Crystal Palace 0-0 Manchester United: Reds fall flat in foggy South London

Manchester United turned in considered one of their most disappointing performances of the season in a 0-0 draw away at Crystal Palace on Wednesday. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s fees appeared completely drained of vim and vigour on a misty night time in South London, and deserved nothing greater than the solitary level.

United appeared rusty from the very outset, and thrice gifted the ball to Palace attackers in harmful positions in the opening jiffy. Fortunately, the Eagles have been simply as sloppy in assault, and Dean Henderson remained largely untested.

As the half wore on, United appeared to develop into the sport. A Nemanja Matić piledriver looped up off the legs of James McCarthy and in the direction of the highest nook, although Palace’s ever-dependable shot-stopper Vicente Guaita was available to palm the ball to security. A couple of minutes later Luke Shaw discovered Marcus Rashford in a pocket of house on the sting of the field, although he fired large of the close to put up after a wise first contact.

Palace appeared to be sinking ever deeper in the direction of their very own objective, and United had a few additional possibilities to take the lead earlier than the interval. Mason Greenwood discovered a gap, although his deflected shot went behind for a nook. On the stroke of halftime, Aaron Wan-Bissaka delivered a peach of a low cross in behind the Eagles’ defence, although Joel Ward expertly scrambled the ball to security with Edinson Cavani lurking.

If United’s first half efficiency was poor, the second was even worse. For the primary 20 minutes, they noticed much less of the ball than a Palace facet which have averaged lower than 40% possession all through the Premier League season up to now, primarily courtesy of free passing and poor touches. Meanwhile, Henderson was referred to as into motion to disclaim Jordan Ayew from inside the realm, and Christian Benteke ought to’ve accomplished higher when he mishit an Ayew cross towards his standing leg.

Solskjær tried to liven issues up with the introductions of Scott McTominay and Daniel James, albeit with out a lot success. Greenwood did nicely to work some house on the sting of the Palace field in the ultimate 10 minutes, however his shot was all the time rising, and sailed excessive of Guaita’s crossbar.

The closing whistle sounded with the sport goalless and a comedically thick fog having descended over Selhurst Park; too late, alas, to stop us from having to bear witness to one of the crucial dour matches of the season up to now.