It would be no exaggeration to say Manchester United created enough chances to win three separate football matches here on a balmy south London Saturday night. Somehow, they didn’t even win this one.
United should have been home and hosed by the break. To that end, you can sympathise with Erik ten Hag‘s frustrations. And there will be a few after this.
Granted, Crystal Palace‘s defending frequently left much to be desired. But that will mean nothing to Ten Hag, who watched his side squander chance after chance after chance.
All the while, Marcus Rashford, having scored three in his previous two matches, was sat on the bench – Ten Hag explaining his strange decision as a mere case of rotation.
In the Sky Sports studio, pundit Jamie Redknapp wasn’t buying it. ‘Obviously something has happened,’ claimed the former Liverpool and England midfielder.
By the time referee Craig Taylor blew for half-time Rashford’s omission was a side issue.
The real narrative here – and not for the first time this season – was United’s profligacy.
United have scored five Premier League goals this season. Wolves – who sit bottom of the table – have the same amount.
Credit to Eagles keeper Dean Henderson, who kept Palace on level terms with a string of excellent saves. But, in truth, United only had themselves to blame.
Their performance, finishing aside, was mostly on point. Christian Eriksen was orchestrating it all from midfield, picking passes that no-one else in the stadium had spotted.
The Dane’s best days are behind him, but class is permanent and the 32-year has it seeping from his fingertips.
Matthijs de Ligt in defence impressed, too. Not necessarily for his defending – there wasn’t much of that to do in all honesty – but with his composure in possession.
If the Dutchman can settle, he has all the makings of an elite Premier League centre back.
De Ligt, Alejandro Garnacho and Lisandro Martinez were all denied by Henderson in the first half.
Bruno Fernandes and Garnacho hit virtually the identical part of the crossbar in quick succession in the 27th minute, before Joshua Zirkzee nodded wide with Amad’s cross.
Had Eberechi Eze taken Palace’s best move and opportunity of the first half just before the break then God knows how Ten Hag would have reacted.
That would have been some miscarriage of justice, not even Oliver Glasner could argue to the contrary.
Palace rode their luck, United were down on theirs.
In the home dugout, Glasner faced a different frustration to his opposite number.
His side struggled to find any sort of rhythm and, more pertinently, any control in midfield.
So, the sight of Ismaila Sarr and Jefferson Lerma’s introduction in place of Adam Wharton, who looked short of fitness, and Jean-Philippe Mateta at half-time shouldn’t have surprised anyone.
Eze’s brilliant individual run in which he left four United players for dead before winning a corner provided instant signs of improvement for Palace.
Indeed, that would have been one of Ten hag’s overriding concerns at the break; that the home side wouldn’t be as poor as they were in the first half.
That certainly proved to be the case and by the end, it speaks volumes that United were probably happy to leave south London with a point – though Henderson did deny Garnacho again in the 62nd minute by which point Rashford had been sent on.
From the resultant corner Martinez was lucky he didn’t catch Daichi Kamada with a reckless and clear two-footed stamp that prompted a yellow card.
Yet United were indebted to an excellent Andre Onana double-stop for their point.
Having parried Eddie Nketiah’s low drive, Onana rose rapidly to deflect Sarr’s rebound wide. The keeper was mobbed by his team-mates. Rightly so.
But there would have been nothing the United shot-stopper could have done if Eze hit the target from 10 yards after an excellent exchange with Sarr in the 72nd minute.
What a chance. With the whole goal to aim at, the England star contrived to side-foot wide. Eze, flat out on the turf, knew the gravitas of his miss.
Glasner, in his technical area, animatedly tried to galvanise the crowd for the closing stages as Palace sensed that United were rocking.
But neither side could conjure a winner. United, though, should have had this won way before the final whistle. The fact they didn’t should concern Ten Hag.
