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Wilfried Zaha came back to haunt former Manchester United club in his first game of the season, with Crystal Palace’s well-deserved 3-1 win underscoring the need for improvements at Old Trafford.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led the Red Devils to three cup semifinals and third in the Premier League during a promising first full season in the hot seat, but a lack of transfer activity has led to growing fan discontent.
Saturday’s season opener offered little relief from that pressure, as United fell to Palace at an empty Old Trafford, where former winger Zaha scored twice amid the VAR drama.
Solskjaer’s side struggled during a night that began with Executive Vice President Ed Woodward saying the club had to be responsible with its resources given the challenges posed by Covid-19.
But the performance that followed only highlighted the need for improvement, with Palace winning at Old Trafford for the second season in a row, and few could argue with the result.
Andros Townsend took advantage of poor defense to give the Eagles an early lead that Zaha added after a ridiculous period of intervention from the video assistant referee.
De Gea saved Jordan Ayew’s penalty after referee Martin Atkinson checked the court monitor and judged that Victor Lindelof had driven, only for Palace to have another attempt to get the United goalkeeper slightly off his line.
Zaha slammed the penalty and, after spotting United rookie Donny van de Beek, shot home with another as his first captain’s armband game ended with a dream victory in the place he used to call home.
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