Man Utd 0-1 Crystal Palace verdict on another bad day for Erik ten Hag

ManchesterWorld

Adam Lord gives his take on Man United's 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace - a result that made it the Red Devils' worst start to a season since 1989.

Transcript

00:00 Good evening I guess, welcome to Old Trafford, a very wet Old Trafford, where it's a tale

00:07 of another Manchester United defeat here. There were boos at the final whistle and the

00:12 worrying thing for Eric Tone-Harg at the moment is that that's becoming an all too familiar

00:16 sound here. Now, a quick tale of the game basically. United started pretty brightly,

00:21 that's to be said, Mason Mount looked lively, there were a few good moments, but then once

00:26 they went behind in the 25th minute here to Crystal Palace, Joe and Joe van der Sinde

00:31 hammering home a really nice finish from a Buchi Ezi free kick. The sad truth of the

00:38 matter is United floundered for the rest of the first half and then in the second they

00:40 didn't create a great deal. Mason Mount had a header that he should have done better with,

00:46 Alejandro Garnaccio looked bright when he came off the bench, did nearly force a known

00:50 goal, but United had 77% of the possession today, but didn't really translate that into

00:58 chances. Sam Johnson made a couple of sharp saves, but has he been bombarded all afternoon?

01:04 In truth he hasn't really. The upshot is this 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace here, another

01:08 fine day for Roy Hodgson here, is that's four defeats in seven Premier League games and

01:15 depending on which way you read the stats, the reality is that it's the worst starts

01:19 of a season since 1989. We came here today thinking that after Burnley, positive performance,

01:26 obviously being the same opposition in the Carabao Cup a few days ago, United could make

01:30 it three wins in a week, not three huge victories, but three victories in one the same after

01:35 a pretty worrying start to the season and it's all really fallen quite flat today. There

01:39 are problems all over the park really, Victor Lindelof has had another nightmare today to

01:44 be frank, he just looks all at sea. Raphael Varane was probably the best player for United

01:48 on the day, for me anyway, I'm sure some of you in the comments will disagree, but he

01:52 was probably the best player on the day. But he's the only really reliable defender United

01:56 have got. Lindelof was back in today and really, really struggled. Sofian Amravac was forced

02:02 into action at left back, a lot of silly fouls there for his promise and the excitement about

02:06 his arrival. Casemiro, after a promising performance in Dubuque, reverted to how he had been at

02:12 the start of the season and really, really struggled. He's just not the midfielding force

02:15 at United near at the moment. Said Mount was bright, Bruno Fernandes tried what he could,

02:20 especially in the second half, but it was low in effort. The headline for the team sheet

02:27 was Facundo Palestre was given the nod down the right, kept his place after the League

02:33 Cup victory. But a couple of bright moments aside, he couldn't really get himself in the

02:39 game and Rasmus Hoylund worked hard, nearly had a goal in 15 minutes when it was cleared

02:44 off the line. But he needs a bit more service, really, in truth. There's plenty of industry

02:51 there. He slipped when he had one chance as well and you feel like he's not far off really

02:56 clicking at leading the line, but he does need a bit more help as well. Help might come

03:00 from Marcus Rashford, who was the subject of a question in the press conference we've

03:03 just had. You could see he's Manchester's finest, is Marcus, but there was a lot of frustration

03:10 in the crowd about some of his play today. He came off after 77 minutes and he's just

03:16 not where he needs to be at the moment. It's clear that he's struggling. He gets in a lot

03:19 of promising positions, there's a lot of nice touches, but the end product and the decision-making

03:23 is not there. Now, the decision-making issue, to be fair, could be said for a lot of United

03:27 players today. But Rashford in particular just looked like he was struggling. There

03:31 was frustration in the crowd and his afternoon after those 77 minutes. Ericsson Halgan, his

03:35 press conference was there, has admitted that Rashford's not where he needs to be. Confident

03:38 he will come good, he kept saying that he will come good. He's working hard, he's doing

03:41 the right stuff. But it's not happening for the United England star at the moment. And

03:46 it's not happening for United as a whole. As I say, worst start since 1989 here. Roy

03:50 Hodgson was a happy man in his press conference with a job well done, but his team only had

03:53 23% of the ball. But they didn't need a lot. They took their goal really well, a bit of

03:58 slack defending, but then, as I say, United, there's hardly a bombardment, which is kind

04:03 of what you'd expect in years gone by here, when a team of Crystal Palace's level has

04:07 a 1-0 lead entry in the dying stages. So yeah, plenty. The concern continues really, after

04:15 what I'd hoped would have been a bright week. And there are still plenty of questions for

04:17 Ericsson Halgan to answer.

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