Three Man Utd players told they ‘don’t know where they were going’ vs Crystal Palace

Three Manchester United players have been told they did not know where they were going as the club lost 1-0 against Crystal Palace, but that Rasmus Højlund “did alright”.

Manchester United fell to their fourth defeat in seven Premier League fixtures on Saturday afternoon as Erik ten Hag unwantedly guided his club to their worst-ever start in the competition.

United currently sit 10th in the table with just nine points and a goal difference of -4, and their lacklustre performance against Crystal Palace was rightly criticised.

Read More: Two Manchester United players have exposed Erik ten Hag problems at Old Trafford

One big issue for United was the lack of chances they created for their new striker, Rasmus Højlund, with the creative players unable to craft any significant chances for the Dane.

“He did alright, he had one real good chance where he backed in but slipped as he turned,” Paul Merson said of Højlund on Sky Sports. “Playing upfront on his own, you don’t know whether they’ll cross or not. It’s hard for him, he doesn’t get a lot of service.

“Mount, Casemiro and Fernandes don’t really know where they’re going or where they’re playing. For me, it’s a big worry, another defeat and they are a million miles off it.”

Beyond this, Merson explained that he just does not see any patterns of play at United right now, which is one thing that separates Ten Hag’s team and the current crop of the best in the league.

“You just don’t see the patterns of play, if it comes off, it comes off,” Merson said. “You watch Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, they have patterns of play.

“At Man United, it’s ‘just get the ball wide and hope Rashford does something’, and if he does we might score a goal. Amrabat was wasted on the left side, he came in the middle but he should start there.

“They need to dominate teams, it’s too slow at Man United, they let teams get into the game and settle. They have to go for them in the opening 20 minutes. Disappointing, not really made loads of chances and were lost of ideas for a lot of the game.”