CRYSTAL PALACE 0, MANCHESTER UNITED 0
It’s been a week of stalemate for Manchester United as the Reds drew their third successive game 0-0 in all competitions for the first time since January 2005.
Louis Van Gaal may have disputed United Legend Paul Scholes’ remarks earlier this week that his United side lacked creativity and that Scholes “would not enjoy playing” in Van Gaal’s possession based philosophy but another sterile goalless draw appears to have only strengthened Scholes’ point that United haven’t been their usual buccaneering selves under the Dutch manager.
The Reds remain in fourth place in the Barclays Premier League but with just 15 league goals in 11 games to their name the entire team has been eclipsed by the scoring exploits of just two Leicester City players – Jamie Vardy (11) and Riyad Mahrez (7) who have 18 between them at the top of the League scorers chart so far.
For United purists the fact that the Reds are level with Spurs with only 8 goals conceded in 11 games so far in the League this season will be of little consolation.
In comparison, United have now gone 325 minutes without scoring a goal and Wayne Rooney’s first-half free kick was their only shot on target against Palace.
Speaking to MUTV after the game, Van Gaal appeared to complain about United’s packed fixture list at the moment, with games coming every three or four days, but reiterated the importance of scoring goals to United’s ambitions.
Van Gaal was honest in his assessment of the game and said: “I can’t complain about the result because I don’t think we were the better team today.”
He added: “I am not happy because if you want to be the champions, you have to win these kinds of matches.
“I cannot do anything anymore because we cannot train.
“We can only recover and recover.
“We have to score in the next match and then everybody will be happy again, and especially against CSKA Moscow it is very important to score.
“Palace showed a lot of aggression.
“They won every ball in the first quarter of the first half – the second and third ball was always for Crystal Palace, so they built up a lot of pressure on us.
“But, after 15 minutes, we came into the match and created a few chances.
“In the second half, we could not develop our positional game and could not keep the ball, so we could not create too many chances.
“Our defensive organisation was good – we didn’t give too much away.”
Travelling Reds fans in London will have been mystified to see Anthony Martial, the one United player with the mobility and form to trouble the opposition marooned on the left flank once again while United captain Rooney toiled up front alone again.
Without another good performance by David De Gea they might have left Selhurst Park empty handed as Yannick Bolasie hit the bar while Yohan Cabaye, Scott Dann, and Dwight Gayle tested De Gea.
Palace manager Alan Pardew’s depleted side had been trounced by Manchester City in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday but the return of attacking midfielders Cabaye and Jason Puncheon restored more creativity and pace to the home side’s attacking threat alongside former Reds winger Wilfried Zaha and Yannick Bolasie but they could not defeat De Gea.
United may have dominated possession in the first half with 56% of the ball overall but other statistics revealed that they lagged their hosts Crystal Palace in other ways. United had just one shot on target to Palace’s five, with just three corners to Palace’s seven.
Next up is a tricky home game against CSKA Moscow and United, who are second in Champions League Group B with 4 points, will be seeking a victory to put them in the driving seat for qualification to the knockout phase.