Harry Maguire has sent a message to one of his Manchester United teammates after they secured a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.
In a tough away match, Manchester United began on the front foot, but Crystal Palace gradually settled and started to threaten Senne Lammens’ goal.
Clear chances were limited as the half progressed, yet Leny Yoro handed the home side an ideal chance to break the deadlock with a reckless foul in the box. Jean-Philippe Mateta converted the resulting penalty, scoring after VAR had disallowed his first attempt for a double touch.
United returned after the break with greater intensity, and Joshua Zirkzee produced a superb finish from a tight angle to level the match.
Minutes later, Mason Mount guided the ball into the bottom corner from a well-worked set-piece routine to complete the turnaround. The Reds then saw out the game to claim all three points.
Maguire sends four-word message to ‘excellent’ United star
After a disappointing display in the first half of the game, it was brilliant to see Zirkzee find the back of the net with an ‘excellent’ finish.
It was the Dutch striker’s first goal of the season and started the comeback for United. When a player is playing poorly, they sometimes need a moment like that to give them confidence to turn things around.
Fans will be hoping that is the case for Zirkzee and his teammates are also happy for him.
Zirkzee took to Instagram after the win at Selhurst Park to upload images of his goal celebrations and several of his United teammates commented with supportive messages.
Among them was Harry Maguire, who replied to Zirkzee’s post with the message: “Well done mate. Deserved,” with a love-heart emoji.
Maguire was not involved in the squad against Palace as he continues to recover from an injury but he knows all about the struggles Zirkzee would have been going through over the last few months.
Zirkzee could keep spot for West Ham
Benjamin Šeško remains unavailable for United and it doesn’t seem like he will be back in action for at least a couple more games.
Matheus Cunha will likely return to action for the game against West Ham next week but Zirkzee’s goal might have earned him enough credit to keep his spot upfront.
He remains a player who fans are unsure about. He has brilliant technique at times, a physical frame and great game awareness. Yet most of the time it seems like he cannot put that all together.
United must also help him at times. He is a different kind of striker to Šeško and does not thrive off balls in the air and it feels like the Reds have been crossing more in the last couple of games.
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