PL L FA Premier League

Manchester United 0:2 Crystal Palace

Post-match discussion


Sun, 02 February 2025

We are shit. We will finish lower half. None of our remaining games matter. We are doing nothing in the cups. Roll on next season.
 
It’s the stuff we give up to go each game (like quality time with the kids who lost their mum last year, makes it harder for me to go), but they’re the choices we make as fans.

Hope we put in a top performance for your visit mate
Oh I’m so sorry to hear that. Must have been a tough time. I admire your commitment
 
Left home at 04:30 this morning and just arrived back. Performances & results like that really make me question my sanity wanting to go over 3/4 times a season. Fans deserve better.
I’ve just been in North London for a gig and seeing the smug looks on gooner faces after their result makes me long for the days we were just as happy watching our team.
Still, there are much worse things happening in the world and that puts it all in perspective.
 
Total overhaul needed. Needs new striker, new WB, need AM, new CM. 5-6 new players to replace this bunch. Just start selling everyone, we won't be even close to top 4 in the next 3-4 years.
Agreed but it realistically isn’t going to happen.

We need a manager who can manger these players. Over time we’ll add a few players but in the meantime Amorim needs to straighten out them out or step aside.

On paper, our players are better than Crystal Palace and are certainly not 0-2 worse.
 
Just a thought , Mainoo looked ok playing behind Hojlund, why change something that was reasonably useful. Mainoo will never be an out and out striker, it failed which should surprise no one, when the player has never played as a 9. Hojlund at least had someone to take pressure off when Mainoo played as a 10. Is it that simple, change for change sake isn’t a solution.
 
Amad never has a good game at 10. Please just play him at RWB only.
This is why I want to see Amorim tweak his formation ever so slightly with the two 10’s becoming wide players as Amad and Garnacho are both better wide where they have space to get the ball then drive at the opposition and if they’re doubled up on it gives space to the striker or one of the midfielders, also if Amad or Garnacho came inside from wide then the wing backs can overlap giving the opposition a problem in which way to go
 
I am not seeing the same as the majority on this post. I thought we were good for some parts of the game. Regular in the rest.

We are not top quality, played an even game with mid table opponent. The money spent last 4y (buys and renewals) sent us down to that place, where we belong now.

The last thing we need is keep being delusional. Most teams have better physicality, have better attacking line, have better goalkeeping, have much more confidence.

The way up is hard, rocky and lengthy. Either complain or believe.
 
Just a thought , Mainoo looked ok playing behind Hojlund, why change something that was reasonably useful. Mainoo will never be an out and out striker, it failed which should surprise no one, when the player has never played as a 9. Hojlund at least had someone to take pressure off when Mainoo played as a 10. Is it that simple, change for change sake isn’t a solution.
Was going to say similar, but more general - felt like changes for changes sake.

Okay, not great opposition but thought it was the best we've looked second half on Thursday... Other than Ugarte coming back in, why not a run with that set up?

Mainoo stays as a 10, Amad rwb and the same back three (Maz, De Ligt, Martinez).
 
Thankfully missed the game. Thought it would be a 2-1 loss but guess I was an optimist. This was always going to be a defeat given our home form and our recent record vs Palace (bit similar to Brighton), which is why wins against Southampton and Fulham were so vital. Frustrating we can't get at least a draw in games like this and Brighton.

Guess one positive thing is we've only got 6 home games left in league: 3 vs top 10 sides (Arsenal and City going to be easy defeats, Villa perhaps not as it's last game of the season) and 3 against bottom 10 sides (Ipswich, West Ham, Wolves and in those 3 we've got a chance to get a result).

Now 5 days until Leicester game and then 9 days until Tottenham. Hope more time to prepare will benefit us.
 
Just seen that in the last 4 games against Palace, we have not even scored a single goal let alone beat them. Total aggregate score of 0-7 to them. Bloody hell, have we just found our kryptonite?
 
Target for this season has to be not getting relegated
Its strange how our targets have dropped over time, from winning the premier league being a target, to qualifying for Champions League, then it changed to qualifying for Europa, to now now avoiding a relegation battle
 
Its strange how our targets have dropped over time, from winning the premier league being a target, to qualifying for Champions League, then it changed to qualifying for Europa, to now now avoiding a relegation battle

It's temporary and we will be back. We just have to bite our teeth through this phase. It's fine to go through something like this to make us more humble.
 
Agreed but it realistically isn’t going to happen.

We need a manager who can manger these players. Over time we’ll add a few players but in the meantime Amorim needs to straighten out them out or step aside.

On paper, our players are better than Crystal Palace and are certainly not 0-2 worse.

No manager will ever get a tune out of this bunch as a collective. This squad has positives for sure, but as a collective unit this squad is just not capable or regular positive performances.

They've been battered over time and some barely look like footballers. The environment within the club has been off for years and the bulk of the playing squad have been here too long.

As a collective unit - this squad is uncoachable and not capable to perform to the standards needed. We have good individuals with some good traits - but this is a team game. You cant perform well regularly when only a handful of the entire squad has the right mindset.

While we do rely on youth players coming through - I worry about how quickly we are shooting the confidence out of the academy players. They're not stepping into a healthy dressing room, they're not benefiting from learning from senior pro's with high standards to guide them. They're walking into an absolute pit of sub standard lazy culture.

If i'm a Garnacho, am I inspired by Rashford? If i'm Mainoo am I thinking Bruno is the best to learn from? Our "senior" pro's just do not inspire. Eriksen can barely run, Casemiro looks lost, Maguire (who has come back into good form to be fair) will never be the benchmark of what a young CB wants to aspire to be. Shaw and Mount are never fit. We have no senior striker, so Hojlund and Zirkzee are learning on the go. Who is setting standards within the squad?

There isn't a manager in world football that could make this squad perform to a high standard consistently. Overhaul is needed. I'd go as far as saying any player who has been here more than 2 seasons needs to go over the next 3 windows - we need to clear decks big time
 
Crystal Palace, Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford, Bournemouth - just hearing these team names you know a home defeat is 90% likely these days.
 
How is it that EVERY team but United has several players who can pick up the ball and just run through our lines? Most often it’s a player I’ve never heard of but they all look so physically superior to any of our players. Why the heck is this?
 
How do you get to that conclusion after watching him for what the best part of 10 games? Ridiculous comment.
It's also ridiculous for anyone to say that you know he's going to be a star.
All the other scouts bow to your superior knowledge based on a few games in a terrible team.
Thank you.
I'm glad they agree with me. :lol:
 
The manager found a team which was already not up to standard.
Do you want to sack him already ?
No i wouldn't sack him nor did i say that. I think eventually he will be fine once we spend another 400m on players. My point is on the now, he has to be doing a lot better, not coaching the team to a 17th place finish.
 
Really crushing defeat, just further exploiting the fact that we struggle to put the ball in the back of the net. I don't put all of this purely on Hojlund, but he has to do a lot better and the players that do get forward need to find him more. I think Ruben will have to try and find a way to throw caution to the wind and encourage the players to take risks and be more direct. Last season was incredibly poor in front of goal and I feel like this season will be even worse. It can't be the right approach that we are generally more solid in overall play and shape, but still typically get undone by a set piece goal and maybe a counter attack when we're chasing it. I think we can be a bit more open and hopefully score so we have a chance to take points from these games instead of it feeling like we often play to get beat 1 or 2-0...

It was a damming defeat for me, but typical of us over the last decade. We started to show with the draw at Anfield, getting the win on penalties against Arsenal with 10-men, victories over Southampton, Rangers, FCSB and Fulham, admittedly with a loss to Brighton sandwiched in-between. But things felt a bit better without being amazing, we kept a couple of clean sheets, scored 12 in 7 which was moving in the right direction, 1 defeat in 7... Then as usual, brought back to reality. So disappointing because we had the opportunity to put distance between ourselves and Palace, go above Brentford and be right behind Brighton but instead we find ourselves below Palace. We'd then have Leicester in the FA Cup which given their form should be a chance to build momentum, then Spurs who we could effectively bury by beating them to go 8 points clear.

But instead, given the mental fragility of this team, we have lost to Palace and I wouldn't be surprised if we get past Leicester but lose to Spurs as well. There's a lot of training time coming up for Amorim but we have some pretty tough fixtures remaining. I was optimistic we could finish 9th or sneak 8th so it wouldn't be a total disaster of a league campaign, but this defeat, even though it is just 1 more defeat, really swings to the expectation of us finishing in the bottom half for the first time.
 
It shouldn't be an excuse, but worth remembering that United flew back from Bucharest Friday morning/afternoon.

Playing a well rested Palace team that had a full week to prepare was always going to be a tough ask
 
We've turned the corner... again - and into a cul-de-sac. Until he gets the right players, Amorim has to be a bit more flexible and admit his system doesn't - and won't - work with this squad. He has to stop being so stubborn and arrogant. Because it worked in Portugal means nothing. It's like saying I got a "A" in history so I can an "A" in chemistry
 
Based on the team selected yesterday I am convinced Ruben is just 'tredding water' now, waiting until he can make some real changes he knows will work, rather than just hoping the teams he puts out can 'cobble' together a result or two.

Yesterday there were lots of 'walking football' at times from us, no real clues as to what should happen once we got over the halfway line; perhaps the inclusion of a 63 year old might not be just a joke!!

We had lots of the ball but never really looked like scoring, the odd good saves from our 'ex--keeper' when we did look like we meant business.

Very depressing afternoon, especially after Martinez injury. I thought Maguire shaded the MOTM, for his heading abilities alone. For much of the first half once the ball went forward from our back three, the movement stopped, the ability to exert real pressure dissipated. Odd times we got someone flying down the wing, but on most occasions no real threats were exerted. Mainoo looked totally lost as a 'false 9' ....if that's what he was supposed to be?

The doors of the OT home dressing room seem to be in full swing now, (*Note to maintenance... might almost be worth fitting revolving type ones for next season.)
 
It's also ridiculous for anyone to say that you know he's going to be a star.

Thank you.
I'm glad they agree with me. :lol:
Its a lot less ridiculous to think he's going to become a good to great player than throw him on the scrap heap after a handful of games. You'd have gotten rid of Vidic and/or Evra then right?
 
Its a lot less ridiculous to think he's going to become a good to great player than throw him on the scrap heap after a handful of games. You'd have gotten rid of Vidic and/or Evra then right?
Definitely not!
I could see they had potential.
 
Target for this season has to be not getting relegated
I agree entirely but can’t see how we will manage it without some sort of miracle. Everton are on the rise since Moyes took over and even Wolves are getting their act together. We will either be relegated or very close to it if things don’t change soon.
 
Just a thought , Mainoo looked ok playing behind Hojlund, why change something that was reasonably useful. Mainoo will never be an out and out striker, it failed which should surprise no one, when the player has never played as a 9. Hojlund at least had someone to take pressure off when Mainoo played as a 10. Is it that simple, change for change sake isn’t a solution.
And this is the new Tinkerman Coach, named Ruben Amorim!
 
Look at the table! United have almost double the points of the 18th placed team...there is literally zero fecking chance of relegation.

Shite form yes...relegation! no, laughable to even mention it tbh.

Everton in 16th are within 3 points of us, Spurs and West Ham above them within 2.

It's very conceivable that we lose to both Spurs and Everton this month and find ourselves in 15th or 16 before March. We're not taking all six points from those two matches, that's for sure. We'll likely end the month closer to 16th than we are today.

In March and April we've got Arsenal, Forest, City, Newcastle, and Bournemouth, along with Leicester and Wolves. I think it'd be fair to pick us in the latter two, but you'd be crazy to pick us in any of the former five. What do you see us taking from those available 21 points? Surely not more than 10.

It's quite possible we go into May sitting in 16th or 17th, only 6-8 points above the drop zone, set to face four teams all sitting above us in the table, two of which might be fighting tooth and nail for spots in Europe (Chelsea and Villa).

Conventional wisdom suggest we'll gain enough points by accident to avoid a serious threat of relegation, but you never know with football. Look at what happened to Martinez yesterday. One or two more freak accidents, Bruno or Amad go down with bad injuries, it could get real dicey.
 
Everton in 16th are within 3 points of us, Spurs and West Ham above them within 2.

It's very conceivable that we lose to both Spurs and Everton this month and find ourselves in 15th or 16 before March. We're not taking all six points from those two matches, that's for sure. We'll likely end the month closer to 16th than we are today.

In March and April we've got Arsenal, Forest, City, Newcastle, and Bournemouth, along with Leicester and Wolves. I think it'd be fair to pick us in the latter two, but you'd be crazy to pick us in any of the former five. What do you see us taking from those available 21 points? Surely not more than 10.

It's quite possible we go into May sitting in 16th or 17th, only 6-8 points above the drop zone, set to face four teams all sitting above us in the table, two of which might be fighting tooth and nail for spots in Europe (Chelsea and Villa).

Conventional wisdom suggest we'll gain enough points by accident to avoid a serious threat of relegation, but you never know with football. Look at what happened to Martinez yesterday. One or two more freak accidents, Bruno or Amad go down with bad injuries, it could get real dicey.
There is no chance we will be 6-8 points above relegation in May. None.

I actually doubt we’d get relegated even if we got no points from now on. The bottom 3 are horrible.
 
Foolishly I chose Utd for my Last Man Standing (pot currently at 28K). Whatever was I thinking of. I keep thinking they’ve found form, only for it to be well and truly lost in the following match.
 
Thankfully.
It's been a theme. We already have more points than the best relegated team last year did (Luton had 26). Prior to that 18th placed Leicester had 34 in 2023, Burnley 35 in 2022 but Fulham only 28 in 2021. It's been a while since more than 35 points were required to stay up.
 
I couldn't watch the match live and after reading these comments I almost didn't watch a replay. I'm glad I did because I thought we played pretty good, were the better team overall, and should have won 2-1 or 1-0. The difference is they have a real striker and we don't.

Positives:
- Mainoo did well and I imagine he will be an AM going forward which should help our attack
- Garnacho has improved his all around play and Amorim deserves much credit. Now I'm glad he didn't get transferred...but he still must keep improving.
- Amad and Mainoo are fun to watch in attack which we have been lacking for some time
- Bruno was good. I would still like to see Bruno as AM and Collyer as DM with Ugarte
- Defense played well and on another day it could have been a clean sheet

Negatives:
- Martinez injury. I thought he was getting better and better for the last 2 months
 

Player Ratings

Provisional results
4.3 Total Average Rating

Highest Rated Player

Lowest Rated Player

Compiled from 152 ratings.

Score Predictions

118,16,12
  • Man Utd win
  • Crystal Palace win
  • Draw

Detailed Results

  • 30% Man Utd 2:1 Crystal Palace
  • 22% Man Utd 2:0 Crystal Palace
  • 11% Man Utd 3:1 Crystal Palace
  • 8% Man Utd 1:0 Crystal Palace
  • 6% Man Utd 1:1 Crystal Palace
  • 6% Man Utd 1:2 Crystal Palace
  • 4% Man Utd 3:0 Crystal Palace
  • 2% Man Utd 3:2 Crystal Palace
  • 2% Man Utd 4:0 Crystal Palace
  • 2% Man Utd 0:2 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 1:3 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 2:2 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 0:0 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 0:1 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 4:1 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 0:3 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 5:0 Crystal Palace
  • 1% Man Utd 9:6 Crystal Palace
Compiled from 146 predictions.
Show more results Score Predictions League Table

Match Stats

  1. Man Utd
  2. Crystal Palace
Overall possession
66.8% 33.2%
Shots
17 11
Shots on target
2 3
Total touches in the box
59 22
Goalkeeper saves
1 2
Fouls
12 13
Corners
11 0

Referee

John Brooks