Erik ten Hag mentioned Manchester United “ate Crystal Palace alive” after Andre Onana and Dean Henderson’s goalkeeping heroics stored their sport at Selhurst Park goalless.
Onana denied Palace a second-half lead with an unbelievable double save to rival Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya, protecting out Eddie Nketiah after which substitute Ismaila Sarr, producing the decide of the saves when his reverse quantity completed with seven.
Had it not been for Henderson, United would have been out of sight by the break. The previous Carrington graduate produced three massive stops within the first half, earlier than tipping over Alejandro Garnacho’s curling effort at full stretch moments earlier than Onana’s double save.
Bruno Fernandes and Garnacho additionally struck the bar in fast succession in a primary half that United dominated. Eberechi Eze ought to have punished their wastefulness, spurning two wonderful probabilities both aspect of the break. Palace stay winless within the league because of this.
“When we don’t win, I’m not content,” Ten Hag advised Sky Sports activities. “We should have won. I think first half, we ate them alive. Then in the second half it was more in the balance, but first half, we should have scored one or two goals.”
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Eberechi Eze missed an excellent likelihood to present Crystal Palace the lead
Palace boss Oliver Glasner felt Lisandro Martinez ought to have been despatched off for a stamp on the ball that narrowly missed Daichi Kamada’s leg within the second half. “[Martinez] could have broken his leg,” he mentioned.
Ten Hag’s determination to go away out Marcus Rashford, who made little affect off the bench, after scoring in back-to-back video games will now, inevitably, be questioned as his aspect drop extra factors and stay within the backside half of the desk.
Was Martinez fortunate to not be despatched off?
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Does Lisandro Martinez get fortunate? Yellow for Manchester United defender
United defender Martinez rode his luck simply previous the hour, when he two-footed the highest of the ball with a reckless, pointless problem that Palace midfielder Kamada was fortunate to keep away from.
Martinez obtained a reserving, however Palace felt strongly that he ought to have seen pink, a lot in order that Henderson was yellow carded for his protestations.
Glasner was additionally stunned by the choice. “[Martinez] was fortunate that he touched the ball and not the shin of our player because he could have broken his leg.”
“He’s probably a bit lucky there,” former United defender Phil Jones added within the Sky Sports activities studio.
“There’s almost no need to go in with his two feet. And I think if he’s a fraction out there, I think he’s seen a different colour card.”
Sky Sports activities pundit Jamie Redknapp added: “I don’t know what on earth you’re thinking you’re going to gain by jumping in with two feet. On the edge of [their] box, you’ve got him in a nice position.
“If he lands on Kamada’s foot, he goes down, it is a straight pink.”
Ten Hag: We ate Palace alive
Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag speaking to Sky Sports: “Once we do not win, I am not content material. We should always have gained. I feel first half, we ate them alive. Then within the second half it was extra within the steadiness, however first half, we should always have scored one or two objectives.
“I don’t think [our finishing let us down]. We had total control of the game. In and out of possession, I think we played very good. The only thing was in the box, that is where the game is always decided. We should be more clinical there.”
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Manchester United supervisor Erik ten Hag says he’s very proud of Marcus Rashford, stating the ahead started their 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace on the bench for rotation
On the goalkeepers, he added: “It was a brilliant save from Andre Onana twice in one action, it was really brilliant. That is very difficult for a goalie to be there in the moment you needed.
“Dean Henderson additionally performed an excellent sport, what number of balls he stopped. He was in a rhythm, however Andre has to attend and maintain the main target and in the fitting second, you must be spot on and he did good.”
Ten Hag additionally sought to make clear his determination to bench Rashford after Redknapp questioned the choice, saying: “I’m very proud of Marcus. It was nearly rotation.”
Glasner: Henderson kept us alive
Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner speaking to Sky Sports: “Within the first half Dean Henderson stored us alive and stored us within the sport. On the finish of the half we had the possibility from Eberechi after which within the second half we had been a lot, a lot better. Within the first half we would have liked an important goalkeeper and thankfully we had one.
“In the second half we were more organised, we played with more courage and we had two great situations to win the game. In that second half it was more like a Crystal Palace team and that is what we need to be competitive against a team like Manchester United.”
On the change within the second half, he added: “Everything [needed to change]. I have never seen my Crystal Palace team play like we did in the first half, with no energy, no confidence, both in and out of possession, in set-plays, etcetera.
“That exhibits once more the spirit we now have to make changes at half-time, change to a 3-5-2 to shut the centre, after which we managed the sport and had our probabilities of their field. Even after we gained the ball we had been extra direct, performed ahead extra within the second half.”
Player of the match: Dean Henderson
Alejandro Garnacho is denied by Dean Henderson
Henderson produced a near-perfect efficiency in opposition to United, the membership he joined early in his teenagers, producing a complete of seven saves, three of which had been excellent.
The sport possible would have been misplaced for Palace at half-time, if not for Henderson.
The 27-year-old mentioned protecting out Matthijs de Ligt’s header from a nook at point-blank vary was his decide of the bunch. The stats would agree, that being ranked the largest likelihood of the sport with an xG of 0.4.
Henderson additionally produced two tremendous stops from Garnacho in both half, again peddling earlier than diving to his left for the primary, and tipping over at full stretch for the opposite.
These had been Henderson’s finest moments within the sport, however his general efficiency was notably spectacular due to his consistency all through.
“You have to concentrate so much and it is tiring when you have to do that for a whole half. They have so many threats, inverted wingers, Bruno dropping into the pocket and spinning in behind. It is difficult because you are constantly on your toes,” he mentioned.
“I am just delighted to get the clean sheet and happy for the defensive unit that we could get that because it is important for us to build on.”
How Man Utd used Dalot to achieve management
When Arne Slot defined how Liverpool tore United aside in a 3-0 win at Outdated Trafford earlier this month, he picked out one element specifically. “Their full-backs are sometimes really high.”
The result was the opposition wingers, in that case Mo Salah and Luis Diaz, would usually discover themselves in a single vs one situations, whereas the holding midfielder, on that event Casemiro, was left stranded.
One small tweak from United’s teaching workers at Palace went a protracted strategy to stopping that from occurring. Diogo Dalot was advised to invert and his presence within the midfield helped United to outnumber Palace.
“Dalot is coming inside as a No 6 almost and controlling the game from there,” Phil Jones, a Premier League winner with United, mentioned within the Sky Sports activities studio at half-time. “With Dalot coming inside they’re creating overloads.”
Palace had been left flummoxed by the passing sport of Dalot, Kobbie Mainoo and Christian Eriksen as United bossed the sport and had management.
A few of that was relinquished after the adjustments, however United nonetheless completed the sport with 66.8 per cent possession.
Outdated issues persist, nonetheless, with Ten Hag’s aspect missing the ruthless edge required to assert all three factors, regardless of having sufficient probabilities within the first half alone to take action.
It has been a working theme this season, with simply 5 objectives scored after 5 league video games regardless of having an xG of 9.53. Southampton are the one aspect underperforming on this metric by extra.
Studies counsel United’s potential to dominate video games can be a key think about INEOS’ assessments of Ten Hag this season. There’s undoubtedly progress going by this sport, however outcomes and objectives should comply with.
Opta stats: Henderson’s busy day
● Dean Henderson made seven saves in opposition to Manchester United; probably the most by a Crystal Palace goalkeeper in a Premier League match with out conceding since Vicente Guaita v Newcastle in January 2023 (7).
● Crystal Palace have not gained any of their first 5 video games within the Premier League this season (D3 L2), the fifth time they’ve failed to take action in a single marketing campaign within the competitors. The Eagles have been relegated on three of the earlier 4 events when failing to win any of their first 5 (1992-93, 1994-95 and 2004-05).
● United have drawn 0-0 in the next proportion of their video games versus Crystal Palace than in opposition to some other opponent within the competitors of groups they’ve confronted greater than 10 occasions (16% – 5/31).
● United have stored 4 clear sheets of their final six Premier League video games, yet one more than they managed of their earlier 24 matches beforehand (three between December 2023-Might 2024).
● Bruno Fernandes has had extra photographs with out scoring (17) than some other participant throughout Europe’s massive 5 leagues in 2024-25, making an attempt an extra 4 right this moment with out discovering the web.
