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Manchester United created more than enough to come back home from London with all three points but Crystal Palace held firm as the Premier League game ended 0-0 on Saturday.
Having scored 10 goals in their last two games, the players were coming into the game high on confidence and that showed as the Red Devils had 15 shots while controlling 67 per cent of the ball.
This was the visitors’ chance to exact revenge for what had transpired the last time the two sides met but Dean Henderson stood between the United attackers and the goal for most of the first half.
Alejandro Garnacho had quite a few opportunities to open the scoring and even when he did manage to get past the former United academy graduate, the crossbar stood in the way.
Missing chances galore
Joshua Zirkzee has impressed when dropping deep to link up play but the team lacks a focal presence up front, and Ruud van Nistelrooy needs to try and get the best out of the Netherlands international and the returning Rasmus Hojlund.
With Christian Eriksen and Amad Diallo, the team was keeping possession better but bringing off the Dane and the Ivorian seemed to take the sting out of the attack as Palace ended the game stronger.
And the 20-time English league champions had Andre Onana to thank for avoiding a sucker punch in the end with a brilliant double save to keep Eddie Nketiah and Ismaïla Sarr at bay.
The hosts’ best player Eberechi Eze also squandered two glorious chances on either side of the half as they enjoyed a much better second 45 minutes.
Worryingly, the team from Old Trafford have now missed the most big chances this season among all the other top-flight sides and that is something that Erik ten Hag needs to fix.
EtH remains under pressure
The hosts were particularly poor in the opening half and United should have taken advantage but missing chances galore is becoming a worrying trend this term.
Playing out from the back with a real speed and purpose also needs improvement while sometimes, the players were guilty of trying to elaborate too much at times while having the ball.
The team is keeping the ball better as compared to last season but have seven points from five games to show for their efforts which places them 11th in the table, which means the pressure will remain on the manager.
In the end, he will feel hard done by for missing out on two more points but with huge league games against Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa coming up, he could be made to rue today’s result.
Feature image Harriet Lander via Getty Images
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