Crystal Palace vs Manchester United a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
May 22, 2016
1,666 Views
- It was Manchester United who came away successful but they were certainly made to work for it after coming from behind to beat Crystal Palace
- In what was a repeat a 1990 Cup Final, Alan Pardew was looking to exact some revenge for his defeat 26 years ago and lead to Palace to not only a first Cup victory but also a place in the Europa League next season
- Palace thought they struck first after Connor Wickham had the ball in the net but Referee Mark Clattenburg failed to play advantage
- He had already blown for a foul when Chris Smalling and Connor Wickham had a coming together. Smalling received a booking for his troubles , but you had to question whether it was really a foul in the first place.
- It’s fair to say Mark Clattenburg got that decision wrong
- Marouane Feliiani was presented with a good chance in the box but Mile Jedinak just managed to nick it away from him before he had a chance to head home
- Joel Ward was needed to be on hand to make a goal-line clearance from Anthony Martial’s close range effort
- It was a lively first half but both sides were still feeling each other out and it went into the break goalless
- After the break it was certainly United in the ascendancy as both Felliani and Anthony Martial struck opposite posts of the Palace goal frame
- But it was Palace who went ahead through a sucker punch or should that be a sucker Puncheon
- Substitute Jason Puncheon had only been on the pitch for 6 minutes but he was left unmarked at the back post and was given enough time to rifle a shot past David De Gea to give Palace the lead with only 12 minutes to go
- Could Palace hold out?
- Not if Wayne Rooney had anything to do with it
- He picked up the ball deep in Midfield and must have jinked past almost half a dozen Palace players, he wasn’t to be disposed and he certainly wasn’t giving this game up
- He placed an inch perfect ball to the back post first for Felliani to knock down and then Juan Mata to volley home via Joel Ward to level the score just three minutes later
- There was still 10 minutes to go but neither side could find a winner and the game was to go to Extra Time
- It would have been easy for both sides to play for Penalties but neither Palace or United were prepared to wait for that and both went in search of an Extra Time winner
- It was advantage Palace in a numerical sense at least after Chris Smalling was shown his second yellow card of the game
- Yannick Bolasie’s pace was just too much for Smalling, who once beaten hauled Bolasie to the floor in something that was more reminiscent of a rugby tackle
- Referee Mark Clattenburg had no other option but to give Smalling his marching orders
- Could Palace then make their numerical advantage on the field count
- The answer was no
- Antonio Valencia lofted a cross into the box with 10 minutes to go and it was nodded down as far as Substitute Jesse Lingard who volleyed home from the edge of the box to turn the game around for Louis Van Gaal’s side
- United then had to see the last 10 minutes out with 10 men, could Palace find a dramatic equaliser
- They threw everything they had left at David De Gea but it wasn’t to be and United won a record equaling 12th F.A. Cup and their first major silverware since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement
- Louis Van Gaal’s first silverware and if you are to believe what you read this morning then it could very well be his last (more of that in a separate article)
- Palace miss out on the Europa League which means West Ham get European Football at the new Olympic Stadium
- It would have been celebrations last night for United and Van Gaal but Today the questions as to whether a Cup win is enough have to be asked
- And it seems we will have the answer to that very soon
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