Manchester United started their 2020-21 season with a lackluster performance at Home.Wilfried Zaha scored twice as Crystal Palace beat Manchester United 3-1 for back-to-back victories at Old Trafford.
Andros Townsend’s close-range finish gave Palace the lead after seven minutes and David De Gea twice denied Jordan Ayew as the away side threatened on the counter.
A penalty for handball by Victor Lindelof, awarded after referee Martin Atkinson had reviewed the incident, was converted at the second attempt.
Ayew’s spot-kick was saved, but the VAR adjudged De Gea had come off his line too early and the retaken penalty was converted by Zaha on 74 minutes.
Substitute Donny van de Beek poked in six minutes later on his debut to reduce the deficit.But Zaha’s low finish sealed the three points with five minutes remaining to continue Palace’s winning start to the season.
Match Stats
| Manchester United | Crystal Palace | |
|---|---|---|
| 76 | Possession % | 24 |
| 4 | Shots on target | 5 |
| 17 | Shots | 14 |
| 903 | Touches | 437 |
| 697 | Passes | 220 |
| 14 | Tackles | 24 |
| 15 | Clearances | 34 |
| 9 | Corners | 3 |
| 1 | Offsides | 2 |
| 2 | Yellow cards | 1 |
| 13 | Fouls conceded | 9 |
MANAGER REACTIONS
Ole ,Manchester United Manager:
“I am very disappointed. I think it shows that we are short. We are short in game-time, fitness, sharpness and we need to improve quickly. These were three points that we wanted and we needed. There are 37 games to go, but this is a wake-up call. But it is also something that we knew we had to face when we went so far into Europe. We had a short preparation time, but that is the reality so there are no excuses.”
Ole on the penalty and VAR
“For me it is not a penalty, it is very harsh. Then it is a great save by David and then a very harsh decision against him. It is probably the right one if you follow the rules, because his foot is probably one inch off the line, with his heel, but who knows what would have happened. That is not the decision that lost us the game.”
Roy Hodgson,Crystal Palace Manager
“I thought the shape of our team today was fantastic and there were some really incredible individual performances. For Mamadou Sakho to play the game he played after so little football for the last three months, I think, was incredible.”
“Jeffrey Schlupp, who’s been out injured for quite a long time, once again it was quite incredible what he could do. And the midfield and back four I thought were pretty faultless throughout the game. I’m delighted. It’s a great win, it’s nice to get six points on the board.”
Hodgson on Changing Penalty Taker for second attempt
“I don’t think it’s good for a player to miss a penalty and then to immediately take another one. I think your confidence is affected by the miss. It wasn’t a good penalty, it was quite a comfortable save by De Gea and I’m pretty sure if I had allowed him to take the penalty, he might well have scored it. But I didn’t think it was a good idea to take that chance.
“I had an experience long in the past where our penalty taker – who never missed penalties – missed two in the same game in a European tie and ever since that moment I’ve thought it’s not a great idea to have the guy who’s missed take the second one.”
Hodgson on Game Plan Execution to defeat United
“we don’t always carry it out! It wasn’t a particular plan – we always try to start fast, to make certain we’re on the front foot and we pressurize the opponents as best we can.Today, we looked much more like taking the chances we created. We forced saves from the goalkeeper, we forced last-ditch challenges and we actually scored three times.”
