Man United 2 Crystal Palace 1
One moment changes the entire game. As you probably know by now I can be quite critical when talking about Man United but it’s coming from someone who is wanting the club to succeed so badly, once again United came out with absolutely no energy or inputus to try and start quickly which led to Palace coming out and scoring from a corner were Lacroix was able to fend off Yoro and head it to the far corner to give Palace a very early lead in the 4th minute. You’d think that goal would wake up United but Palace continued to grow in confidence with United giving the ball away time and time again so sloppily all over the pitch, United ended the half stronger but still went in behind at half-time. United came out much better in the second half and in the 55th minute Cunha was held back by Lacroix just inside the box to give United a penalty to get back into the game, after a couple of minutes the referee was sent to the VAR monitor were it was deemed Lacroix prevented a clear goal-scoring opportunity and was harshly sent off in my opinion, Bruno Fernandes stepped up and sent Henderson the wrong way to get United back level at 1-1, then just 8 minutes later Fernandes crossed a beautiful ball in which was met by the in-form Benjamin Sesko who headed brilliantly past the Palace goalkeeper to give United all 3 points following a tough match.
Bruno Fernandes once again steps up when United need him. I hate to bring it up but it gets more baffling game after game that Ruben Amorim decided to play Bruno Fernandes deeper when clearly he’s one of the best attacking midfielders in world football, you could see him getting really frustrated in the first half when it seemed like every United player hadn’t touched a football before but he stepped up and slotted the penalty under pressure when United really needed the goal at the start of the second half, the cross for the second goal was brilliant and exactly what Sesko was crying out for throughout the whole game as United just didn’t want to put a cross into their 6ft 5 striker who’s in red hot form at the minute. Fernandes always seems to step up when United need him and was by far their best player today as players like Cunha, Mbeumo, Mainoo struggled throughout the 90 minutes, hopefully much more to come for the rest of the season from those players along with Fernandes.
A harsh red card costs Palace after a good 55 minutes. Before the game I saw a lot of talk about their being very little hope for Palace following their game in Europe on Thursday but they flew out of the traps in this one and more than likely would have got something from the game if Lacroix wasn’t sent off, I think the referee got the penalty decision correct as Lacroix was pulling Cunha from behind as he headed towards goal but the red card was a tad harsh in my opinion. Adam Wharton was dominating that midfield by himself in that first half but did start to look leggy up until he came off in the 68th minute, Palace were pretty comfortable at the back for 55 minutes limiting United to very little other than crosses into the box which were handled well enough. All focus now for Palace has to be on that Conference League as they look to make it into the Europa League for next season.
Are cracks beginning to show for Michael Carrick. This is the third game in a row were United have been well below par for most of the game along with the West Ham and Everton games were United were so poor in my opinion. That left-hand-side was horrific today as Luke Shaw was abysmal before he went off with an injury in the 24th minute along with Cunha who quite clearly isn’t a left-winger, Mazraoui looked good when he came on as he always does but that left side is becoming an issue as of recent weeks in my opinion. The absence of Amad was felt as he’s United’s only real threat 1 on 1 and you see that when he came on were he kept getting past the Palace defence and was unlucky not to score on the day. I have a feeling that United aren’t going to get away with these types of performances for long and have two tough games coming up against Newcastle and Aston Villa.
United move up to 3rd place in the Premier League, United just keep on picking up points and that now leaves them level on points with Aston Villa on 51 with Liverpool close behind in 5th on 48 with Chelsea on 45 before a big game against Arsenal later on which will have big implications in the race for top 4/5. The next two games are huge for United who have had a diabolical record at St James Park over recent years but do face a wounded Newcastle team who find themselves 13th in the league, that Villa game at Old Trafford could well be the turning point as to which team will finish higher but I do think Liverpool are still favourites for that 3rd spot with the form they are currently on and favourable fixtures over the next few weeks. All eyes on St James Park on Wednesday as United look for their first win their since 2020.