“The Manchester United fans still in the stadium look absolutely stunned,” reported Sky Sports at the final whistle. So were we all, in our homes and clubs. United had lost for the first time ever in the Premier League to Crystal Palace. The score: 1–2. United found it difficult to find a breakthrough in a match in which Palace ‘parked the bus’ and kept trying to hit United on the break. In reality, although United, with 71% possession, had 22 shots on goal to Palace’s just 5, both teams had just 3 shots each on target.
In my view, the United players who were most outstanding and who made a decisive impact in the match were the two United midfielders: Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay.
Paul Pogba was the one who continually tried to make things happen, winning several tackles and was at the centre of United’s attacks. Scott McTominay, though not as involved, was effective in helping, unfortunately not so successfully, in United breaking down the 10-man Palace defence.
Both players also contributed to United’s goal and United’s penalty, Paul deserving plenty of credit as it was his tackle on Zaha which set United on the way to goal before neat work set James free. Scott was through on goal before being tripped in the box by Luka Milivojević, and a penalty being awarded. Marcus Rashford was unlucky to hit the inside of the post with the ball rebounding for a goal kick.
As is the norm, the Man of the Match is selected from the winning team, and the honour went to Crystal Palace’s Dutch left back, Patrick Van Aanholt. The latter scored the winning goal.
Article contributed by Echoes Contributor Kenneth. Comments are appreciated on our Facebook page.
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