Crystal Palace 1:2 Manchester United

Loublaze · May 4, 2015

Boycott said:
Valdes debut goal to get us a point.

WTF

tombombadil · May 4, 2015

The White Pele said:
The left side which was working so effectively has been nullified in recent weeks and Herrera dropping deep has harmed our fluency on the opposite side.

Gotta agree that I think shunting Herrera as our number 6 has harmed the right flank. Somehow, Rooney/Fellaini just don't have the same triangle passing fluency that Mata thrives on.

On the left, double teaming Young and man marking Fellaini has limited their ability to make an impact.

I can see this game that we are trying to make changes to counter the way we're being stifled, e.g. Fellaini roaming to the right center mid, Mata cutting in a lot, etc. All this, presumably to stifle the man marking. But it has resulted in our fluency of attack being reduced. E.g. when Mata cuts in, Rooney/Fellaini doesn't cut out to the right flank. This means we don't overload the right flank as much as we used to and also congests the middle further. Also, our tempo in the first half was so slow. It was only in the second half that we upped the tempo. But by then, WBA had the fluke goal already.

There's still lots of room for improvement I guess. The team doesn't adapt to changes as well as they should. Just my observation of last weekend's game, anyway. Not so sure about the second half observations though, as I was busy with beers and girls by then. lol.

sunama said:
This is our best chance of a win.
Somehow, we need to convince them, we need to put a seed in their manager's head that they must attack us and drop all ideas of buses and parking.

Where's Leo and gang when we need him? :lol:

RedDevil@84 · May 4, 2015

1-2 win for Utd..
We score once on either side of the break.. They score in 75th min and we fret about it and start giving silly freekicks. De Gea makes some saves to help us win.

Gannicus · May 4, 2015

Will Carrick be fit?

LeftyBlaster · May 4, 2015

I say draw unless Carrick returns. We'll probably bottle the creativity and offensive-nes in a bid to not lose, score one, and concede one due to being hit on the break /silly defensive error.

untitled_6899 · May 4, 2015

It's vital to score first to draw them out of their half though I suspect they won't be as boxed in as the opposition in our previous 3 games.

minoo-utd · May 4, 2015

LVG must deliver. Lose this and fourth is up in the air.

C'est Moi Cantona · May 4, 2015

A few players just look to have gone stale, maybe all the effort in that winning streak has caught up with them, but Young, Blind, Mata, and dare I say it Rooney just don't look like they have anything left.

Fellini too looks an imatation of his best, but it's hard to tell if that's his fault or the players around him.

Question234 · May 4, 2015

Need to switch things up.

You know if we lose this top 4 might be gone. it's actually funny.

caisenma · May 4, 2015

Three games and zero goals scored means changes have to come.

----------------DDG
Valencia (shudder) - Smalling - Jones - Shaw/Blind/Young
-----------Carrick/Blind
Mata ---Herrera ---Fellaini --- Januzaj
--------------Rooney

I figure a physical Fellaini is useful at Crystal Palace, but otherwise switch to Van Persie for Rooney, and Rooney for Fellaini.

Falcao doesn't make the bench.

RedFish · May 4, 2015

I think may struggle. It won't be pretty but hope we sneak through

Wednesday at Stoke · May 4, 2015

Dwight Gayle will score, its free money.

sunama · May 4, 2015

Well, we know that they are going to park the bus. Thats 99% guaranteed.
LVG NEEDS to come up with a tactic which cuts through the bus. I dearly hope we dont attempt to play the same brand of football (ie. camp in the opponents half and just pass the ball sideways and backwards). We need to take risks when we have the ball near their penalty area, either shoot or attempt to directly pass to our strikers, who in turn should take pot-shots at goal. If we can meet a team who parks the bus and hit 7+ goals pass them, hopefully in future, rival teams will think twice about playing that way against us.

The problem is that at the moment, parking the bus almost guarantees 3 points for the team using that tactic, so why wouldnt any manager use that against us?

C'est Moi Cantona · May 4, 2015

sunama said:
Well, we know that they are going to park the bus. Thats 99% guaranteed.
LVG NEEDS to come up with a tactic which cuts through the bus. I dearly hope we dont attempt to play the same brand of football (ie. camp in the opponents half and just pass the ball sideways and backwards). We need to take risks when we have the ball near their penalty area, either shoot or attempt to directly pass to our strikers, who in turn should take pot-shots at goal. If we can meet a team who parks the bus and hit 7+ goals pass them, hopefully in future, rival teams will think twice about playing that way against us.

The problem is that at the moment, parking the bus almost guarantees 3 points for the team using that tactic, so why wouldnt any manager use that against us?

It's not though, unless I am horribly wrong Palace don't, and won't play like that, I wish they would though because there is no way they'd get it right.

No Palace will attack us, Bolaise, and Zaha will cause chaos, but at least there will be space for us to play for once, I just have a horrible feeling about Zaha, he's a good player and we should have loaned him until the end of the season, then sold him.

Fletcher won the free kick that beat us on Saturday, what's the betting on Zaha setting one up, then Welbeck doing similar the following week..... we are so stupid sometimes.

Walters_19_MuFc · May 4, 2015

C'est Moi Cantona said:
It's not though, unless I am horribly wrong Palace don't, and won't play like that, I wish they would though because there is no way they'd get it right.

No Palace will attack us, Bolaise, and Zaha will cause chaos, but at least there will be space for us to play for once, I just have a horrible feeling about Zaha, he's a good player and we should have loaned him until the end of the season, then sold him.

Fletcher won the free kick that beat us on Saturday, what's the betting on Zaha setting one up, then Welbeck doing similar the following week..... we are so stupid sometimes.

Are you serious? Have you watched Palace this season? As @sunama said, they will park the bus, as they've been doing for most of the season. There attack will come through them trying to counter us, which they do very well, with Bolasie and Zaha on the wings. I think this is why it'll be important to get the first goal, otherwise it could be a very difficult outing, especially as we seem to struggle (guess everyone would when you play a possession game) with teams countering us, i.e. Everton a couple of weeks ago.

Tincanalley · May 5, 2015

'No return date' on Carrick in physioroom.com. Drat and double drat.

C'est Moi Cantona · May 5, 2015

Walters_19_MuFc said:
Are you serious? Have you watched Palace this season? As @sunama said, they will park the bus, as they've been doing for most of the season. There attack will come through them trying to counter us, which they do very well, with Bolasie and Zaha on the wings. I think this is why it'll be important to get the first goal, otherwise it could be a very difficult outing, especially as we seem to struggle (guess everyone would when you play a possession game) with teams countering us, i.e. Everton a couple of weeks ago.

Tbh yes I was serious, I didn't think Palace played like that especially at home, but I'll bow to your better knowledge on them.

They certainly haven't got the attacking players Everton have got, and on the back of three straight defeats I'd like to think their defence isn't overly confident about not conceding, so there is certainly reason for hope, but it's hard to know what to expect from us at the moment.

minoo-utd · May 5, 2015

Don't want imagine us losing this game and Liverpool beats Chelsea.

SammyUnited_83 · May 5, 2015

It's a cup final for us, a win and it then puts Liverpool under severe pressure.

A defeat or draw then Liverpool will still have a sniff even if they drop points. It's a massive game, but I am refusing to get too worked up over finishing 4th - we would still have to qualify which we will probably make hard for ourselves.

JoaquinJoaquin · May 5, 2015

Dreading this game to be honest for a number of reasons.

1) Our away form
2) Palace are tough to beat and will sit deep and play for set pieces which DOES work against us
3) The worry that LVG will not switch it up tactically which he needs to do
4) Our strikers have gone off the boil

groovyalbert · May 5, 2015

Gannicus said:
Will Carrick be fit?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...pensable-Michael-Carrick-involved-season.html

Not sure if this has already been posted but just came across this which says he's expected to be available, although he wasn't in the U21s squad last night. If there's any chance of Carrick being available for Saturday he's a got to be picked irregardless of "match rhythm". A 72% win ratio with Carrick in the team in a season where LVG's overall win ratio has been around 54% just shows how invaluable he's been for us.

In terms of the game itself, I think we all know how Palace will play. They've got serious threats down the wings for counter attacks so I really hope we have a recognized fullback available, although if Carrick is in the midfield I'd trust both Valencia and Blind there due to the out-ball he offers both of them. Avoid giving away daft freekicks (we seem to have done that a lot in recent seasons) and score in the first half to calm nerves/force Palace to come out and we should be ok.

Roman Bellic · May 5, 2015

Can't believe fixtures against Everton,West Brom,Palace,Arsenal and Hull are still not easy wins, 2nd should have been the target.

1-1 draw, they score and we equalise then they contain us for the last 15 minutes....same old same old.

bleedred · May 5, 2015

Am I right in saying that IF we win and Pool lose, top 4 is done??

Question234 · May 5, 2015

lets just win this, get peppered by arsenal and just finish the season 4th.

Tired of the ups and downs.

Red-Man-Walking · May 5, 2015

bleedred said:
Am I right in saying that IF we win and Pool lose, top 4 is done??

Yep, 7 points clear with 2 games to play.

SalfordRed1960 · May 5, 2015

C'est Moi Cantona said:
Tbh yes I was serious, I didn't think Palace played like that especially at home, but I'll bow to your better knowledge on them.

They certainly haven't got the attacking players Everton have got, and on the back of three straight defeats I'd like to think their defence isn't overly confident about not conceding, so there is certainly reason for hope, but it's hard to know what to expect from us at the moment.

I agree. Pardew does not normally park the bus, he usually has a team that can fight for every ball with fast attackers.

That said, based on what he has seen in the last 3 games, he may well see parking the bus as a better option of getting 3 points.

Shark · May 5, 2015

A 4th loss in a row seems unthinkable, but there really aren't many reasons to be confident right now aside from the fact that the players should be treating it like a cup final. Christ, how things have changed compared to a couple of weeks ago..

Bwuk · May 5, 2015

Assuming Carrick isn't fit.

Dave
Valencia - Smalling - Rojo - Blind
Rooney
Herrera - di Maria
Mata - van Persie - Januzaj

Won't happen though. Fellaini will play, and so will Ashley Young.

soapythecat · May 5, 2015

Some of you girls need to get a grip. We could have easily scored 3 or 4 goals against West Brom and everyone would have been saying this was 3 points in the bag.
Palace will be a tough game but there is no way they will sat back like WB did and will look to attack down the flanks - this will help United. Palace have no reason to sit back as they are safe and with nothing but pride to play for. They will want to win the game.
Carrick will continue to be a big loss but hopefully, Shaw will be fit. I'd like to see Fellaini dropped and RvP start again as he looked quite sharp aside from the penalty.

Dumbstar · May 5, 2015

Good game to watch this. Zaha, Bolasie and Murray have recently been playing like their world cup places depend on it. And its not even world cup year. Can't call which way this will go. Wish the weekend would hurry up!

SirAF · May 5, 2015

Biggest match of the season.

RedDevil-85 · May 5, 2015

Predicted a 1-1 draw.

JR10 · May 5, 2015

Since every team began taking a cue from Jose on how to nullify our tactics, i expect palace to implore a similar approach and with bolasie, puncheon & zaha its going to be even more devastating than what we experienced in the last 3 matches. I just feel LVG has to tweak his tactics a little bit for this match. With Carrick still injured there's no point in us making use of the philosophy any longer. In the absence of competent replacements for Carrick its best we adopt a more direct style against palace and play through the wings rather than the"felliani" approach which has been found out.

Mciahel Goodman · May 5, 2015

JR10 said:
Since every team began taking a cue from Jose on how to nullify our tactics

His epitaph will read: Won a lot, whinged often, and taught teams how to man-mark Fellaini.

Ramshock · May 5, 2015

I hope that LVG will forget his philosophy and go on the counter against Palace. Palace are going to do what the last three opponents did and go on the counter with Bolasie and Zaha. I hope LVG just changes it up for this game but he is a stubborn man and I doubt he is going to.

Ramshock · May 5, 2015

Bwuk said:
Assuming Carrick isn't fit.

Dave
Valencia - Smalling - Rojo - Blind
Rooney
Herrera - di Maria
Mata - van Persie - Januzaj

Won't happen though. Fellaini will play, and so will Ashley Young.

You want to take Fellaini out against a team which plays for set pieces? Okay :rolleyes:

ggzii · May 5, 2015

I think 4th is gone. LVG Sacking on the cards, too stuborn.

soapythecat · May 5, 2015

ggzii said:
I think 4th is gone. LVG Sacking on the cards, too stuborn.

Classic Caf.

Gannicus · May 5, 2015

We will win, Liverpool will lose.

We'll have fourth place in the bag and Louis will be crowned genius again.

soapythecat · May 5, 2015

Gannicus said:
We will win, Liverpool will lose.

We'll have fourth place in the bag and Louis will be crowned genius again.

And the keyboard warriors (moaners) will still find something to moan about.

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Crystal Palace 1:2 Manchester United

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