Manchester United were held to a frustrating draw away to Crystal Palace after numerous missed chances, especially in the first half, came back to cost them two points.
The team continued from where it left off in terms of performance, threatening Palace’s goal regularly, but the end result was missing.
Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes hit the bar, while Dean Henderson stood like a wall for other chances that fell their way.
Still, the performance leaves a lot to work with and build upon and that is something Erik ten Hag will be extremely pleased with.
Talking after the game, he reserved special praise for one United star in particular, an assessment with which many United fans would agree.
Andre Onana’s double save saves Man Utd blushes
With the direction in which the game was trending when United kept missing chances, every fan had just one thought in mind.
Palace would get one chance from which they’d score, and United would be left to rue another “what could have been” game.
That chance did arrive in the 65th minute when Eddie Nketiah tested Andre Onana’s shot-stopping prowess with a drive.
Onana pushed it away but it was after that when Onana’s quality actually came to the fore.
The Cameroonian quickly got back up, closed down Ismaila Sarr, and smothered his follow-up effort from point-blank range to keep his team level.
Ten Hag was eager to confirm vindication for Onana after the game, telling everyone that they are now seeing how good the goalkeeper is after a testing debut season.
“Unbelievable save, Andre is so explosive. He’s such a great stopper. It’s twice in one action. We all see now how good he is. His reactions are so good, he’s so quick and we saw that with the save in the second half,” said Ten Hag after the game.
It is the second league game in the running that Onana can be credited with a match-turning effort after his heroics vs Southampton. Peter Schmeichel also gushed about Onana regularly turning in match-winning displays this season.
Ten Hag rues missed chances again
In the grand scheme of things, Onana’s brilliant save should have been a footnote in a convincing win for the team.
However, such was the profligacy from the forwards that it ended up being the crucial moment that prevented United from plunging to a shock loss.
Ten Hag rued the pattern of losing points due to wastefulness this season, recalling the game vs Brighton as being more of the same.
“In Brighton, we should have drawn or even won the game there. So we lose three points. Today we lose two points. The ‘win’ is that we don’t lose this game in the end,” he said.
However, he still praised the much-improved displays that hopefully promise a better future.’
“We have worked very hard as a team to be defensively compact and you can see the benefit of it. But also on the ball we have very good structures and we have control. That takes the threat of the opponent away.”
The next opponent United will be challenged to put to the sword is FC Twente as the club begins its Europa League campaign.
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