Just like the match in May (last season), Erik ten Hag and his students did not score any goals at Selhurst Park. However, the biggest difference is the score, instead of 0-4, it is 0-0. Aside from improving Crystal Palace's away record, things did not seem too negative for the Dutchman.
The first half of the match against Palace was considered Manchester United's best performance in more than 2 years. They finished the first 45 minutes with a ball possession rate of up to 68%, launched 9 shots and had 5 big chances. If it were not for the excellence of former player Dean Henderson, the visitors could have celebrated three times after the shots of Alejandro Garnacho, Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez.
One example to show that Man United's first half was very good was the situation in the 35th minute. Martinez passed the ball reasonably to Bruno Fernandes in the midfield area. After that, the M.U captain turned around and immediately created a 4 vs 3 situation. Ten Hag always needs Bruno to be able to create such quick counter-attacks.
If Andre Onana had not been as excellent as Henderson in the first half in the second half, Palace could have defeated Man United at home for the second consecutive time. In football, the concept of "if" does not exist. However, the numbers don't lie and it shows that Man United just need to improve their finishing, everything will be much better.
According to Opta, since the beginning of the Premier League season, Man United's expected goals have been 9.53, only behind Liverpool (10.1). Man City is also behind their arch-rivals in the same city with 9.28. After 5 rounds, The Red Devils have missed 17 big chances (the most in the league). From the next round, when Rasmus Hojlund returns, there is no reason why Man United cannot score more goals if they continue to create such regular chances.
One of the negative points but with a positive tendency is the way Ten Hag uses Marcus Rashford. The English striker has scored 3 goals in the previous 2 matches and is very excited. However, he was kept on the bench by his coach. Explaining this, Ten Hag said he wanted to rotate the squad. For the first time in more than 2 years, Man United is possessing such a large force to have many options. It was a pity that while Rashford was gradually regaining his form, he sat out the entire first half and did not have the necessary warm-up in the second half.
again talking about the lineup, in the recent match against Palace, there were 9 players from the first team on the bench of Man United. Recalling the match 5 months ago also at Selhurst Park, Ten Hag had to include 5 players from Carrington Academy, 2 goalkeepers in the reserve list for enough players, in addition to two veterans Jonny Evans and Casemiro.
Seeing Manuel Ugarte, Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund coming on in the second half, we can see that the depth of the "Red Devils" squad is improving significantly. They have players of equal quality in both the starting lineup and on the bench. To go the long way and play in many arenas, this is the best way.
With such positive signals, the only thing Man United need to do right now is improve their scoring ability. The race for a top spot is not over yet and Ten Hag needs to do it right from the next round.
