Things that made De Gea and Fred Men of The Match in Norwich win
Manchester United were far from perfect in the 1-0 win over Norwich City but thanks to a David De Gea masterclass, the Red Devils picked up all three points.
It was just De Gea who shone though - Fred in midfield put up yet another solid performance and was the most disciplined player on the field.
e360hubs breaks down why these two deserve to be the Men of the Match:
200th career clean sheet
By fighting hard to prevent the Canaries from scoring, De Gea registered his 200th career clean sheet!
Once again, we're back to a point where we have to count on the Spaniard to keep us in the game - and he almost never disappoints.
De Gea was in the zone on Saturday and you can see from the smile on his face how much his performance meant to him and his teammates.
Mad saves to deny Norwich
No one can argue against De Gea's ability to save shots but he outdid himself during two big occasions on Saturday.
In stoppage time, he made a stunning save to keep the score 1-0 as Norwich desperately looked for an equaliser.
Meanwhile, there was also this moment of absolute class to deny Ozan Kabak's header that we can't get enough of.
Fred's near-perfect stats
Some may argue that Fred wasn't as 'effective' as De Gea in the final result but the midfielder's work rate once again stood out.
In the past, the Brazilian has often been criticised for being sloppy and lacking end product but against Norwich, it was a different story. Just look at his stats:
- 91% pass accuracy
- 75% long pass accuracy
- 11 ground duels contested
- 10 ground duels won
- 7 attempted tackles
- 7 successful tackles
- 2 attempted dribbles
- 2 successful dribbles
- 100% take-on success
- 1 shot on target
- 1 chance created
Never dribbled past in first half
Fred was a workhorse off the ball and really aggressive when he had the ball at his feet.
In fact, he was not dribbled past a single time in the first half, despite the fact that Norwich more or less matched United's intensity.
That's not all - Fred also worked hard to create scoring opportunities for the visitors. Take a look at this:
In the picture above, Fred weaves the ball perfectly between two opponents to find Scott McTominay, who sends passes to Cristiano Ronaldo - only for the Portuguese's shot to be saved.
De Gea yet to concede under Ralf
The Red Devils have only conceded one goal in three games under Ralf but De Gea is yet to let any in as of now.
Considering how inconsistent he was last season, clearly, this has been a massive improvement for the 31-year-old.
Dave denied Teemu Pukki as well during a pivotal moment in the second half, thus showing his effectiveness as our undisputed No.1.
Source: Tribuna.com