United View: Zirkzee and Mount inspire comeback

United showed two sides of themselves against Crystal Palace on Sunday, a first half devoid of intensity and a second half that showed much improved vigour in their game. 

An important 2-1 win, thanks to goals from Joshua Zirkzee and Mason Mount, keeps them well within the Champions League race.

After their embarrassing defeat against ten-man Everton on Monday, they went into Sunday’s match against Palace under scrutiny. 

They were way off it in the opening 45 minutes, with Leny Yoro giving away a careless penalty for Jean Phillipe Mateta to put the Eagles one up.

It seemed as though United would fall to another defeat for the second time in a week, but two superb finishes from Zirkzee and Mount saw an unlikely turnaround. 

Palace were unbeaten in 12 Premier League matches at home before this, showing just how difficult Selhurst Park has become for teams to get a victory.

Both goals came via set pieces assisted by Bruno Fernandes, something the Reds have improved on this season. 

They struggled to create chances from open play in this match, so being able to create chances from corners or free kicks could prove to be an important tactic for Ruben Amorim.

The Eagles were lagging after a quick turnaround from their Conference League match against Strasbourg on Thursday night, something Amorim recognised just before the end of the first half, and his team showed superior energy levels after the break.

This wasn’t United’s concern, and they played their part by taking advantage of Palace’s drop off in intensity, picking up their first win at Selhurst Park since 2020. 

It was also their first win in London (excluding Fulham) since January 2022 – a 3-1 win against Brentford.

After the game, Ruben Amorim said, “I felt in the last 10 minutes of the first half that the opponent was struggling, and that they would struggle in the second half. We had that feeling, and we needed to do something to change the way we were playing. We tried to change little things in the game - the intensity and the quality in the way we connect, especially Josh [Zirkzee] - he improved a lot the way we played.”

It was encouraging that Zirkzee and Mount were both amongst the goals; both have yet to flourish during their time at United, but will be needed over the next month with Bryan Mbeumo and Amad both leaving for AFCON. 

For Zirkzee, this was his first league goal in nearly a year, and Mount completed his first-ever 90 minutes in the league for United.

Speaking on Zirkzee’s performance, Amorim stated, “It was really important. But again, it was not just the goal, even the runs in-behind in the first half - he struggled on the duels, he won some in the second and we improved a lot because of his quality. It is important for him to understand that it is not just the goal - we played better because he played well in the second half.”

United currently sit 7th in the table, two points off 4th-placed Aston Villa, but also three points above Everton in 14th at the time of writing. 

The league is heavily congested right now, but it should see the gap between European places widen over the Christmas period.

United next face West Ham on Thursday night at Old Trafford before a trip to Molineux against Wolves on Monday evening, ideally, they’ll be hoping to pick up maximum points from both games, which could see them move further up the table depending on other results this week.