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Patrice Evra has highlighted the lack of pace from Manchester United’s central defenders as the key problem that led to Crystal Palace’s opening game.
The Eagles took the lead at Old Trafford when Andros Townsend scored off a Jeffrey Schlupp cross in what was the Red Devils’ first game of the season.
In preparation for the goal, Schlupp held onto a pass and beat Victor Lindelof on pace before deflecting his cross.
Meanwhile, Lindelof’s defensive partner Harry Maguire couldn’t go back in time to put out the cross before he found Townsend on the back post.
And former United defender Evra admits he “feared” that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team might concede that goal.
“If they [ Manchester United ] they don’t have the fastest power plants in the world, [ Crystal Palace ] it will always cause problems, “said the French expert Sky sports .
“So it’s a huge danger, but I feared it before the game and I’m not surprised by the result at this point.”
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Shortly after Townsend’s opener in the seventh minute, United’s defense was called into question because a miscommunication between Maguire and goalkeeper David de Gea nearly presented a golden opportunity for Jordan Ayew.
Then, in the second half of the game, Palace saw a goal disallowed for an offside offense by Wilfried Zaha to sound more alarms about United’s defensive capabilities.
And the Red Devils’ misery was compounded when Lindelof conceded a penalty after the VAR judged he had handled the ball.
Although Ayew’s effort was stopped by De Gea, the Spanish shooting plug was found to have slipped out of line as the ball was being hit and the referee ordered the penalty to be re-taken.
And penalty taker Zaha made no mistake from 12 yards to double his team’s lead.
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