-Johan
Saturday was a heated affair which failed to spark a
single goal. United were expected to walk away with a win with Crystal Palace
lying deep and them launching consistent attacks while fans prayed for a goal.
Palace came out strong and it was evident it
would not be a game of long spells of possession for one of the teams, marking was
close and fierce with Palace committing 3 defenders to every United player who
received the ball. United looked disjointed, failing to string 5
passes together in the first 10 minutes of the game. United countered this by
letting both central midfielders, Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin, go wide with
Blind and Smalling pushing up. It allowed Bolasie to break free and hit effort
rattled the cross bar after being finger tipped by De Gea.
Two minutes later, De Gea was called on when
Crystal Palace caught United defending to far up and De Gea came off his line
to clear the ball before any threat could materialize. 15 Minutes into the game
the corner count was already 4-0 to Palace. Cabaye, who is having an excellent
season, continued his revival in the Premier League with another top performance
against United and proved to be the main protagonist for the entire 70
minutes he played.
United
seemed to manage more control and retain the ball better which yielded
a great opportunity when Martial made a brilliant pass for Rooney but he was
just to slow to get onto the end of it. A golden opportunity missed again. Right
on half time Mata picked out Martial who glided into the box before playing it
to Herrera, who slipped as he took his shot and the ball sailed over the bar.
Crystal Palace, emerged aggressive in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Zaha won a free-kick but the execution was
poor and it was easily cleared. Palace were strangling United’s possession and breaking
on the wings with Bolasie and Zaha, who, in particular, was bamboozling Darmian
the whole afternoon and it was no surprise that Darmian was taken off and
replaced by Young after 65 minutes.
At the same time Rooney switched to the left
with Martial going towards the centre. Schweinsteiger, who had an excellent game, was replaced by Fellani in an effort to add more attacking options
up front.
74 minutes into the match: Bolasie made a run on the right,
found a team mate who crossed into the box which missed Gayle, the target, but
Cabaye broke through the defense and managed to get a touch on the ball which
went desperately close. Crystal Palace were not giving up.
Bolasie dominated the right flank and 2 minutes later
crossed superbly for the ever alert Zaha but Young won the aerial duel and
played it out for a corner. The corner found Dann who sent it inches wide.
United were on the ropes. The ball was played out by De Gea and almost immediately
won back by Crystal Palace as it found Bolasie who went through the middle and
had a proper go at it but his shot was deflected to Gayle who followed up with
a shot of his own straight to De Gea.
Mata came off for Lingard with United needing more
pace down the wings to break Crystal Palace’s hold on the game. It had the desired
effect and after a successful passage of possession play by United, Rooney had
an opportunistic attempt at goal but sliced it far and wide. With Martial back
on the left, United managed to maintain the threat on the wings and Rooney was
the recipient of some good midfield control between Martial and Schneiderlin
and ended up running at goal in a one on one situation but his hesitance to
act, either in having a shot or passing to the approaching Lingard, allowed
Puncheon to dispossess him once again.
KEY TALKING POINTS
A lot of fingers have been pointed to Van Gaal about
his tactics and team selection but Saturday’s display and result had little to
do with any of that. With Depay “injured” and Young not
fully fit to start, Van Gaal had no option but to play Martial on the left, and
with Rooney bound to start scoring at some stage, he had no option but to play
him up front as the lone striker.
In a match where Crystal Palace flogged the midfield
and space was a rare commodity United still managed to ultimately keep
possession of the ball, enjoying 55.7% of possession. Territory was fiercely
contested but even here United came out on top with 53%. Pass completion was
again a satisfactory 82%.
Crosses 3/14
Take-ons 4/12
Attacking Aerial Duels 6/10
Shots on target 1/5
De Gea, Smalling, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin and
Young, who came on as a sub, all had good games, but you cannot say that for
the rest of the team.
Blind, apart from his 4 interceptions, failed to win a
single aerial duel from the 6 he was involved in and committed 3 fouls. He attempted
6 long balls but found a team mate only once. Mata completed just 24/33 (72%)
passes, succeeded in 1/3 crosses and won only 1/3 tackles. Rooney had 3 shots
at goal, 1 on target, converted none of his 4 freekicks, succeeded in only
1/4 corners, 1/3 aerial duels and failed at both take ons. Martial was
disappointing as well with only 9/20 (45%) passes completed, succeeded in only
1/4 take-ons and committed 3 fouls.
This is a huge contrast to the performances of Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin and Young. Schweinsteiger completed 45/48 (94%)
passes, 5 ball recoveries and 3/4 tackles. Schneiderlin had another excellent
game with 60/68 (88%) passes completed. He also had 6 ball recoveries, won 3/4
tackles, 3/3 clearances and 3/4 aerial duels. Young had precious few minutes on
the pitch but managed to complete 11/12 (92%) passes, recover the ball a dozen times, win 1/2 take-ons, 2 interceptions and 1/1 tackles.
United need to start performing as a team and the team
needs to start accepting that it is not the tactics of Van Gaal that is the
problem but their inability to convert their superior possession and
territory every match into goals.
OVERALL
Crystal Palace
have beaten United only once in a league cup way back in May 1991. Crystal
Palace have seen a revival under Pardew and the team has made arguable the
shrewdest acquisitions this season in the Barclays Premier League.
As for Wayne Rooney: Will he start firing goals or
will United suffer the embarrassment of failing at the very thing that made
them famous – scoring goals?
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