Match Report: Manchester United 0-2 Crystal Palace | OneFootball

Manchester United fell to a humiliating 2-0 loss at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.

History repeated itself as Man United fell foul of defensive errors from set pieces yet again, enabling Palace to grab their opening goal.

The visitors got off to a fast start, running into United’s third with a blistering counter. While Amad Diallo recovered the ball, he made the bizarre decision to dribble back toward the goal to shake off his opponents rather than get rid of the ball. While he managed to get the ball out of danger, it was a peculiar decision from the winger to play out from the back under such pressure.

Bruno Fernandes played a decent long ball up to Noussair Mazraoui on the right, who passed to Kobbie Mainoo. Mainoo threaded a through ball to Alejandro Garnacho, whose shot was deflected out for a corner, which was successfully defended.

A moment later, United were on the counter, with Amad laying the ball off to Mainoo whose shot thumped the upright. Some positive attacking play from United despite playing without a striker up top.

On the stroke of 10 minutes, Palace missed a sitter. Daniel Muñoz beat the defence to get on the end of a well-timed cross, although his headed effort sailed over the top.

14 minutes in, United won a corner, with Martinez taking a shot that was blocked by a resolute Palace defence.

Mateta sparked a daring counter-attack, cutting back the ball to Maxence Lacroix, who forced an impressive save from Andre Onana with a thunderous long-range effort.

Soon after, Palace came close to scoring again when Ismaïla Sarr directed his close-range header wide. Palace were really knocking on the door in search of an opening goal.

Seven minutes before the break, Palace came inches within inches of scoring when Mateta broke through the defence, leaving Leny Yoro and Harry Maguire in the dust. Fortunately, his effort was pulled wide of the far post, allowing the Old Trafford crowd to breathe a sigh of relief. United would need to tighten up at the back in order to hold onto their clean sheet.

One minute of stoppage time was announced as United camped themselves in the final third. Struggling to find a breakthrough, finally, Martinez had an opening. Unfortunately, he floated his effort over the top.

0-0 the score remained following a turbulent half of football. Ruben Amorim clearly needed to spark some life into his attacking lineup in order for them to find a breakthrough in what should be a straightforward home win.

Three minutes after the restart, Maguire received a yellow card for a slide tackle on Mateta, handing Palace a free kick just right of the penalty box.

The ball floated to Guehi, whose header was caught by Onana. United got off to a blistering counter, with Amad threading the ball to Fernandes in the middle, whose dangerous shot was parried out for a corner by Dean Henderson.

53 minutes in, United earned a free-kick when Fernandes was roughly taken down by Will Hughes. Fernandes crossed the ball to Maguire in the box, who headed the ball to Ugarte. While Ugarte’s shot was powerful, the resolute Palace defence somehow kept it out.

In the 64th minute, Palace broke the deadlock in front of a mortified Old Trafford crowd. Eze crossed the ball into the box from his free-kick, finding the head of Lacroix, who beat Yoro in the air and sent a looping header over Onana. While his effort hit the crossbar, Mateta was positioned perfectly to scoop up the loose ball and blast it into the back of the net.

After the goal, Fernandes received a yellow card for arguing with the referee.

With little over 20 minutes to play, Mainoo was taken off for Rasmus Hojlund while Mazraoui made way for Joshua Zirkzee.

16 minutes to go, and Ugarte received a yellow card for a mistimed challenge.

The resulting free-kick almost saw Palace double their lead. Dalot failed to stay on Jefferson Lerma, whose header whizzed past a helpless Onana as well as the far post.

Two minutes later, disaster struck. Lisandro Martinez slumped to the ground after his knee buckled in a graphic manner. Clearly, he suffered a highly worrying injury, with Matthijs de Ligt getting ready to replace him.

Amorim would be hoping that the injury looked worse than it was.

Sadly, Martinez was beside himself with pain. The medical staff crowded around the centre-back for a few minutes, assisting him and securing him in the stretcher.

As expected, De Ligt came on to replace the injured Martinez.

Fernandes crossed in another corner in the 86th minute, which yet again amounted to nothing as the keeper caught the ball. That’s 10 corners for United with nothing to show for them.

Christian Eriksen came on for Ugarte, making his 300th Premier League appearance.

Two minutes from time, the visitors doubled their lead. After intercepting a United ball in their own half, Palace surged up the field, with Munoz getting on the end of a long pass on the right flank. He passed it to Mateta in the centre, who buried the ball into the back of the net.

Nine minutes of added time were announced following Martinez’s horrific injury.

With little action from United in stoppage time, fans will surely be wondering how much longer it will take Amorim to mend United’s defensive errors.

Still, the blame cannot be squarely placed on Amorim. It’s clear that new signings are required to bolster United’s attack and defence, raising questions as to why Ineos did not launch a spending spree in the January transfer window.

Starting XI: Onana, Mazraoui, Maguire, Martinez, Fernandes, Yoro, Amad, Garnacho, Dalot, Ugarte, Mainoo Subs: Hojlund, Zirkzee, De Ligt, Eriksen

Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images

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