Manchester United warmed up for Europa League final in style as they brushed aside Crystal Palace on the final day of the season at Old Trafford. With a number of first-team players rested for the Stockholm showdown against Ajax on Wednesday, a youthful Manchester United took an early lead.
Debutant Josh Harrop skipped past challenges and curled one from the edge of the box past a diving Wayne Hennessey into the corner. The advantage was quickly doubled when Jesse Lingard hared into Palace half and laid the ball for Pogba, who slid his shot through the legs of Hennessey.
Crystal Palace – who guaranteed survival with a victory over relegated Hull City last week - barely threatened to produce a fightback. Manchester United will now go into Wednesday’s final with a winning mentality.
Here are the talking points from the game at Old Trafford:
#1 Josh Harrop and Demetri Mitchell stand out in a young United line-up
With United guaranteed to finish no higher or lower than 6th, Jose Mourinho named a youthful starting XI for the season’s curtain drawer at Old Trafford. Four players were given full debuts and only Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Wayne Rooney from the starting XI were not graduates or students of United’s academy.
However, some of United’s colts exceeded expectations on the biggest stage as they helped outplay Crystal Palace. Two of them in particular – left-winger Joshua Harrop and left-back Demetri Mitchell were outstanding on the flank, using their young and athletic legs to dominate Palace’s byline and give right-back Joel Ward a nightmare.
While Harrop showed that he is capable of striking the ball sweetly with an excellent goal, Mitchell ensured that Wilfried Zaha was unable to pose any sort of threat on the wing.It was a display that suggests that the future is indeed bright for the pair.
#2 Jose Mourinho playing safe with two first-half substitutions
With a number of senior players ruled out or suspended for the Europa League final, manager Jose Mourinho was in no mood to take any risks going into the summit clash at Stockholm. He gave two contenders to start the final - Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard - starts in this game, but hauled them off even before the half-time whistle had been blown.
On came Michael Carrick and Anthony Martial for their auditions for the final. A good stint of 45 minutes – rather than 90 and possibly fighting fatigue - for all those four players meant that Mourinho could now tangibly assess his options ahead of Wednesday’s clash.
It was a sensible move made by the manager, keeping in mind that United must win on Wednesday to gain entry into next season’s Champions League, having failed to do the same through the league standings.
#3 Crystal Palace’s only threat comes from set-pieces
Crystal Palace secured Premier League survival last week with a 4-0 thumping of Hull City, so they could be forgiven for not showing up tactically in today’s game. The concession of two early goals set the tone of the game, and Palace never displayed any serious signs of a fightback.
Their only sources of chance creation came from set-pieces – Christian Benteke being the primary target. January signing Luka Milivojevic went close with a couple of free-kicks, but debutant Joel Pereira was comfortably behind them.
Patrick van Aanholt made a number of advancing runs into the penalty area, but Timothy Fosu-Mensah kept him at bay and prevented him from delivering teasing crosses. It was a performance which suggested that Palace were already on holiday, having consolidated their top-flight status after a stressful season.
#4 Wayne Rooney impresses in possibly his last game for Manchester United
Apart from United’s young guns, another player who came under the spotlight was club captain Wayne Rooney. The 31-year old – who has found playing time hard to come by this season – is rumoured to be heading through the exit door at Old Trafford at the end of this season, possibly moving back to his boyhood club Everton.
As Jose Mourinho prepares to bring Manchester United back to elite status in the domestic and European circuit, it looks increasingly likely that Rooney – who has scored a club-record 253 goals for the Red Devils – is not going to be a part of it.
If this indeed is Rooney’s swansong at Old Trafford, he would have signed off with a reasonably good performance. He looked sharp, showing the desire to take players on one-on-one and have shots at goal. He produced a delightful chip from a Demitri Mitchell floated pass, which turned out to be slightly overcooked as it lobbed over the crossbar.
He helped feed the youngsters on the wing with his passes and was at the heart of most of United’s attacks. He was given what looked like a farewell ovation from the Old Trafford faithful as he made way for another debutant in 16-year old Angel Gomes, cousin of ex-United winger Nani, late in the game.
With Rooney unlikely to be involved in the Europa League final, he may just have played his final game ever for Manchester United.
#5 Does Joel Pereira have a future at Manchester United?
Manchester United’s youngest starting line-up in Premier League history also saw a debutant in goal – Portuguese international Joel Castro Pereira. The 20-year old – labelled by Mourinho as the ‘best he has seen in his generation’ – appeared a nervous wreck in the initial stages.
He showed apparent weakness when he was pushed into his goal by a Palace player while defending a corner – any proper contact by Benteke (who missed his header) would have resulted in a goal. Pereira also looked indecisive during free-kicks, not knowing whether to come out to catch the ball as it was delivered into the box.
However, he made a couple of impressive saves in the second half, including a confident cushion from Milivojevic’s free-kick.
It is a game which definitely does not reflect his true potential, but if given a proper run-in during domestic cup games next season, we might learn more about him and arrive at a rigid conclusion regarding his long-term future with Manchester United.
