"I wouldn't be surprised" - Ralf Rangnick believes Manchester United star could become club captain in a couple of years

Scott McTominay scored Manchester United's only goal of the match against Aston Villa in the FA Cup last night. The Red Devils won the third-round tie 1-0, courtesy of McTominay's header in the sixth minute.

Head coach Ralf Rangnick was full of praise for the young midfielder.

"He is an academy boy, his energy is amazing. He now also starts scoring goals and also with some leadership skills. I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of years he would be the captain of this team," Rangnick said.

Micah Richards also praised McTominay, adding:

" For all the stick he's taken, McTominay had a good performance tonight and he has had a couple of good performances in the last couple of weeks. But it was typical Man United again - underwhelming and not great, but at least he popped up for a goal for himself."

McTominay's goal helped Manchester United grab an important win after a dull start to the new year for the Red Devils. They had lost their first match of the year in the Premier League against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Manchester United's next match is in the Premier League against Aston Villa, who will be vying to avenge their FA Cup defeat.

Manchester United head coach Ralf Rangnick puzzled by Marcus Rashford's form

Ralf Rangnick expressed his confusion at Rashford's poor form. Asked why the England striker was playing so poorly, the Red Devils boss replied:

"Actually I don't know. I think he's trying hard. In training he was doing well in the last couple of days, that's why he was quite rightly in the starting XI. I think in the first half we found him quite often, but we also tried to get him into the box."

The Manchester United boss added:

"In the second half that was not that often the case and that's why at the end of the game I decided to make two changes with Anthony Elanga and Jesse Lingard. It was very important to progress into the next round. Yes (confidence is important) especially for strikers - it's important that they score goals on and off, that there are moments of success."

Rangnick, however, backed the young forward to jump back amongst goals sooner rather than later.

"Of course it would be good, for example, for Marcus if he could score a goal but as long as he's trying, as long as he's training well I don't see that much of a problem," the German tactician said.