LONDON (Reuters) – Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag was pleased that his team “ate Palace alive” but was ultimately left to lament that his men let what felt like a sure victory slip through their hands in a 0-0 Premier League draw with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
After a 3-0 league win over Southampton and then a 7-0 shellacking of Barnsley in a League Cup third-round game on Tuesday, Ten Hag’s side played with swagger on Saturday.
They had numerous near misses in a dominant first half that included two rockets off the crossbar in quick succession from Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes.
But they headed home to Manchester ruing the two points lost, rather than the single point earned.
“When we don’t win, I’m not content,” Ten Hag told Sky Sports. “We should have won.
“I think first half, we ate them alive. Then in the second half it was more in the balance, but first half we should have scored one or two goals. Probably lose two points because of the first half but the thing is that we don’t lose this game in the end.”
The draw left United 11th in the table on seven points, with just two wins in five league matches.
Ten Hag called the clean sheet for keeper Andre Onana, who made a spectacular double save in the second half, a positive.
“Unbelievable save, Andre is so explosive, he is such a great stopper. It’s twice in one action,” the manager said. “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.”
Oliver Glasner’s Palace team were significantly stronger after the break, and the manager was happy to have salvaged a point.
“In the first half (keeper) Dean Henderson kept us alive and kept us in the game,” Glasner said. “In the second half we were much, much better. In the first half we needed a great goalkeeper and fortunately we had one today.
“In the second half we were more organised, we played with more courage and we had two great situations to win the game. In that second half it was more like a Crystal Palace team and that is what we need to be competitive against a team like Manchester United.”
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; editing by Clare Fallon)
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