April 21 2016

Julian Speroni (Photo: Andy Roberts)

It was a frustrating result for Crystal Palace against Manchester United – here's six things we took from the game.

By Matt Pearce and Dougal Caston

1. Key players missed

Alan Pardew made seven changes for Manchester United – a chance for squad players to step in and make an impression while key players were rested. Unfortunately, most of them (bar the man inbetween the sticks) failed to capitalise on their chance, limping to a poor performance from Palace. Lee Chung-yong, Jordon Mutch and Bakary Sako in particular were singled out as having under performed. As rumours of a summer clearout start to emerge, it would have been a great time for some of these players to get going.

2. Speroni to start at Wembley?

One familiar face that that worked its way in to the starting line-up that did put in an admirable performance was South London stalwart, Julian Speroni. While there were two goals conceded, neither were his fault. The veteran made some vital saves throughout the game to steer Palace clear of a complete meltdown, having to compensate for defensive weaknesses. With usual keeper Wayne Hennesey having come under some scrutiny in recent months, it will be interesting to see if we will see Speroni receive more game time for the remainder of the season. Despite his heroic performance, he was still not mentioned when Pardew was questioned about players making a case for the FA Cup semi-final.

All of the love for this man. Top performance last night #cpfc pic.twitter.com/DWBdFzTETf

— RedNBlueArmy.co.uk (@RedNBlueArmy1) April 21, 2016

3. Tough break for Delaney

A trip to Old Trafford is never going to be an easy ride, but poor old Damien Delaney put Palace at an immediate disadvantage with a calamitous own goal in the fourth minute. This put us on the back foot from the off, and effectively put the game out of reach before the team had a chance to get going. The own goal was indicative of a generally shoddy performance from the back line. Ironically Delaney seemed to possess the composure and accuracy in front of goal that our own attacking players have been lacking for a lot of the season – maybe Pardew should consider starting Damo up front for the semi?

4. Work to do in summer

With both teams fielding a weakened side, ahead of big FA Cup fixtures this weekend, it was clear that Palace lacked the squad depth to match the quality options that Manchester United have, when resting their key players. Palace can tend to fall apart when just a couple of our teams vital players aren’t on the pitch. Pardew really needs to look to build a stronger squad over the summer, not just for games like these but also to deal with any injuries that may occur, and we feel our position in the table reflects that.

5. 0 shots on target

Once again, Palace looked toothless in front of goal, only managing to conjure up five shots all game, none of which were on target. There were glimpses of nice attacking play from Wilfried Zaha, but ultimately, the end product was missing from all attackers. The opposition, on the other hand, managed 16 shots, with 10 of them on target. We were probably lucky to only lose 2-0.

6. All eyes on Wembley now

While this wasn’t the scoreline any of us would have wished for, it is hardly surprising this game wasn’t Palace's best. With one of the biggest games for decades fast approaching, it’s inevitable that everyone at the club will be somewhat distracted. If all goes well this weekend and we are to meet Man United again at Wembley, with a full-strength team, it will hopefully be a very different game.

Wembley tickets ✅
Home Shirt✅
Red & Blue face paint✅
Red & Blue baloons✅
Train tickets✅
Pot to piss in❌
🔴🔵🔴 #CPFC🔵🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/cVnfDcGCqt

— CPFCGIFS (@GIFS_CPFC) April 19, 2016