Patrick van Aanholt scores the winner for
Palace (Reuters)United free-kick duties need revising
For all the debate about penalties this past week, it is about time United had a second designated free-kick
taker. Solskjaer’s reign began with a Marcus Rashford scoring a free-kick against Cardiff City, but that has
been the exception to the rule.
Rashford’s knuckleball striking technique is a distinctive one but not particularly successful. One woeful
attempt at Molineux on Monday night was followed with two off-target efforts in the first half here.
Then again, perhaps a rotation policy is not the answer either. When Anthony Martial was brought down on
the edge of the box at the end of the first half, Paul Pogba stepped up. He blazed over.
Lingard struggles sitting off the striker
Jesse Lingard has not scored or assisted a league goal for United since December. He can offer more than
just raw output, as he did at Wolves on Monday, but his lack of significant attacking contributions appears
to be affecting him.
Twice on Saturday, poor touches led to groans from the Old Trafford crowd. Assistant manager Mike
Phelan regularly had to leave his seat to coach him through the game, before he was replaced by Mason
Greenwood after 55 minutes.
United need him to rediscover the form he showed during the 2017-18 season. Lingard appears to be
Solskjaer’s chosen No 10 in his preferred 4-2-3-1 system but it remains to be seen whether Lingard is up to
the mark.
United trio left in the cold again
Plenty of attention has been paid to Alexis Sanchez’s future over the past week, but there are other senior
figures at Old Trafford who cannot buy a place in Solskjaer’s matchday squad.
For the third consecutive game, Fred, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling were left out. One was a new, £52m
signing this time last year. The other two have signed new long-term contracts in the last nine months.
And yet, with Solskjaer happy to promote younger players like Axel Tuanzebe and Andreas Pereira above
them, it is difficult to see how the trio force their way back into their manager’s plans.