Palace’s plan almost worked.
Secede possession, hit on the counter, take your chances. A fine plan, when that final point is executed, but if not, it all looks a little meek. Palace gave United the lion’s share of possession, with good reason; stale possession has become something of a United specialty this season, and in Yannick Bolasie, Connor Wickham and Wilfried Zaha, Alan Pardew has three talented counter-attacking weapons.
When Jason Puncheon, a substitute, smashed in the opening goal of the game, Pardew samba’d on the sideline, inducing withering cringes everywhere. This was, though, the plan working, and Palace needed simply to do what they had done for the previous 75 minutes; keep United out. They couldn’t, and when Juan Mata equalised, Palace were gassed. Having huffed and puffed without the ball, then scored, all their work had been undone by one defensive miscarriage, cause by a superlative Wayne Rooney run. When Chris Smalling was sent off, and Palace were given an opportunity to seize control, they simply could not, arranged and drilled as they were to play in the opposite fashion.
