Sunday 1 November 2015 20:17, UK
Manchester United’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Saturday extended their run without a goal beyond the five-hour mark and brought frustrated chants from supporters. Adam Bate reflects on the growing frustrations that come with watching Louis van Gaal’s United…
Nil-nil. It had to be. After a week in which the entertainment levels of Louis van Gaal's Manchester United had been questioned, here was a scoreline to sum up his reign at Old Trafford - a reflection of the positives and negatives of his impact encapsulated in a couple of digits. "Attack, attack, attack," implored the fans with increasing desperation. Instead, they got 20 minutes of Marouane Fellaini.
Speaking afterwards about these demands from the fans, Van Gaal was keen to point to the team's better away days, but did acknowledge their right to criticise. "I think the right of the fans is always there. This was the first time after Arsenal that we were not the better team away so I think they have seen it very good. So they can sing that but the next time they may sing in another way."
Time will tell. Before kick-off, the footage of Chelsea's latest defeat, plunging the champions deeper into crisis, had beamed out from the big screen at Selhurst Park. The more phlegmatic among the travelling United supporters preparing for their clash with Crystal Palace might well have considered that 'boring' would be preferable to that right now. But actually having to watch it is a different matter.
Boring had been the criticism levelled at Van Gaal's team by Paul Scholes this week. His comments came after United failed to attempt a single shot in the first half of the Manchester derby last weekend, the first time that's happened since Opta began collecting records. There were similar scenes at Selhurst on Saturday as United failed to have a single shot on target from open play.
It was sterile stuff. Of course, calming the crowd is a considerable part of the challenge when coming to Crystal Palace. A vocal crowd, cheerleaders and even a bird of prey all add to the atmosphere in south London. As a result, unambitious passing to settle things down might be considered a viable strategy for any team - particularly a United side so committed to retaining their shape.
In the first 10 minutes of the game, only Ander Herrera completed more than one pass inside the Palace half. He managed two. In stark contrast, the home side served up their usual unpredictability with ex-United winger Wilfried Zaha's trickery troubling Marcos Rojo early on. Palace fans chanted his name. The visitors responded by celebrating old hero Eric Cantona. That seemed to sum it up.
But here's the thing. It can work. There might be something cynical - and perhaps more than a little 'un-United' - about stroking the ball around waiting for an error rather than searching for a moment of inspiration, but in the frenzy of the Premier League, opponents don't often disappoint for long. Mistakes are made. But chances, or more accurately, chances to have chances, came and went.
Anthony Martial cleverly bought a booking for Martin Kelly but the resulting free-kick was overhit, and when Juan Mata induced a lunged challenge on the edge of the box, Rooney at least ensured that there would be no repeat of United's shotless first half of last weekend - curling an effort into the hands of Wayne Hennessey.
At other times, the desire to overplay can go far too far. Witness Rooney and Mata conspiring to squander an opportunity from a free-kick in a good area by playing it short. Or Mata's nutmeg on James McArthur being followed up by an attempt to thread a pass towards Bastian Schweinsteiger, chugging forwards down the left channel, rather than shoot from a central position 25 yards out himself.
The theory is often undermined by the practice. For example, United's patience might have paid off had Rooney latched onto Martial's wonderful pass, putting him clean through in the first half. The young Frenchman could not have measured the pass better if he'd planned it all day - which is how long it seemed to take Rooney to catch up with the ball as it trundled safely into the arms of Hennessey.
Much has been written of Martial's role on the left and the fact that he covered less ground than any other outfield player in the opening 45 minutes was surely a reflection of the constraints put on him there rather than any lack of enthusiasm. But he still provided United's best two chances with that aforementioned pass to Rooney and a square ball from which Herrera should have found the net.
Van Gaal was left to bemoan United's failure to seize these few opportunities that they did have. "Today when you are not creating so many chances I cannot complain," he said afterwards. "Even so, we had chances that we could finish and we could win this game. The big chance of Ander Herrera we have to finish that and we didn't finish. That is our history until now. We have to improve that."
There will be no disagreement among supporters on that score. The debate consuming them will be whether the Van Gaal way is the best way to fashion such openings. What's clear is that his commitment to possession and position is unstinting. "We didn't develop our positional play anymore and then you cannot create chances," he said of the team's second-half performance.
"You can never tell as a coach whether it was the right balance when you don't have the control of the game and I want to control the game always," he added, when asked about the balance of the team. "Maybe in the second half of the first half we controlled the game, but in the second half we didn't control the game so you cannot talk of balance in the team."
You can never tell as a coach whether it was the right balance when you don't have the control of the game and I want to control the game always.
Eventually, Van Gaal did switch his two forwards just after the hour mark but the flow of things failed to change. Rooney's best moment did come from the left, cutting inside to cross to substitute Jesse Lingard, whose header set up Martial for a snap-shot that was well blocked. But the best chances came Palace's way. Their more obvious charms looked most likely to find the breakthrough.
Yannick Bolasie hit the bar with a fierce shot in the opening exchanges - David de Gea just getting a hand to it - while Yohan Cabaye also went close to coming up with a winner when he failed to force home from close range. United had to be content with keep-ball. Only Manchester City have had more possession than United this season. For shots on target, Van Gaal's men are not in the top dozen.
Opposing manager Alan Pardew spoke calmly and astutely afterwards about United's transition. "It is a different style, it's a patient style," said the Palace boss. "They're looking for that moment, that incision. But that incision is what they're lacking at the moment. Where Manchester United are is that they're playing a possession game and they just need to get over that last hurdle."
Perhaps that explains why, when the whistle went and the home supporters applauded their team's efforts, the visiting fans momentarily stood in stultified silence. Soon after, they regathered to acknowledge their side. And then came a brief rendition of the chant that once struck fear into opponents but now reads more like a begging letter to their own manager… Attack. Attack. Attack.
