Image From The Mirror

Manchester United travelled to Selhurst Park as they took on Crystal Palace in another midweek league match resulting in a 3-1 victory with two of them finished by the big Belgian himself, Romelu Lukaku and after Joel Ward’s header halved the deficit, Ashley Young sealed the game for Man United as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his men still remain unbeaten in the Premier League since he took over as caretaker boss. With Man Utd securing a big victory and claiming all three points over Crystal Palace, what were some of the key aspects of this fixture?

Luke Shaw finally arriving from Southampton.

Luke Shaw put in a hell of a performance in Selhurst Park and has had an excellent season so far, finally looking like the Shaw United paid the Saints for back in 2014. Shaw was up and down the pitch and very much involved in the attacks going forward. He made a wonderful run to assist to Big Rom and created a number of other chances. The left back had 100% successful take ons and successful tackles each time. It seem’s like Shaw is finally coming of age this season!

Pogba still sharp.

Many United supporters, including myself were wondering if Pogba would still have that freedom and that edge without the injured Matic and Herrera and the answer is, yes! Pogba bossed the game today and still got himself an assist. No Matic, no Herrera, no Pog-blem.

McTominay proving haters wrong again.

Scott McTominay proved himself once again today after the moaners wanted him out of the club not a month ago. But that has quickly changed as the Scot put in another impressive display against Crystal Palace, as he did on Sunday against Liverpool. McTominay controlled the midfield very well and had a total of 84% aerial duels won, 24 forward passes and 3 clearances. Fantastic showing once again from the youngster.

Lukaku on fire again. Fred and Sanchez not so much.

Lukaku had a good performance today and looked like himself again as he netted a brace of classy finishes. On the other hand, Fred and Alexis had slightly disappointing performances today. Sanchez was trying get involved going forward and a some decent moments but still not worth the wages he’s paid. Fred was losing balls, misplacing passes and showed a lack of physicality which Palace capitalised on. United sorely missed Ander Herrera with his ruthlessness, high energy play and commanding prescence. But I am willing to give Fred some more time to find his feet in this difficult league.

Ole’s at the wheel! Surely now it will be permanent?

Ole now deserves even more praise if that is even possible! Ole was without many of his starters in Lingard, Martial, Matic, Herrera and even Rashford, who replaced Alexis Sanchez for the last fifteen minutes. But Ole still manages to be unbeaten in the Premier League despite many fans not expecting a result against Palace due to the sheer number of injuries and Palace’s run of form of late but Ole still managed to get all 3 points today even when having two players yet to feature in the league on the bench, of which one made his debut tonight, James Garner, if only for under ten minutes. If Solskjaer isn’t announced as permanent manager of Manchester United this coming week, then it is surely only a matter of time.