Alejandro Garnacho and Erik ten Hag agree about Man United and it speaks volumes
It was a frustrating evening for Manchester United on Saturday, with the team having to settle for a point from their trip to take on Crystal Palace.
United would have travelled down to South London looking to take all three points from the game and build two wins from two since the return to action after the international break. Erik ten Hag’s side went into the match as favourites, with Palace one of six teams yet to pick up a league win so far this season.
However, despite chances for both teams, the game ended in a 0-0 draw. The result leaves United in 11th place in the table with seven points from their opening five games.
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Posting on his Instagram stories, winger Alejandro Garnacho, who played the full 90 minutes, shared a picture of him reacting during the game along with a message that read: “We deserved a win today. See you on Wednesday.”
There was a similar message from his manager in his post-match interview with Sky Sports. “When we don’t win, I’m not content, we should have won, I think first half we let them alive and then the second half was more in balance but the first half we should have scored one or two goals,” he said.
“I think we played very good (in the first half), total control of the game, in and out of possession we played very good. The only thing was in the box, and in the box is always where a game is decided and we should be more clinical there.”
There’s no doubt that United were the better team in the first half and did have the chances to go in ahead at the break. But the reality of the Premier League means that against any opposition you need to make those periods count by being clinical.
After around an hour had passed, the pressure on the Palace goal dropped and Oliver Glasner’s side were able to come back in the game. United had Andre Onana to thank for not walking away without any points, with the goalkeeper making an outstanding double save from Eddie Nketiah and then Ismaila Sarr in the second half.
Palace also had another big chance to take all three points, only for Eberechi Eze to put the ball wide of Onana’s post when he looked certain to put the Eagles ahead. If either of those chances had gone in, United would only have had themselves to blame for not making the most of their own when they were on top.
United scored 10 goals in the previous two games, so the forward line should have been high in confidence going into the game at Selhurst Park. They will hope to find that clinical edge when they return to Europa League action against FC Twente on Wednesday night, before facing Tottenham at Old Trafford the following Sunday.
While the first half performance for United against Palace will be encouraging, there’s two things that can be learnt from the game. The importance of being clinical when on top, as well as maintaining that attacking pressure and not letting the other team into the game if that opening goal has not come as the game goes on.
The fact that they weren’t able to do either on Saturday evening may raise the question if they did in fact get exactly what they deserved from the game.