Manchester United can't afford to squander chances as tougher challenges await

Manchester United’s players waited in the open outside the changing rooms to the side of the main stand after Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace. The mood was more downbeat than triumphant as the players chatted to each other or kept their own counsel.

They waited for the go ahead to walk to the team bus on Holmesdale Road, where hundreds of fans were waiting for pictures or an autograph, to catch a flight. Meanwhile manager Erik ten Hag obliged with his media commitments, separating the result from the performance.

“The performance was good but the score we are not happy with, we are disappointed with the score,” he said. “It is clear. I know one thing for sure in football that there is a long way to go and when you play in the quality we now deliver, the points will come, the goals will come.”

Compared to the last time when his team suffered a 4-0 debacle in May, he said: “It is so different now because we can work on the team, we are building structures because we have players back on the training pitch.

“We can also have consistency in the selection and that helps to bring the patterns and routines in and you play better. You can take more control of the game and you can even, like in the first half, dominate the game.”

Andre Onana also emphasised the positives: “In football sometimes, you can’t control everything,” said the Cameroonian. “We were coming in; we had more chances and I had faith always in my guys. Today, we hit the crossbar twice and hopefully in the coming games, we will score a lot.”

Asked about his double save from Eddie Nketiah and Ismaila Sarr, the goalkeeper said: “I don’t think it is so important because we didn’t win. We are such a big club. I think we were better than them. We had so many chances but unfortunately, we didn’t score. It’s difficult to come back with one point.”

It’s at the other end of the pitch where the focus will be on United’s shortfalls. Ten Hag and Ruud van Nistelrooy et al coached the side to win the match, but they could not put the ball in the net. It may seem odd given United scored 10 in their previous two games, but chances were squandered in front of goal.

Following a 3-0 win at winless Southampton and a 7-0 triumph against third tier Barnsley, United drew 0-0 at another winless Premier League side Palace.

It was a rare scoreline for Ten Hag’s side: only four of his 81 league games have ended goalless, the last time against Liverpool in December 2023. For much of Saturday evening’s game at Selhurst Park, a no-goal outcome looked improbable.

United, especially in the first half, created chance after chance. Alejandro Garnacho, Joshua Zirkzee, Bruno Fernandes and Matthijs de Ligt all came close, but not close enough.

Oh how the watching Van Nistelrooy, now United’s assistant manager and one rated as a man who almost always took his chances as a player, winced in frustration. Ten Hag did too. His side have missed 17 big chances from the opening five league games, more than any other club. The next clubs, with 12 missed chances each, are Aston Villa and Liverpool.

It’s a positive that United are creating them, something they didn’t do on the previous trip to south London, and United’s 67 per cent possession afforded 15 shots, six on target, and 11 corners. The football was attractive too as Palace struggled to cope.

United have scored only five times in five league games, three of those against the winless Southampton. And it’s now a new issue. United scored only 57 times (and conceded one more) in 38 league games last term, way off all the seven teams above them who all managed between 74 and 96.

United’s defence was better than four of the sides who finished above them, but the goal difference was woeful for a club built on a reputation of attacking football.

United did bring forward Zirkzee in from Bologna, but he’s no Van Nistelrooy, more a player who knits the attack and drops deep to do so.

He’s scored one in seven so far. Rasmus Hojlund was injured pre-season and the Dane did come off the pitch at Palace to cheers from the 3,000 travelling fans whose disposition was as sunny as the weather before the game following two wins and 10 goals.

Those results made the draw at Palace especially frustrating. But tellingly, United have won only two of their last eight games against opponents in the bottom half of the league – against promoted sides at that.

Had it not been for former United goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who made seven saves, there may have been a different outcome, but there’s usually a but with Manchester United: injuries, chances, poor luck.

If United are to become a side that challenges for league titles, they must win at grounds like Palace and can’t be picking up seven points every five games, as has been the case so far this season.

It’s top ten rather than top three form and while the season is still young, United could have faced a far more challenging start. Now, far more difficult challenges await: Spurs at home next then Aston Villa away.

These are the teams United should be measured against this season since United aren’t good enough to win the league. However, they are already five points behind Villa. Europa League and Carabao Cup commitments add to the pressure.

Ten Hag knows he’ll need his squad, it’s why he rotates and why he didn’t start Marcus Rashford – but did that take away the momentum of a player who has started scoring? Surprising as it was, there was nothing more to it than a football decision to bench the striker.

United have been here many times in their history, notably in November 1992 when the team were 10th in the table after 15 games of the inaugural Premier League season – one United went on to win.

United had scored only 14 goals while league leaders Norwich had 27. There were no transfer windows in November 1992 and that’s when United signed Eric Cantona from Leeds United. There will be no such fixes this time, the budget has been spent and the season is still very young. Besides, Cantona was a one off.

Three weeks ago, United fans left Old Trafford fuming after a home defeat to Liverpool. The mood has been picked up off the floor since, but legitimate questions remain about the direction of the team and the main one is when the chances are going to start being converted and by whom.