Crystal Palace stunned Manchester United with a 2-1 win at Old Trafford. Roy Hodgson hailed a heroic victory thanks to Patrick Van Aanholt’s injury-time winner to record their first victory since 1989.
Old Trafford has always been termed as the “Theatre of Dreams” by fans. Today, they witnessed Crystal Palace the first won against United in the Premier League Era.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer designed the squad that dominated possessions. However, at the first-half, United had fallen behind to Jordan Ayew’s breakaway goal before Marcus Rashford missed a penalty which was frustrating for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer team.
United rarely threatened Palace’s goals. The full-time whistle was accompanied by choruses of boos from those that remained inside Old Trafford.
United’s possessions at a loss
United ruled the ball in the opening stages and came close to scoring twice, when Rashford’s free-kick flew over the bar. Van Aanholt blocked James attempt to score.
Crystal Palace cautiously settled into the game and undid the defense of their counterparts in a straight forward style. Jeffry Schlupp jumped over Victor Lindelof’s head Vicente Guaita’s clearance into Ayew path. With Harry Maguire conspicuous by his absence, the forward calmly finished past a startled De Gea.
Where did United’s defense go? Luke Shaw had pulled up with a hamstring injury only to return to the fray. Ashley Young replaced the English left-back. Did Maguire feel forced to shuffle over to the left of United’s defense to offer extra protection against an apparent weakness? Only he will know. None the less, the gap between Maguire and Lindelof became a chasm and Shaw made his belated exit before the restart.
The Penalty
Rashford, having converted on the opening weekend against Chelsea, struck the inside of the post with his kick. Perhaps, United could have had a second penalty later when Rashford tumbled over in the box. Neither the referee nor VAR detected an offense, but United’s boss, Ole Gunnar saw the matters differently, “it was nailed on.”
The United had not been denied any further. James curled a fine finish into the far post after Pogba had robbed Wilfred Zaha.
This looked like a grandstand finish only for roles to be reversed. Pogba lost the ball on the half-way line, Zaha drove deep into the United’s territory and then slipped the ball to Van Aanholt for the most unlikely winner of the season.