Diogo Dalot has been a forgotten figure since he joined Manchester United for £19million in 2018 by Jose Mourinho but is an unlikely candidate to benefit from Ralf Rangnick’s arrival
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Rangnick reflects on first win as Man Utd manager
The Ralf Rangnick era at Manchester United is officially underway and he has already started to put his own stamp on proceedings.
The Red Devils secured a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace as the Old Trafford boss got off to a winning start.
One of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s biggest flaws as United manager was that he could not get a tune out of his fringe players as he religiously stuck by his first-team stars.
But there are already signs of improvements in that area even though Rangnick’s tenure is still in its infancy.
Diogo Dalot was a standout performer against Palace as he got forward at every opportunity while limiting Wilfried Zaha at the other end of the pitch – something which is no mean feat.
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The Portugal international came into the side for the 3-2 win over Arsenal following the injury of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and the Englishman could find hit hard to reclaim his place if Dalot keeps up this form.
Dalot has been a forgotten figure since he was signed for £19million from Porto in 2018 by Jose Mourinho, largely due to Wan-Bissaka’s arrival a year later.
He impressed on loan for AC Milan last season but was then widely linked with an exit in the summer. The 22-year-old stayed put for the time being as Wan-Bissaka would continue to keep his place in Solskjaer’s starting XI despite his struggles.
Dalot has now come out of the cold and could be an unlikely candidate to benefit from Rangnick’s arrival.
The full-back spoke acknowledged the difficulty of being frozen out of the side this season, but insists he had to be ready for when an opportunity came along.
He said: “I mean, there’s no secret that it’s difficult when you don’t play as much as you wanted.
“But it’s our job to get ready and I’ve been doing that for a couple of months now, especially this season, and be ready when my time comes to give everything on the pitch. Help the team, that’s the most important thing, and I’m very happy to give this momentum as well and be out there with the team.
“It’s my job to be out there and then help the team and give my best. I need to show my best qualities as well. I have fantastic players that can help me inside the pitch and today was one more opportunity for me to give that. I’m very happy with the individual performance, but mostly with the collective performance.”
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Dalot hailed Rangnick for what he’s done at United in such a short space of time and his teammates for their performance against Palace.
He added: “I think it’s down to everyone. Not just for the message from the manager but obviously for everyone on the pitch – the fans, the ones that are outside the pitch.
“Everybody was into it and that’s what we need to do and keep like that for the rest of the season. But mostly in the next game and build this foundation for the rest of the games.
“It’s difficult to change and have an opinion in such a few days, but we’re going to have time to know him and he’s going to have time to know [us] as well for the next couple of weeks. I’m sure that if everybody’s together, everybody’s into it, we’re going to do a fantastic job. We’re going to help him and he’s going to help us as well.
“There’s no secret that he’s a very good manager with very good ideas to play football. Hopefully, we can help them to give us the best that he can give as well and vice versa.
“I think it was a complete performance after what we did today. We get a clean sheet, get the three points, score a late goal, so it was a good afternoon for everyone.
“You need to have clean sheets. You’re going to be closer to win games like that (if you do), so it was important to be compact defensively and then we’re going to create a lot of chances.
“We needed to score as well. We kept our head clean after a few opportunities that we didn’t score and Fred at the end was fantastic for him as well and for the team.”
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