Crystal Palace 1 Man United 2
A game of two halves for United yet again. I think it’s safe to say that Man United’s biggest problem so far this season is trying to put together 2 good halves of football in the same game, it’s happened time and time again so far this season where United play well in the first half then fall apart in the second dropping points in many games against Spurs, Nottingham Forest, Fulham etc, in this game it actually flipped where United where absolutely awful in the first half and could have been 2 or 3 nil down if Palace were more clinical. United then came out in the second half much improved and managed to turn the game around thanks to goals from Zirkzee and Mount.
United’s set-piece improvement shows again. One of United’s biggest strengths so far this season has been scoring from set-pieces and this was shown yet again in this match with the two goals, the first came from a floated ball into Zirkzee who took the ball down on his chest and finished excellently past Dean Henderson at the far post on the volley. The second goal came from a quick free-kick from Bruno Fernandes who layed the ball to Mason Mount who caught Dean Henderson and the Palace wall off-guard putting the ball in the near post, United are now joint with Arsenal on set-piece goals so far this season showing the massive improvement they’ve made in that area this season.
Crystal Palace continue to struggle after playing in Europe. It’s been a theme with Palace so far this season that they have yet to win a game in the Premier League after a Conference League game with this match continuing that streak. Palace’s first half performance showed no signs of tiredness or fatigue with the team pressing United high forcing turnover after turnover and Palace really should have made United pay with Mateta spurning a couple of really good chances to put Palace 2 nil up. However, the second half performance from Palace was lethargic and they allowed United to get a grip of the game before the two goals that ultimately won the game. Palace’s lack of squad depth is coming back to bite them so far this season and it doesn’t look like improving any time soon.
Joshua Zirkzee was the key for United turning the game around. I think the rhetoric around Joshua Zirkzee has been quite harsh ever since he United last year, whilst he’s never been or going to be a prolific goal scorer, I think Zirkzee brings something to this United team that no one else can, his link-up play and close control is excellent and his ability to bring others into the game was crucial in United gaining a foothold in the second half and he took his goal brilliantly, you could see the increase in confidence throughout the half and hopefully he can now start to put together a run of good performances in this United team.
Can United finally find some consistency through this December period. I think the West Ham game on Thursday is gonna tell us a lot about this United team and if they can fight for Champions League football this season, can United avenge the loss against Everton or will they yet again fail to put a consistent good performance over 90 minutes under Ruben Amorim?