[Norris]

Players who I thought struggled: First off I thought Lingard was particularly poor tonight, he's so so sloppy. It's a shame because he's brilliant at getting into these positions but he can't do anything with it most of the time.
I didn't think Schneiderlin did so well, but then I'm not sure Palace gave him a lot to do.
Rooney I thought was alright, not really poor but not great. Did some nice passes but there again, Palace gave our midfield little to contend with.
I wasn't impressed by Mata either, but then I rarely am. He was lively though so I'll let him off tonight.
Poor, pathetic Palace:
They were so bad, so so bad. They did virtually nothing when they were on the ball (Not that they really ever had spells of possession) the fact that at one point we were 2-0 up and they had pretty much every man behind the ball just stinks to me. I mean we've had to put up with some poor performances at Old Trafford, but to be a Palace fan who has travelled all that way to see that must be heart-breaking.
I hope their side can put a bit of fight in for them when they play their semi-final.

I thought Schneiderlin did well. He covered on the left flank on numerous occassions in the first half and on the right in the second and won so many tackles in the middle. He's not really doing his box to box sort of role that he did at Southampton. He's just trying to win the ball back in our half as quickly as possible before laying it off.The less he's noticed, the better he's doing his job in my opinion in such a role.

Palace were rubbish, but they were heavily depleted, but I think we should give credit to our defense as well. The 4-3-3 just destroyed them tactically and gave them no chance whatsoever. I understand how fans always want to slate the opposition team when we win a game fairly comfortably, but you have to give credit where it's due.

 

[Loublaze]

I'm not going to get fooled by this result. 2:0 - yes, but it includes an own goal and a Palace side which was really all over the place. Thankfully, Darmian scored a screamer so the scoreline seems more convincing.

Wouldn't mind this result if we'd usually trash lower-placed teams and we were just saving our energy for Saturday. That's not the case unfortunately. We struggled and at the end managed to escape from drawing with Aston Villa, who are now relegated.

3 points in the bag but still need other teams to feck up in order for us to get to top 4.

Let's see what happens on Saturday - the biggest game in LVG's Manchester United career yet.

I agree. Very flat game. We controlled the game but didn't really punish them did we? Not keeping my hopes up for top four. Not even being negative, being realistic. We play Leicester and West Ham away. I expect points to be dropped. In the meantime Liverpool are flying and will probably win their remaining games

 

[Karpaty]

I think that was big improvement from the Villa game. There at least was some intent and speed in our attacking game, we created chances and this time we we're solid at the back for whole 90 mins. Both full backs were active pretty much the whole game, that in my eyes made the big difference. Plus the fact that Palace was worthless! I quite enjoyed the match for a change.

As negative I think we still wen't sideways too much and we have to take our chances more clinically. Our midfield still chose the easy/safe option too many times when there was room for more direct passing. We could've created a lot more pressure to their backline. Pretty sure they shouldn't have been able to withstand it. Speroni made one great save from Martial but mostly our shots were straight down the middle. Even goalkeeper that hasn't played whole season saves those one.

 

[Red Stone]

The mark of a good team is that they look like scoring every time they have the ball. We've played two games against properly shite opposition in the past few days and I can barely remember any chances we created by working the ball through the opposition. The own goal today did come from a nice piece of build-up play and Rash's goal against Villa was a decent piece of penetrative play, but apart from that, what is there really? A one in a million-type goal from our right back after a headed clearance from a corner. Not something we can rely on every game. Then there's two corners at an unmarked Mata at the near post against Villa. Again, not exactly a reliable tactic. A competent defence would have pocketed Mata in those situations and gotten away without a care in the world.

That leaves the pass in behind that Rashford and Lingard squandered today and a couple of pops from distance. 180 minutes of football against some of the worst opponents we've played this season and we have a small handful of good chances created, and against West Ham we scored a fluke goal and a goal that took more than a fair share of Rashford brilliance to hit the back of the net. I can't remember the last time our players played quick passes and made clever runs to completely school the defence and put one of our players through for an easy finish one-on-one with the keeper. When I watch Barca it seems like they do it at will. Today's 8-0 win away from home (!!!) was ridiculous. Spurs were running rings around the Stoke defence a couple of days ago. We're so slow and calculating in our build-up, and it inevitably ends up with having to work the ball wide and cross it in or shoot from long range, since no-one has any idea how to catch a defence off guard with a quick passes and penetrating runs.

I'm happy we're battling our way to three points at the business end of the season, but I'm starting to crave teams getting thrashed by four goals or more when they come to Old Trafford, and I fear the chance of doing that this season is lost after these two games. Leicester and Bournemouth won't give it up as easily.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Didnt see the match. How was Rooney in midfield? Some papers say Martial had a good outing. My friends said he was pretty average.

 

[GifLord]

Smalling and Darmian post match interviews

 

[RedDevil@84]

Just saw some highlights. Damn you Speroni. We could have at least matched the dippers yesterday.

 

[SqueakyWeasel]

Heh, no I don't do Facebook, my stream tonight was in Russian and the commentary was funny so myself and @SqueakyWeasel have been posting Russian to entertain ourselves.

низкий заборчик

 

[Perrick Dubois]

Listened on the radio live and then I just got home and watched the replay. Decent game, we looked a lot more cohesive as a unit with Rooney in midfield. That is a bit of a fascinating aspect to our team at the moment.

I'll share a funny tidbit, the radio feed that we usually listen to has a hilarious color commentary guy. He refers to De Gea as "Pale Goat" or "White Goat" which essentially translates to mountain goat (I sometimes thinks he even means llama lol). He basically refers to his penalty area/six yard box as his "pen". So when he comments on what "Pale Goat" has done during a match last night he was saying that "Pale Goat was preening himself at the edge of his pen. Trotting around for the cameras. Making sure to be seen as a stunning Pale goat" haha he must have said that about four or five times during the game.

I love when he comes out and makes a save because he says things like "The Pale Goat came spitting and hissing to the edge of his pen and made sure there was no danger". Funny thing that has kept us amused this season.

 

[EverReddy]

An important win, vital 3 points but tedious vangle football.

 

[pacifictheme]

Except that this was not done by design to keep players fresh for Everton, this is just how we are.

The point still stands though.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Did the old man praise Rooney for earning the FA cup SF spot?

 

[Mal donaghy]

I literally don't care about our performances anymore since I expect nothing from us under van Gaal, 3 points are the most important.

Crystal Palace were absolutely terrible and embarrassing though, they should pay their fans who came to watch them. I bet their players would take the loss before the game just so they don't have to play it, just embarrassing stuff. They showed no attacking intent in the entire game, they were happy to defend when we were 2-0 even after 70 minutes.

This. Spot on

 

[togg]

I think the fact that the post match thread only has 3 pages so far kind of indicates the general apathy about United's end of the season and interest in it!

 

[Rado_N]

низкий заборчик

 

[Paul the Wolf]

I think the fact that the post match thread only has 3 pages so far kind of indicates the general apathy about United's end of the season and interest in it!

Think it's more a case of not being able to watch it, those of us who did seemed to have quite enjoyed it. Those who pretended they did just made comments based on the scoreline

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

Palace didn't make a good impression, but that's partly a consequence of the possession game. It's hard to look good when you're chasing the ball most of the time.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We were pretty good but I felt like Palace weren't really up for it once they went a goal down.

Maybe the injection of pace with Valencia, Rashford, Lingard and Martial all playing helped too but it just seemed like we had a lot more space to operate than usual.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

We were pretty good but I felt like Palace weren't really up for it once they went a goal down.

Maybe the injection of pace with Valencia, Rashford, Lingard and Martial all playing helped too but it just seemed like we had a lot more space to operate than usual.

At the end of the season there are a number of teams that have downed tools as they have nothing to play for. It is part of the Liverpool boom bust cycle.

 

[SqueakyWeasel]

We were pretty good but I felt like Palace weren't really up for it once they went a goal down.

Maybe the injection of pace with Valencia, Rashford, Lingard and Martial all playing helped too but it just seemed like we had a lot more space to operate than usual.

Got that feeling too, they are virtually guaranteed safe (mathematically bar a point in 4 games) and have a great chance of getting to a Wembley final on Sunday. I'd say that they looked at the historical results and maybe Pardew thought they wouldn't be getting too much from this fixture anyway and said lets show up but conserve our energies for more realistic targets.

If we both get to the final (not guaranteed by a long shot!) I doubt they'll play like that again.

 

[Norris]

maybe Pardew thought they wouldn't be getting too much from this fixture anyway and said lets show up but conserve our energies for more realistic targets.

But Pardew was pretty much barking at his players throughout the game. Even after the game, he was visible irate. May not have played for the win, but surely would have focused on a draw.

 

[Hed Zitin]

I'd rather win a training style match than lose and chase shadows for 90 mins like Everton did, with a semi final at the weekend.

 

[Dobba]

Oh yeah, a 2-0 win against Crystal Palace AND an outside chance at making top four. Van Gaal has really stuck it to his doubters.

Absolutely, they wanted United to lose (again) and they didn't. Hopefully they don't get their way again at the weekend.

 

[Swaters16]

I thought palace would do more going forward, they've pretty much stayed up and had little to lose by going for a win. To see them camp in their own half the whole game was pretty rubbish.

 

[sunama]

It was a very boring game, but that's fine...we got the win. That's the main thing.

One thing to point out though, is that although the score was 2-0, once again we scored 1 goal (the other goal was OG).
So, the consistency with which we are getting 1 goal per game, is metronomic. And even against weak teams, scoring more than 1 goal seems near impossible.
How can a manager create such a boring brand of football. Even teams struggling for relegation, would want to score more than 1 goal per game. Does this not have an effect on the players, themselves?

 

[prath92]

It was a very boring game, but that's fine...we got the win. That's the main thing.

One thing to point out though, is that although the score was 2-0, once again we scored 1 goal (the other goal was OG).
So, the consistency with which we are getting 1 goal per game, is metronomic. And even against weak teams, scoring more than 1 goal seems near impossible.
How can a manager create such a boring brand of football. Even teams struggling for relegation, would want to score more than 1 goal per game. Does this not have an effect on the players, themselves?

Yday we should have scored more than 2. Rashford martial Valencia lingard all missed relative sitters.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Ffs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...George-Best-Denis-Law-Sir-Bobby-Charlton.html

 

[sunama]

I literally don't care about our performances anymore since I expect nothing from us under van Gaal, 3 points are the most important.

Crystal Palace were absolutely terrible and embarrassing though, they should pay their fans who came to watch them. I bet their players would take the loss before the game just so they don't have to play it, just embarrassing stuff. They showed no attacking intent in the entire game, they were happy to defend when we were 2-0 even after 70 minutes.

Indeed.
I actually felt that Villa (who are a worse team), played better against us.
Palace were really really bad and I don't understand how those players can justify their wages.

 

[Dec9003]

I thought Schneiderlin did well. He covered on the left flank on numerous occassions in the first half and on the right in the second and won so many tackles in the middle. He's not really doing his box to box sort of role that he did at Southampton. He's just trying to win the ball back in our half as quickly as possible before laying it off.The less he's noticed, the better he's doing his job in my opinion in such a role.

Palace were rubbish, but they were heavily depleted, but I think we should give credit to our defense as well. The 4-3-3 just destroyed them tactically and gave them no chance whatsoever. I understand how fans always want to slate the opposition team when we win a game fairly comfortably, but you have to give credit where it's due.

Yeah don't get me wrong Schneiderlin by no means had a bad game; the same with Rooney. It's just the way Palace set up to presumably counter they had to be sitting in just in case, especially Schneiderlin.
Plus I have plenty of credit we played a good match, the 433 suits is far better than having two pointless defensive midfielders and a huge gap between them and the attack.
Palace were bad though, in fact I'd argue they were the worst team we've played at Old Trafford this season. It's one thing losing 2-0 against a side clearly much better for you and still with something to play for, but to just sit in and not try to pull it back is just a bit sad I thought.

 

[gerdm07]

I think the fact that the post match thread only has 3 pages so far kind of indicates the general apathy about United's end of the season and interest in it!

The match wasn't not shown on NBCSN in the USA. They chose to show Liverpool match instead. This was the first time all year the MU match wasn't shown at least on one of their secondary channels. I suspect the choice has to do with the fact Liverpool is playing some exciting football lately and we are playing the same boring stuff. This is a little more proof that how you play is important.

 

[Basa1987]

The match wasn't not shown on NBCSN in the USA. They chose to show Liverpool match instead. This was the first time all year the MU match wasn't shown at least on one of their secondary channels. I suspect the choice has to do with the fact Liverpool is playing some exciting football lately and we are playing the same boring stuff. This is a little more proof that how you play is important.

Or the fact that it was a derby for Liverpool.

There have been plenty of games over the last couple of seasons where it has only been online and not on TV.

 

[gerdm07]

Not true. I can only remember 2 or 3 times in 3 years where a United match was not on TV. Of course it depends on the channels you get.

I can only speak for myself but I think most in the US do not get bothered about a derby. Add the fact that MU vs CP is important for top 4 and LP vs EV was pretty much meaningless, it was a surprising decision by NBC.

 

[sunama]

Palace didn't make a good impression, but that's partly a consequence of the possession game. It's hard to look good when you're chasing the ball most of the time.

I disagree with this.
Throughout December we dominated possession against every team.
We lost and drew against every team during this time.

Possession means little when all you do is side/back passing.
The problem for Palace yesterday is they genuinely were awful. Worse even that Villa (who were really bad and relieved to lose).
The CP manager should either fire some of his players OR he should resign and accept that he cannot motivate his players to do anything more than the bare minimum.

 

[marlowe78]

/joke

So was me.

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

I disagree with this.
Throughout December we dominated possession against every team.
We lost and drew against every team during this time.

Possession means little when all you do is side/back passing.

That wasn't the case and it depends of course on which side has to score.

 

[Sarni]

Our chances for top 4 are still slim due to City having GD over us, they will have to lose one of their remaining games and realistically I can only see Southampton beating them and it's a very long shot.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

This article didn't think Souare's two-footer should have been a red card, and was 'unlucky' to even get a yellow card for it.
http://www.teamtalk.com/news/ref-review-the-controversial-decisions-from-the-midweek-games

Souare red card escape v Manchester United: Yes this challenge from Pape Souare is a strong one, but in no way shape or form can this ever be a red card. In fact, our panel felt that Souare was unlucky to even receive a yellow card for this. It was a perfectly timed cut-out of a dangerous break for United in which Juan Mata’s heavy touch allows the Senegal international to slide in and avert the trouble. The play on the ball is excellent and it is the follow through that knocks over a stand-still Mata, who goes down like a ragdoll. Verdict: Correct decision