Manchester United 1-3 Crystal Palace: three things we learned

Manchester United wasted no time getting back into shape and wasting their Saturday with a toothless performance against a team that they should definitely beat 10 out of 10. Crystal Palace outpointed United as they counterattacked and benefited from VAR several times on his way to a staggering 1-3 victory at the Theater of Dreams. Usually Ole Gunnar Solskjaer likes to give a couple of results before we question his management options, but, being a condensed season, he got straight to the point.

Here are three things we learned from United’s 1-3 embarrassment against Crystal Palace.

Remember when lack of depth was a heavy weight crushing United’s ability to really become big? No, I’m not talking about last fall, I’m talking about a month and a half ago when this United team clinched third place with the skin of their teeth and was knocked out of two cup semifinals with the starting eleven looking like the squad at end of Saving Private Ryan or something.

But when Bruno Fernandes and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and the like dragged their nearly lifeless bodies off the pitch for the last time, we all thought: “way to gut it boys we just make sure Champions League so that we can finally bring in some reinforcements so we can get through an even more condensed program with even tougher competition.“

Well, despite the signing of my second son, Donny van de Beek, at the moment no more reinforcements are guaranteed. Combined with several players returning from quarantine and international service, Ole had a perfect storm of squad depth hell. Based on the current roster when healthy and available, United’s starting XI is written in permanent marker. However, when AWB, Mason Greenwood and Nemanja Matić don’t start or even make it to 18, United’s right-hand side faces opposition just as well as Neville Chamberlain.

Daniel James, Scott McTominay, and Timothy Fosu-Mensah combined were like mayonnaise ice cream and every part of this sentence should never be implemented or suggested anymore. This team desperately can’t afford to lose AWB and needs someone who can competently combine on the wing and not give the ball away. James has cemented his place in this team only as a squad player and should not be relied upon as a starter, except in the second leg cup playoffs when United have an insurmountable advantage. Meanwhile, TFM probably didn’t get a fair shake as an AWB stand-in, however the right side was still open during its load and needs to adapt quickly.

Finally, that pivot on the right side at 4-2-3-1 has to be someone who has positional awareness and can actually play a ball. I can’t imagine we will be waiting long to see DVDB make their full debut if Matić is not available for a period of time. McTominay was nice when we really sucked, but United are on a different level now and sheer effort instead of talent just isn’t enough anymore.

Photo by Richard Heathcote / Getty Images

To hell with the spirit of the game. Not once, but twice a VAR decision was against United with enough time after the play in question for everyone to forget about a possible infraction.

First, in the 69th minute, Jordan Ayew hit a ball into the box to prevent Victor Lindelöf from closing in and the ball appeared to brush against the Swede’s arm before De Gea hooked the ball and started United’s counterattack. Ayew, despite being the main instigator of the play in question, did not shout, did not raise his hand in the universal sign of handball, but simply trotted off with the look of “I could have done better there.” United would take the ball to the end of the field and Rashford would fire a shot wide off goal before Martin Atkinson put his finger to his ear.

VAR would soon realize that Lindelöf, who may be thrown out into the sun at this point, added awkward running and heading to his list of uncomfortable things he does because, effectively, in his attempt to headline Ayew’s scoop while running, raised right. arm and made contact with the ball. Atkinson would signal the point and Ayew would step in to take the penalty that led to incident number two.

In the 72nd minute, De Gea would pull out what appeared to be a miracle. With a goal for his team that didn’t show enough to suggest that they were capable of coming back from 0-2 against, De Gea saved Ayew’s penalty, a rare feat for a goalkeeper who, despite all his talent, never it has been particularly good at saving. sanctions. However, it would seem that De Gea went out of line a hair too early, however the entire Crystal Palace team would walk away without protest and with a, “aww shit, too bad we didn’t score there, we really would have closed this then” They look at all of their faces De Gea then restarted the game and the game would continue for another 30 seconds before, AGAIN Atkinson put his stupid finger to his stupid ear and asked for a replay.

Photo by Richard Heathcote / Getty Images

It was a bloody miracle that DDG saved a penalty, but it would be reason to go play the lottery for all United fans if the Spaniard managed to save two in successive minutes. This time it wouldn’t be Ayew who took the redo, as he conceded the penalty shot to former United striker Wilf Zaha (without going into a spiel, it seems a bit annoying that the guy whose penalty was saved in the first doesn’t have to take the second , but the penalty has yet to be executed). Zaha would undo Ayew’s mistake and confidently send a penalty to De Gea and back of the net for an almost insurmountable lead for the inept Reds to overcome in 18 minutes and some stoppage.

Let’s say the least, screw you, VAR.

My aforementioned second son scored on his debut. Not counting the fact that my first son, Daniel, scored on his debut last year, DVDB debuted as advertised and was probably more influential in 23 minutes than many of the Reds in full time. Why didn’t it start?

DVDB’s bread and butter is getting into spaces and being opportunistic. And would you believe he was in the perfect position to score United’s consolation goal to avoid being taunted? In addition, he was accurate with his passes in the opponent’s half and active throughout the field.

If you are a red living in Amsterdam, make sure Edwin van der Sar never pays for a drink in that city again because he fleeced his own team to give us a quality midfielder. I think DVDB will become something special like Fernandes and Paul Pogba, and if you don’t, be sure to bookmark this story and give me a call in the comments later. Nor will I read them. road.

Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA / Getty Images

Almost the second Shaw was several steps behind Andros Townsend when Townsend scored the opening goal, Tottenham was announcing the official signing of Sergio Reguilón, a fast left-back United was deep into before pulling out of the deal for reasons. Good deal or not to pull out of the Reguilón deal, that part doesn’t count for shit within the 90 minute period where Luke Shaw looked like he was wearing concrete boots against considerably faster players.

Photo by Shaun Botterill / Getty Images

Now, Shaw is calling the board to find backup, but it makes you wonder if he thinks he’s secure in his position. Fabrizio Romano has reported since late last week that United were in the process of securing the impressive talent of FC Porto’s left-back Alex Telles.

Shaw is going to waste time and he will be the reinforcement if he does not find out if he is a good footballer or not very soon.