Matic reserves praise for ‘very important’ Man Utd duo

Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has heaped praise on Fred and Scott McTominay as the two players are “very important”.

Fred has been with United since 2018 as he joined them from Shakhtar Donetsk for around £47m. McTominay meanwhile came through the club’s academy and he made his senior debut in 2017.

Both midfielders have been relied upon over the past couple of years, but they have been criticised at times by fans and pundits.

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Ralf Rangnick has replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Man Utd. He is set to be their interim boss until the end of the 2021/22 season.

His first game in charge was against Crystal Palace over the weekend. McTominay and Fred were both named in the starting eleven.

The latter got on the scoresheet as the Red Devils won 1-0. As reported by Manchester Evening News, Matic has lauded his two teammates as he believes they are “getting better and better”:

“I think they are great people, great people for the changing room. Very important players for our team, they improve a lot game by game,” Matic said.

“They don’t get enough praise, always those who score goals get praise after the games, but sooner or later they will get what they deserve. Game by game they are getting better and better.

“They give us stability, they have to continue to work in this way and I’m sure they will have a bright future.”

Man Utd have already booked their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League. This came as they won three of their first five games in Group F.

They host Young Boys in the final round of fixtures on Wednesday night. The Swiss side won 2-1 when they faced United in September.

Speaking on the game, Matic added: “We have to try to impress [Rangnick], that we deserve to play.

“We are through, top of the group, but we want the three points at Old Trafford and to show the manager we have the quality to play.

“Every manager has his ideas, of course. We always try to adapt and understand as soon as possible.

“Everyone saw last game a bit of his idea, the high pressing, the organisation. We are training only a couple of days and we didn’t have enough time to understand more.”