Manchester United’s dreadful recent form continued on a dreary Monday night, losing 4-0 against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. It was an incredibly frustrating evening for the Red Devils, who were well beaten by Oliver Glasner’s excellent Palace side, as they secured the league double over their opponents for the first time.
Rumoured United target Michael Olise scored two wonderful goals, which came either side of strikes from Jean-Phillipe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell. United are heavily linked with the France U21 international this summer, who would cost between £50m and £60m as per ESPN.
Mateta has been one of the stars of the show for Palace, as well as Olise and Ebere Eze. The 26-year-old has scored an incredible eight goals in his first six home games under new boss Glasner.
United’s bleak season continued with their poor performance against Crystal Palace. It was such a poor performance, that Jamie Carragher highlighted on Sky Sports post-match that Erik ten Hag’s side are “one of the most poorly coached teams in the Premier League”, before saying “that’s a fact” rather than his personal opinion.
The Red Devils now find themselves in eigth in the Premier League on 54 points. They are currently level on points with sventh place Chelsea and two points behind Newcastle who are sixth, and visit Old Trafford next week.
Even more shocking is that United are 14th according to Undertstat’s expected points table, and should be on just 42 points. Indeed, only Aston Villa are overachieving more on points than United this season, who have 11.51 points than they should have.
It was, by all accounts, a shocking performance from United, with their players putting in disappointing displays across the board, with two players in particular proving to be very frustrating.
Casemiro's stats vs Crystal Palace
One of the worst performances came from the captain for the night, Casemiro. The Brazilian looked a shadow of his former self once again, and whilst he was playing at centre-back, a less familiar position, he did not impose himself on the game at all.
In fact, according to football statistician Statman Dave, the eight times Casemiro was dribbled past is the most by any player in the Premier League so far this season. It was surprising to see how little he used his experience, and constantly dived into challenges only to be caught out of position and get dribbled past, which happened for Olise’s first goal.
According to Sofascore, the Brazilian also lost possession 17 times, including misplacing nine long passes, and lost nine of the 16 ground duels he contested. He also made one error leading to a goal, which was the moment he was bypassed by Olise in the first half.
Casemiro’s poor performance led to a 2/10 post-match rating from the Manchester Evening News Manchester United correspondent Samuel Luckhurst. He described Casemiro as “rash and impetuous”, and explained how Olise “turned with alarming ease”.
It was certainly a poor performance from Casemiro, however, he was arguably not United’s worst player on the night, with a fellow defender putting in an equally frustrating performance at Selhurst Park.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka's stats vs Crystal Palace
The player in question here is former Crystal Palace right-back, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, who once again filled in at left-back. After switching back to his familiar side last weekend against Burnley, he played left-back once more against the Eagles, presumably to try and do a job defensively on Olise.
However, it did not work out that way, and Wan-Bissaka also received a 2/10 rating post-match from Luckhurst. For Olise’s first goal, Luckhurst explained how United’s number 29 was “nowhere near” the France U21 international for his first strike.
Indeed, Wan-Bissaka’s stats from the clash at Selhurst Park certainly reflected his tough night. The 26-year-old lost one of his three duels, completed just one cross and did not attempt a tackle. However, the most shocking thing was the fact he lost possession 22 times, an average of once every four minutes.
There is no doubt the defender's showing last night was not good enough. He is a player who could well leave Old Trafford this summer, not just because of last night, but following a number of average displays in a United jersey. The right-back is linked with a move away, according to some reports, and Bayer Leverkusen’s Jeremie Frimpong might be the man to replace him.
Ten Hag's men now face title challengers Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, with three points crucial to their battle for a European spot, which seems like it could well be slipping out of the reach of ten Hag and his side.
Ten Hag must immediately bench Man Utd ace after 1/10 Palace display
Man United slumped to a horrendous defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace.
ByMatt DawsonMay 7, 2024
