Erik ten Hag raves about “explosive” Manchester United star who was amazing vs Crystal Palace

Erik ten Hag took some time after the Crystal Palace fixture to praise a Manchester United star who was terrific at Selhurst Park.

Manchester United suffered their first draw of the season, fighting out a 0-0 stalemate with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday evening.

The tie started well for United, with the Northern club dominating proceedings and registering multiple shots on target, all of which Dean Henderson denied.

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However, although the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee kept probing, hope for an opening goal seemed to fade, and although Palace themselves grew into the tie in the second half, it was to no avail.

The fixture slowly crawled to a 0-0 draw despite both teams’ ten shots on target. Although United’s forwards have been criticised for their lack of finishing ability, United goalkeeper André Onana has earned praise.

In the second half, Onana came to his side’s rescue to deny Eddie Nketiah and then Ismaila Sarr on the follow-up, providing an incredible double save that many fans have struggled to believe is possible.

After the game, Ten Hag admitted that he is one of those spectators, praising Onana for his “unbelievable” save in the second half.

“Unbelievable save, Andre is so explosive,” Ten Hag told reporters after the match. “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.”

However, Ten Hag was also quick to admit that he feels the club dropped two points rather than gained one. Although he also took the time to praise his team for their overall positive performance.

“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.

“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.”

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