Outside90’s Liam Warren casts an eye over the players that needed to do more in last night’s FA Cup final between Manchester United and Crystal Palace.
Worst Performers
Yohan Cabaye (Crystal Palace) – For a player with the creative skills that Cabaye has shown in the past, he was very ineffective going forward before being substituted in the second-half. His passing was particularly disappointing for the Eagles, as on a couple of occasion he missed some easy targets and gave United the ball back. When your team is set up to hit on the counter, one cannot afford to waste opportunities going forward. His set pieces also left a lot to be desired, with too many being easily claimed by David De Gea.
READ MORE: FA Cup – What We Learned – Crystal Palace 1 Manchester United 2 (AET)
Connor Wickham (Crystal Palace) – Struggled to make any impact in the final-third of the pitch before being replaced in the latter stages. He was never able to get possession in the areas of which he would be able to make an impact. That may have been down to the play in front of him, but at times even when he was given balls to his advantage to lay off to teammates, his distribution ended up going behind the target running past and thus ending the threat that may have been created.
Chris Smalling (Manchester United) – A game to forget for the central-defender. He struggled against the likes of Yannick Bolasie and Connor Wickham, both getting past him very easily and leading him into positions of vulnerability. Twice the attackers beat him and both times in order to stop them advancing on goal he chose to pull them back resulting in two yellow cards, the second of which came towards the end of the first-half of extra time. Thankfully to Smalling his dismissal was not a turning point in the game.
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