Manchester United struggle to react to Ruud van Nistelrooy instructions in Crystal Palace draw

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Manchester United created chances galore and gifted great chances. In a contest that was descending into win-or-bust, it ended in a draw.

The only similar aspect about United from their mauling at Selhurst Park in May was they did not score. United constructed structured and speedy attacks, threatened from set-pieces and rattled the goalframe.

Rarely have they hogged the ball for 70 per cent and supplemented it with a high chance-creation. United were even guilty of overplaying it - a crime occasionally levelled at the other Manchester club.

Not for the first time, the issue was chance-conversion. The irony is United went backwards when Joshua Zirkzee was hooked as they were devoid of a frontman. By the time Erik ten Hag attempted to rectify it by introducing the official number nine, Rasmus Hojlund, United had gone flat.

READ MORE: United ratings vs Palace

READ MORE: Palace vs United as it happened

Hojlund gamely won a header in the 90th minute that a teammate failed to anticipate. Ten Hag lifted his arms in frustration.

Zirkzee, with one goal in seven appearances, is patently not a reliable goalscorer yet his penchant to drop deep allowed United to play around him and for their wingers to charge into the space he had vacated. United were sharper with the blunt Dutchman on the pitch.

After two wins by an aggregate scoreline of 10-0, this was always going to be a more reliable gauge of United's early-season progress. Palace are still winless in the Premier League but had the best opportunities to win it.

"We're Man United and we're never gonna stop," those in the away end sang in the 85th minute. Yet Palace did stop United, now winless at Selhurst in five.

As busy as Dean Henderson was, the save of the night and perhaps the season so far was Andre Onana's world-class denial of Ismaila Sarr. Palace supporters were so convinced the ball would drop into the net they were on their feet. Diogo Dalot was first to embrace his teammate for the reactionary stop. That was all United had to celebrate.

Ten Hag appeared sanguine at full-time and there was appreciative applause from the away end when the players approached them. Both sides may rue the final score. In the end, United only recorded two more attempts on target than Palace.

United's problematic profligacy prompted Ten Hag to order Rashford and Mason Mount to warm up barely five minutes into the second half. They were soon joined by Manuel Ugarte, Antony and Hojlund. United assembled a bench at a cost of more than £400million - excluding Rashford's worth.

An hour was not on the clock and Rashford was summoned. Ten Hag cited rotation behind Rashford's relegation to the bench after six successive starts and the need to start Alejandro Garnacho, a goal threat without a goal.

Attacking the direction where their 2,687 followers were housed in the Arthur Wait Stand, Rashford was immediately serenaded. The cavalry followed with Hojlund and Ugarte, some £122m worth of talent. None of them could lead another attacking charge.

There were only five survivors from the side humbled by Palace on that Monday mare in May. Christian Eriksen, upgraded from redundant to starter over the past week, showed why he was starting again.

Palace were flummoxed by his two floated corners Matthijs de Ligt failed to convert and the Dane dovetailed with Diogo Dalot by drifting out to the left, collaborating with Garnacho as Dalot veered into midfield.

Henderson recorded four saves inside the first 15 minutes alone and was reduced to celebrating a corner. United pinged the woodwork twice before the 30-minute mark.

Zirkzee's approach play was encouraging at Southampton and impressive again when he played Garnacho through for a duel with the former United 'keeper. Zirkzee regressed the next time he received the ball, squandering a more spacious opening that particularly piqued Fernandes.

The broadcasters homed in on Rashford, as if Garnacho was not United's top scorer. Rashford, an academy teammate of Henderson's, would have had additional intelligence to draw on.

When Jean-Philippe Mateta briefly blindsided Lisandro Martinez, he was deprived of assistance. Palace coach Oliver Glasner appeared stumped in the dugout and did an angry pirouette. The Palace denizens sounded increasingly irked.

On the 30-minute mark, Ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy urged Amad to compose himself after an overzealous foul, loath to granting Palace a route into a match they had not turned up for. Garnacho did not get the message and cynically conceded a foul that warranted a booking, buoying a crowd that had sounded like mutineers for portions of the half.

Van Nistelrooy was preaching calm again as half-time loomed. For all United's dominance, the best chance of the half dropped to the unmarked Eberechi Eze. The half-time shrill sparked enthusiastic applause from the Eagles who had had little to squawk about. Eze had a more glaring opening in the second half.

United avoided the bust.