Manchester United 3, Norwich City 2
Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat trick secured a narrow win over Norwich City for Manchester United as they looked to re-ignite their top four challenge.
Ronaldo’s 60th career hat trick – his third for the Reds – as he took his United goal tally to 21 this term was vital as Norwich battled back from 2-0 down to 2-2 shortly after the break after goals by Kieran Dowell and Teemu Pukki.
And his winning goal, his 58th career goal from a direct free kick, will rightly win the plaudits after the disappointment at Everton last week.
Defeats for Tottenham and Arsenal today mean that the Reds are just three points off Spurs in fourth place with six games to go but against a backdrop of anti-Glazer fan protests against the United owners few will be convinced by today’s performance against the Premier League basement team.
Paul Pogba was targeted for the ire of a section of home fans after he was substituted following another insipid display but in truth the win only papers over the cracks until Tuesday when the Reds travel to Anfield to try and make good on the second chance that appears to have been awarded to them.
A United spokesperson said of the pre-match demonstration: “We are working hard to create the conditions for renewed success on the pitch, while strengthening our engagement with fans.
“We respect the right of fans to voice their opinions peacefully and we will continue to listen to them with the aim of working together to get the club back to where we all want it to be: competing for trophies.”
Embed from Getty ImagesNorwich manager Dean Smith congratulated Cristiano Ronaldo for his match winning performance but admitted that some of the goals against his Norwich side were self inflicted.
He said: “I’m extremely disappointed with the result but pleased with the performance.
”We can’t give away the goals we did and get away with it. You can’t concede three goals and expect to win.”
Ronaldo’s winning goal from the free kick was praiseworthy for Smith, who explained that his goalkeeper almost saved it.
“Tim [Krul] saw it late but got a touch on the free kick.
“We knew of the fans frustrations and giving them a two goal lead doesn’t help but we had chances on the break.
“Ronaldo will get the plaudits and rightly so but his goals were handed on a platter to him today.”
United boss Ralf Rangnick rightly praised Cristiano Ronaldo for the goals he scored.
He said: “I don’t think we need to speak about Cristiano’s performance today, another hat trick and he made the difference today.
“The second and third goals were not easy to score.
“We could have made more in the first half hour but we slowed the game down too much.
“Even the fans were shouting shoot but we didn’t.”
But Rangnick warned that United had to be better to defend without key players in midfield when they travel to Liverpool on Tuesday.
He added “This wasn’t the biggest issue today – our defensive shape without Fred and Scotty was a problem and we had to play with players for whom the position was not familiar.
“I’m not really happy with our performance when we were not in possession of the ball.
“I told the team that we were playing with an offensive lineup and it was important we played with a defensive mindset – everyone had to think like a defensive midfielder but we allowed them too much space in transition moments.
“We had to be more physical and aggressive – we are the only team in the league wh concedes goals like this – it’s a question of how physical we are when defending.”
“If I Just think about the games since I arrived, how many times have we been ahead and didn’t win?
“We have to defend better in moments like this.”
He added of the daunting trip to Liverpool:
“We could have been 3-2 down but with all respect to Norwich we had to defend better today especially with the next two games coming.
“We can’t allow them to pass through our lines as easy as that.
“We are still mathematically in the race for top four and we got the result today but now we have to create something that probably nobody expects – we have to be ready to go to Anfield on Tuesday.”
And although he denied he had directly heard the chants against Paul Pogba when he was substituted he defended the Frenchman’s performance in the game.
“I didn’t hear any chants – I was talking about it with the staff in the locker room.
“I thought Paul in the first half with the ball had a good game.
“I can fully understand the fans are frustrated but it doesn’t make sense to target individual players – it’s a collective responsibility and I took the risk.”
Key midfield injuries hamper Manchester United as Cristiano Ronaldo scores hat trick to beat Norwich City
Fred was sidelined with injury after the defeat at Everton last weekend – and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Marcus Rashford, Nemanja Matic – who confirmed he would be leaving United in the summer – started on the bench after the defeat at Goodison Park.
Paul Pogba, Anthony Elanga, Diogo Dalot, and Jesse Lingard were drafted in to the United side as Ralf Rangnick opted to make four changes to the side that lost at Everton.
They faced an unchanged Norwich City side fresh from their morale boosting win at Burnley last week which ultimately saw the club sack their manager of ten years – Sean Dyche – yesterday.
Prior to the match a protest march on Old Trafford against Manchester United owners the Glazer family cut a swathe through the Old Trafford environs including the Munich Tunnel – and they urged all United fans to only enter the stadium after 17 minutes – a minute for every year the Glazers have been in charge.
United started on the front foot and had early chances through Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga.
Ronaldo forced Krul into a save after 7 minutes but he was on the scoresheet seconds later when the Dutchman tried to play the ball out to Dimitris Giannoulis.
Elanga pressed him into passing back to Ben Gibson who the Sweish midfielder promptly won the ball off and squared it to Ronaldo who made no mistake from 12 yards out for his 19th goal of the season.
It was remarkable that the game gap between the two United players was 17 years and 81 days – the most older than his assister that a United goalscorer has been in the Premier League era.
Lingard saw a shot deflected wide as United saw their chance to prise open a bigger advantage.
Teemu Pukki had earlier been denied by David de Gea but the Canaries could not maintain the threat as most of their attacks broke down after they had exposed defensive shortcomings in the Reds midfield.
United continue to carve out chances while Norwich gave the ball away too often – with Sancho wasting two chances after Elanga and Dalot had slipped him through.
But while his team mates were wasteful Ronaldo was making hay, he headed past Krul from an Alex Telles corner after 32 minutes to notch his 20th of the season.
And soon after that he was pulling party tricks out – an extravagant overhead kick ballooning over the bar from Dalot’s cross shortly before half time while Sancho slipped just outside the area after Bruno Fernandes and slipped him the ball while a cutback was just behind Ronaldo as United looked to finish off the Canaries before half time.
By this time Old Trafford had filled out with protesters – Pierre Lees-Melou had a shot blocked by Victor Lindelof and Teemu Pukki blazed over the bar before the break.
Pukki turned provider in injury time when he ran unmolested into the left channel and crossed for Kieran Dowell to fire past David de Gea after Harry Maguire had been sucked out of position.
Ronaldo shot wide while Lingard had a 25 yard shot saved by Krul at the start of the second half as the Reds looked to regain a two goal cushion.
But the confidence soon evaporated as Pukki beat United’s offside trap, running onto a ball forward from Dowell in midfield and hitting the equaliser in off the right hand upright after nobody closed down the Canaries.
A brief VAR check confirmed the Finn was onside and the goal stood.
And Milot Rashica could have put the visitors into a shock lead after United’s defence crumbled again but it was De Gea to the rescue with a low save to parry the goal bound shot.
Ronaldo’s header fro Telles’ corner was saved on the hour mark but Pogba needed treatment after being hit in the head by a stray high boot from his own team mate – inevitably it was Maguire.
Matic was brought on after 63 minutes in United’s first change for Lingard, right after Dowell tried to chip De Gea from 35 yards.
It was a sure sign that Ralf Rangnick had decided to rectify the hole in United’s midfield which had allowed Norwich to draw level.
Rashica had a shot blocked by Dalot and Sam Byram headed the resulting corner over the bar as Norwich continued to cause problems with passes through the United midfield.
And with 17 minutes to go Marcus Rashford and Juan Mata were introduced for Telles and Paul Pogba and United, with Norwich bringing on Billy Gilmour for Kenny McLean and Przemyslaw Placheta for Dowell.
Pogba’s withdrawal brought an audible dissent against the midfielder’s recent performances from sections of the United crowd as Dalot went left back and Elanga dropped to right back, but there was little time to ponder it as Ronaldo restored United’s lead with a stunning free kick from 25 yards which went in off the far post with vicious power.
It was the 50th hat trick of his club career (60th in all) and the Old Trafford crowd lapped up his 58th direct free kick goal – and his 21st goal of the season for the Reds.
Krul saved well from Fernandes as United looked to finish off Norwich but United couldn’t afford to be generous at the back as Rashica shot well wide from range but the Reds managed to ease their way to the final whistle despite the efforts .
GOALS – Manchester United 3, Norwich City 2
Man Utd 1, Norwich City 0: 7. Cristiano Ronaldo fired United into the lead after Anthony Elanga pressed Dimitris Giannoulis off the ball, won it off Ben Gibson and squared it to the Portuguese striker who made no mistake.
Man Utd 2, Norwich City 0: 32. Cristiano Ronaldo was deadly with a header from Alex Telles’ corner after Jadon Sancho had an effort saved by Tim Krul.
Man Utd 2, Norwich City 1: 45+1. Teemu Pukki turned provider in injury time when he ran unmolested into the left channel and crossed for Kieran Dowell to fire past David de Gea.
Man Utd 2, Norwich City 2: 52. Teemu Pukki beat the offside trap to get on the end of a Kieran Dowell ball from midfield and score off the post.
Man Utd 3, Norwich City 2: 76. Cristiano Ronaldo completed the 50th hat trick of his club career to go joint third in the Premier League Golden Boot standings with a superb free kick from 25 yards which went in off the far post.
MATCH STATS – Manchester United 3, Norwich City 2
Man Utd: De Gea, Dalot, Lindelof, Maguire, Telles (Rashford 74), Fernandes, Pogba (Mata 74), Lingard (Matic 63), Elanga, Sancho, Ronaldo
Man Utd Subs not used: Henderson, Bailly, Jones, Wan-Bissaka, Mejbri, Garnacho
Norwich City: Krul, Byram, Hanley, Gibson, Giannoulis, McLean, Normann, Dowell (Placheta , Lees-Melou (Rowe 82), Rashica, Pukki
Norwich City Subs not used: Gunn, Aarons, Zimmermann, Rupp, Gilmour, Tzolis, Sorensen
Referee: Andy Madley
Attendance: 73,381