decision of referee Darren England to grant United with a penalty.

“We’ve only played in two top-six teams. We won at Tottenham, but we didn’t take the chance and went toe-to-toe with one of the bigger guns, with a questionable penalty was the winner for them,” he said.

United did not have a sharp edge until Ronaldo struck the spot-kick following his being knocked down by the home Defender Max Aarons.

Ronaldo could not stop a shot pushed off in the 37th minute by Tim Krul. The goalkeeper for the home side also missed the ball of a Harry Maguire header. It happened on the second half-time whistle when Alex Telles had hit the bar with a free-kick deflected in the first half.

United was unable to score in the second period. Norwich seemed more likely to break the deadlock. David De Gea kept out an errant Teemu Pukki shot from the edge of the field before Ronaldo hit the ball and sent Krul in the wrong direction.

The home side put on the pressure in the closing stages. De Gea rescued United again by snatching one Ozan Kabak header. Eric Bailly deflected a Billy Gilmour shot with a last-minute strike.

United captain Harry Maguire praised De Gea and admitted that United did not perform at their best, stating they required consistency to grind out results.

“David De Gea performed well this afternoon,” the central defender said to Sky Sports. “We’ve been disappointed with our defensive performances this year. We know that we need to improve our performance.

“When you’re playing each week, you’re not expected to perform at their best standard. It’s not uncommon to see top teams doing it. They do not play as well each week. However, they still achieve the results.”