Nightmare Start For United
Manchester United started the season on an inauspicious note. It is the kind of defeat that makes sleeping after the match very difficult. I just sat there in shock, disbelief, disappointment and completely crestfallen. All this after just one game of the new season, a result of not just the performance and defeat of the first match. Contributing to that performance and defeat is another underwhelming and frustrating transfer window.
Match Analysis
First, let’s assess the performance. From the start, Crystal Palace looked fresher and sharper than us. We were struggling to cope, giving away fouls regularly. Looking at the start we made, I thought we should sit back and contain first. Then get on the ball and keep it. The worse thing we could have done was to concede first and we did that within the first seven minutes.
There on, Palace allowed us all the possession we liked in harmless areas, sitting back in numbers, making it very hard for us to find a way past them. Wilfred Zaha, Jordan Schlupp and Jordan Ayew were a handful with their speed, trickery and direct running. Andros Townsend was always a threat with his shots. James McCarthy and McArthur were tidy in possession and denied us space in our attacking third. Cheikhou Kouyate and Mamadou Sakho were immense at the back. They were full value for the three points and might have scored more than three goals.
For all the possession we had, we couldn’t create any clear-cut chances. Our attacking play lacked the verve, intensity and penetration that we had in abundance for most of the second half of the season. Daniel James wasted another opportunity to be counted and was hauled off at half-time. In defence, Victor Lindelof had a nightmare. Individually, we had trouble defending one-on-ones and gave Palace’s attackers too much space to run into. The one bright spark we had was the introduction of Donny Van Der Beek. He capitalised on a rare mistake in the Palace defence to score our only goal and was bright in his cameo appearance.
Mitigating Factor
United’s progression to the semi-final of the Europa League meant a later start to their pre-season. They have only had one pre-season friendly before this match while Crystal Palace has played in six matches, four in pre-season and two competitive. That difference is one of the reasons behind United’s sluggish performance yesterday. Ryan Giggs stated post-match in the TV studios as a pundit that a team could have a slow start to the season and that is when you would need to grind out a result. We failed yesterday but cannot afford to do so for future matches and start losing ground.
Fans Unhappiness
If fans were allowed into the stadium as per normal, I am sure there would have been a strong vocal display of displeasure towards the club’s ownership. That would have intensified from when the result starting going south for us. It’s not conducive to the players and manager on the pitch but you can understand the frustration of the fans. All around us, our rivals are strengthening but we are left behind. It’s not a matter of signing players for the sake of it but signing to improve the squad’s quality. This defeat just magnifies the need to add more quality. It’s over to the club now on how they react to this intense pressure and dark storm clouds hanging over them.
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