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Manchester United created chance after chance but failed to get past Dean Henderson in Crystal Palace’s goal and ended up returning from Selhurst Park with only a point to show for their efforts.
The Red Devils had 15 efforts on goal but could not find the back of the net with Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes both striking the crossbar even when they did get past the former United shot-stopper.
It was almost one-way traffic in the first half but ultimately, the hosts came back stronger in the second half with Andre Onana forced into a magnificent double save while Eberechi Eze also missed two glorious chances.
Most of the talking points should be surrounding how profligacy cost the 20-time English league champions but one incident in the second half has given sections of the media the licence to attack one particular United player.
Rush of blood
Lisandro Martinez had a rush of blood in the 63rd minute, jumping with both studs in the air into the ball trying to keep up the pressure inside the Palace box.
He was lucky not to injure Daichi Kamada with referee David Coote showing the Argentine a yellow while home fans were baying for the red card to be shown. In the end, VAR agreed with the referee after a long check.
#CRYMUN – 63’
The referee issued a yellow card to Martinez for a challenge on Kamada. VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of no red card, deeming this was a reckless challenge and made no contact with Kamada.
— Premier League Match Centre (@PLMatchCentre) September 21, 2024
The Premier League Match Centre, operational hub for all Premier League matches, which provides information directly from Match Centre, the VAR Hub and PGMOL experts explained the reasoning behind the decision on social media.
“The referee issued a yellow card to Martinez for a challenge on Kamada. VAR checked for a potential red card and confirmed the referee’s call of no red card, deeming this was a reckless challenge and made no contact with Kamada,” the statement read.
Eagles boss Oliver Glasner was not pleased with the call one bit. “For me, it also looked really heavy. Fortunately, I think he touched the ball and not the shin of our player because I think he would have broken his leg,” he said after the game.
Lucky not to cause serious harm
More scathing criticism came from Sky pundit Jamie Redknapp. “I’d love to tell you [what is his thinking]. He goes into a position, he wants to go in with two feet. I don’t know – it is a tackle we saw many years ago.
I don’t know what on earth you are thinking you are going to gain by jumping in with two feet. If he lands on Kamada’s foot he goes down and it is a straight red. The only thing why he doesn’t get a straight red is he somehow just misses his foot. It is a ridiculous challenge.”
It was certainly a silly challenge and was lucky not to cause serious harm to the opposition but apart from that, it was mostly one-way traffic in favour of the visitors.
Thus, with United 11th in the league table, Ten Hag remains under pressure and could rue Saturday’s result with difficult games against Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa coming up.
Feature image Harriet Lander via Getty Images
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