Mourinho

By Joshua Walters

Manchester United's nightmarish season continued at Old Trafford on Saturday as they were held to a barren draw at home to Crystal Palace.

It was the usual lackluster performance from the Red Devils as they did not only fail to create openings, but also looked ineffective against the opponent who looked more dangerous in front and could have won had they taken their chances.

The result which puts the Red Devils a place up the league log to 7th place with 21 points was, however, met with boos from the Manchester United fans as it drops the side to 14 points below rivals and leaders Manchester City, and six points adrift the top four.

Luka Milivojevic opened the game with a booking in the 9th minute, eleven minutes before Wilfried Zaha flashed an instinctive shot over the bar after latching on to an inch-perfect pass close to the penalty area.

The former Manchester United player missed again for the visitors in the 26th minute by sailing a measured shot over the bar from the edge of the box, a minute before Mamadou Sakho was shown the yellow card for pushing down Jesse Lingard after the Manchester United forward had beaten him to a fifty-fifty challenge.

Anthony Martial latched on to the cross from the resulting free kick, but his towering header lacked accuracy and flew inches wide of the left-hand post.

Wayne Hennessey denied Jesse Lingard’s low shot towards the left post with a diving save, on the half-hour mark, and the two sides were sent back into the dugout seconds after Cheikhou Kouyate’s goal was disallowed for an offside.

Jose Mourinho played all three cards shortly after the restart, replacing Jesse Lingard with Marouane Fellaini in the 59th minute, Juan Mata for Marcus Rashford on the hour mark and Paul Paul Pogba for Alexis Sanchez in the 68th minute.

Ashley Young received a booking in the 71st minute as the hosts failed to register anything positive to stop the visitors from registering their first ever Premier League point at Old Trafford in ten visits.