MANCHESTER UNITED equalled a humiliating 132-year unwanted record with the defeat to Crystal Palace.
And now a horror relegation omen looms over the fallen giants.
Jean-Philippe Mateta scored twice for the Eagles as they leapfrogged above the Red Devils into 12th in the table with their fourth win in six trips to Old Trafford.
The result was the SEVENTH Premier League home defeat of the season already for United – from just 13 matches.
That is their joint-worst record at this stage of the season in the club’s history.
In 1893-94, when still called Newton Heath, they went on to lose eight of their 15 home league games.
And, crucially, the club finished bottom of the First Division and were relegated.
Then in 1973-74, United went down again – with seven home league losses.
Now Ruben Amorim will be desperate history does not repeat itself as the problems mount up at Old Trafford.
Amorim himself hit a new low in his brief but turbulent tenure at Old Trafford.
The Palace defeat was his fifth home Premier League defeat – after just seven matches.
Predecessor Erik ten Hag’s losses to Liverpool and Tottenham do not look too bad considering Amorim has been beaten by Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Brighton and now Palace.
Man Utd home Premier League results 2024-25
- Man Utd 1-0 Fulham, 16/08/2024
- Man Utd 0-3 Liverpool, 01/09/2024
- Man Utd 0-3 Tottenham, 29/09/2024
- Man Utd 2-1 Brentford, 19/10/2024
- Man Utd 1-1 Chelsea, 03/11/2024
- Man Utd 3-0 Leicester, 10/11/2024
- Man Utd 4-0 Everton, 01/12/2024
- Man Utd 2-3 Nottingham Forest, 07/12/2024
- Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth, 22/12/2024
- Man Utd 0-2 Newcastle, 30/12/2024
- Man Utd 3-1 Southampton, 16/01/2025
- Man Utd 1-3 Brighton, 19/01/2025
- Man Utd 0-2 Crystal Palace, 02/02/2025
The only matches in which he has avoided defeat at home were the 4-0 thumping of Everton in his Old Trafford debut – thanks to Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee doubles – and an Amad Diallo-inspired comeback victory over Southampton.
And Amorim now holds the undesirable honour of the Manchester United manager to reach five home Premier League defeats.
His tally of seven is half the previous record of 14 held by David Moyes during his ill-fated 2013-14 campaign.
Ten Hag is third on 28 followed by Louis van Gaal (30) and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (31).
Sir Alex Ferguson needed a whopping 88 home Premier League games to rack up his five losses.
But Jose Mourinho and Ralf Rangnick did not even reach five league losses at Old Trafford during their stints in the dugout.
Man Utd player ratings vs Crystal Palace
MANCHESTER UNITED’S mini-revival under Ruben Amorim came to an abrupt end as Crystal Palace ran out 2-0 winners at Old Trafford.
Here’s how the Red Devils stars rated on a disappointing day.
Andre Onana – 5
Was left vulnerable by a shaky back-line and beaten by Lacroix’s looping header, which came off the crossbar into Mateta’s path.
But he couldn’t do much about the second goal.
Leny Yoro – 5
Came in for De Ligt, who was benched. Was inches away from scoring his first United goal early on.
Did well to block Mitchell after a Mazraoui error, but his positioning was a problem later in the game.
Harry Maguire – 3
Lost his battle with centre forward Mateta, who held the ball up well and got in behind every time, and was left stranded for the Frenchman’s first goal.
Hasn’t connected with Yoro. Palace, namely Sarr, opened them both up with ease and should’ve buried some chances through Mateta.
Lisandro Martinez – 6
Was stretchered off after jarring his knee in the 79th minute.
The Argentine has been scoring the goals recently, but blazed a centre-back’s shot over the bar on the brink of half-time.
Noussair Mazraoui – 5
He was okay in the right wing-back role again but it is obviously not his best position.
Struggled with the dual threat of Mitchell and Daichi Kamada down Palace’s left side.
Diogo Dalot – 4
Awful link-up play with a horrible blind pass inside the Palace box in a promising team position before the break.
He’s not a left winger and it’s clear why Patrick Dorgu has been signed.
Manuel Ugarte – 6
Missing in the middle when Mateta’s stunning 80-yard run. Missed half a chance in the second-half.
Bruno Fernandes – 5
Restricted. Couldn’t get forward much and was unlucky not to score from his usual 20-yard territory after being denied by Henderson.
Was one of three United players booked.
Amad Diallo – 6
Great individual runs, on and off the ball. Dropped to wing-back after Mainoo came off and was involved in anything good creatively.
Alejandro Garnacho – 5
Predictable build-up. But worked hard tracking back as one of the two 10s.
Was quieter in the second half and struggled to step up when the going got tough.
Kobbie Mainoo – 4
Huge experiment by Amorim to have Mainoo lead the line, albeit falsely. It didn’t pay off, but it wasn’t all his fault.
He didn’t get the service or have the hold up play required to be effective.
SUBS
Hojlund (’70 for Mainoo) – 5
Came on for the last 20 minutes and ran around a bit without doing much of note.
Zirkzee (’70 for Mazraoui) – 5
As above, not a great deal to write home about despite trying to make things happen.
Read the full article here
