Man Utd continue promising pre-season against Palace

Manchester United continued their promising pre-season form under Erik ten Hag with a comfortable 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace.

Patrick Vieira’s team have had a disrupted pre-season with notable absences during their tour of Australia. That wasn’t helped when Jack Butland had to be replaced after just 10 minutes with a finger injury when he got in the way of Anthony Martial’s shot.

Remi Matthews took Butland’s place at the back and had to pick the ball out of the net just seven minutes later. Tyrell Malacia’s ball found his opposition full-back Diogo Dalot, who chipped in a ball for Martial to chest control and finish.

Palace looked far behind United in their pre-season preparations with the Red Devils bossing much of the game. However, Malcolm Ebiowei – who was heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford this summer – was one of the bright sparks for the London side.

United doubled their lead just minutes after the restart following impressive link-up play between Jadon Sancho, Martial, and substitute Donny van de Beek. The Dutch midfielder then set up Marcus Rashford for the simplest of tap-ins.

Jordan Ayew threatened at times to make this friendly game a lot less friendly after sparking a brief ruckus following his needless challenge on Bruno Fernandes.

It was 3-0 just before the hour mark and again the front three of Rashford, Martial, and Sancho were instrumental. It was Sancho this time getting on the scoresheet when he kept his cool to finish.

Palace were struggling but Jean-Philippe Mateta did have the ball in the net after a corner bounced favourably to him but the striker was offside.

With 65 minutes gone, both teams made wholesale changes that allowed Vieira’s team to get themselves back in the game.

David de Gea won’t have been happy with his attempt to stop Joel Ward’s header at the near post that pulled a goal back for Palace, although the defending from the corner certainly didn’t help matters.

Palace were then given a man advantage when Will Fish was caught out at the ball and pulled down Victor Akinwale. The referee had no choice but to send the 19-year-old off.

It was another impressive United showing, especially in the opening 65 minutes where the forward play gave the Palace defence a number of problems. 

Meanwhile, Patrick Vieira will no doubt be happy to get his full squad back together as they looked poor today in Melbourne.

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— Manchester United (@ManUtd) July 19, 2022