Erik ten Hag laments draw after Manchester United smother Crystal Palace in first half
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Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Casemiro after the match.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was pleased that his team “ate Palace alive” but was ultimately left to lament that his men let what felt like a sure victory slip through their hands in a 0-0 English Premier League draw with Crystal Palace on Sept 21.
After a 3-0 league win over Southampton and then a 7-0 shellacking of Barnsley in a League Cup third-round game on Sept 17, ten Hag’s side played with swagger at Selhurst Park – where they lost 4-0 in May in their biggest defeat of last season.
They had numerous near misses in a dominant first half that included two rockets off the crossbar in quick succession from Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes.
Garnacho sprinted onto Diogo Dalot’s incisive pass to curl a shot off the woodwork, before Fernandes’ follow-up effort also clipped the bar.
Former United goalkeeper Dean Henderson also later foiled Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez.
Fernandes was inches away once more with an audacious outside-of-the-boot effort that flew just wide after a neat one-two with Joshua Zirkzee.
In the end, the Red Devils headed home to Manchester ruing the two points lost, rather than the single point earned.
“When we don’t win, I’m not content,” ten Hag told Sky Sports. “We should have won.
“I think first half, we ate them alive. Then in the second half, it was more in the balance, but first half we should have scored one or two goals. Probably lose two points because of the first half, but the thing is that we don’t lose this game in the end.”
The draw left United 11th in the table on seven points, with just two wins in five league matches.
Ten Hag called the clean sheet for goalkeeper Andre Onana, who made a spectacular double save in the second half, a positive.
He parried Eddie Nketiah’s strike from distance before leaping off the ground to prevent Ismaila Sarr tapping in the rebound.
“Unbelievable save. Andre is so explosive, he is such a great stopper. It’s twice in one action,” the manager said.
“We all see now how good he is. His reactions are so good, he’s so quick and we saw that with the save in the second half.”
Palace had another huge chance to snatch all three points when Eberechi Eze side-footed wide with the goal gaping from close range.
Oliver Glasner’s Palace team were significantly stronger after the break, and the manager was happy to have salvaged a point.
“In the first half, Dean Henderson kept us alive and kept us in the game,” the Austrian said.
“In the second half, we were much, much better. In the first half, we needed a great goalkeeper and fortunately we had one today.
“In the second half we were more organised, we played with more courage and we had two great situations to win the game. In that second half, it was more like a Crystal Palace team and that is what we need to be competitive against a team like Manchester United.”
Ahead of the game, the main talking point was Marcus Rashford.
The United forward had ended a barren run by scoring three times in his last two matches, but he was surprisingly dropped to the bench by ten Hag.
The Dutchman had raised eyebrows with his pre-match comments about Rashford’s improved form, saying “when your lifestyle is not right, you can’t perform in the league we have to perform in”.
It led former Liverpool and England midfielder Jamie Redknapp to say on Sky Sports: “It feels like something has gone untoward. Obviously, I don’t know the details, but you don’t drop a player that’s just scored two in midweek (against Barnsley) and scored against Southampton.
‘It feels something has happened this week. It’s unusual for a manager to come out and almost out a player by talking about their lifestyle.”
However, ten Hag hit back, saying: “I heard already the speculation (from) some pundits. That’s crazy. I would almost say that you as a person, you are not okay when you bring such speculation, if you don’t know what’s (going) on...
“I am very happy with Marcus, with everything – his defending, his offensive part. He scores in this moment, he performs very good. So nothing to do with him being on the bench, just rotation.”
REUTERS, AFP
