So close, yet so far: The tale of Palace vs Manchester United

Well, we should have won that.

Pardew threw in a couple of surprises with his team selection – after all but ruling both Yohan Cabaye and Joel Ward out both started on Saturday. Cabaye operated in a more attacking role than we’ve seen this season and it was his driving force that saw Palace make a flying start to the game.

The first 15 minutes saw Manchester United, well, blown away. Yannick hit the bar, Dann had one tipped just over the bar from the resulting corner and our general play and pressing was exceptional. Our fast start was driven by one man – Yohan Cabaye and led by him the front four pressed United at every opportunity, forcing mistakes from a defence that was shaking under the weight of Palace pressure. It is no coincidence that after Cabaye’s booking after 15 minutes we dropped deeper and United saw one of their best periods of the game, dominating possession for 20 minutes, Yohan had to be careful and the whole team followed his example.

Even when United had a lot of possession they were unbelievably boring, save for a beautiful pass from Martial that Hennessey smothered in front of Rooney. It’s the honest truth that United hardly threatened, registering just 1 shot on target in the whole game – there was not a moment when I was worried that United would score. Sure they had possession, but it seems it’s becoming common for United that this really doesn’t amount to anything substantial and it was certainly the case yesterday.

However, to win a game you must score and we failed to do that once again. Zaha was brilliantly frustrating yesterday – he has the ability to make 25,000 people sit up and take notice, rising to their feet in anticipation of the brilliance they expect to see. And often they do see brilliance, Darmian was withdrawn yesterday because he just couldn’t cope with Zaha and one or two more challenges would have seen him sent for an early shower; but can you think of a chance that he created? He has the ability to beat a man at will but it never seems to amount to anything and for someone so talented that is immensely frustrating to watch.

Yannick was much the same yesterday also, he took an age to get into the game and didn’t really turn up until the second half. But in parts of the second half he was magnificent, he looked like the player that tore Liverpool apart on that fateful evening last May – Zaha and him has the full backs searching for answers that they just didn’t have. Dwight Gayle also put in a great shift, winning headers he simply had no right to win. He hassled and pressed and fed off scraps for large parts of the game, but he had three or four chances that he just couldn’t put away and that’s what’s really holding us back.

It is a mark of Palace’s progress that so many of us left the game feeling completely gutted that it was a ‘mere’ point that we had gained against Manchester United. However there is only so many times I can convince myself that “on another day we would have won”. Pardew’s problem is simple: we are doing everything except score. I think we edged the game – we certainly had more chances – but when it came down to it Cabaye spurned a glorious chance and De Gea made two or three decent saves which kept United in the game. Gayle turned in his best Premier League performance this season and hopefully it won’t be long until Wickham and Chamakh return, with any luck bringing some bit to our attacking play and a real threat where it matters – right in front of goal.

Oh and Roy Hodgson, I hope you noticed that Scott Dann was again quietly magnificent yesterday. He’s a leader, he’s a threat from set pieces and he does his job very, very well – an understated hero in a palace defence that kept the England captain and co. quiet all afternoon. He must receive a call-up soon because he is more than deserving of one