On such a significant day for many reasons, United do what they always do and end up spoiling our day.

After the positivity of signing Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven and on a day when we honor the Busby Babes, we go on and drop an absolute stinker.

Typical United.

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Amorim made a big call by not selecting either of Zirkzee or Hojlund as striker (although it's not as if they fill anyone with confidence) and instead opted for Mainoo as a false 9.

At the moment, that lad seems to be all over the place: number 8, number 10, now number 9.

And do you know what? It actually worked...

...for about 15 minutes.

Mainoo as the striker was actually not too bad and neither were United as they seemed to be cooking with their football. There was a lot of quick, incisive passing and play resulting in some good attacking output by the home side. Mainoo hit the post in this period after some top interplay between him and Amad.

But that was about it as after those intial 15 minutes, Palace managed to figure things out and had a very comfortable game thereafter. And while it was Amorim's team that were on the front foot, the away side did have some chances of their own as they got in behind far too easily on a couple of occasions. Mateta in particular looking like a player who would cause United the most issues.

Speaking of MUFC's defence, they were awful all game especially Yoro and Maguire who came in for De Ligt and Hojlund from Thursday night's win.

The pair looked all over the place, were very lackadaisical, lackluster and completely off the pace as the Eagles dominated the duo. This makes no sense considering Yoro and Maguire didn't start in Romania meaning that they should've been fresher for this one.

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The game then went into a bit of a lull before halftime. United began the game well but Palace ended the half the stronger.

0-0 at the break in what was a fairly even contest.

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Ruben Amorim's side then started the second period much as they did the first although they did hit the target a couple of times. Bruno and Ugarte forcing good saves from ex-Red Dean Henderson who always seems to play like prime Buffon whenever coming up against United.

This was an improvement for the Reds though, as despite a host of corners in the first half and attempts at goal, there was nothing that really troubled Palace other than Mainoo's shot off the post.

Things began to look good.

Until it didn't.

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Much like the first 45, after a bit, we began to fade and Palace took full advantage as man in form Mateta manages to score a tap-in after the Eagles win a header at the back post from a free-kick which ended up hitting the bar before the Eagles' striker was quicker to react to put the ball home.

It's at this point that we all thought, 'here we go again.'

And it really was like de ja vu as we dropped our heads, couldn't get going and then Martinez goes and gets an injury that looks to be a season ender.

Another innocuous one where it had nothing to do with the opposition player. He signaled to the bench straight away, had to be stretchered off and was in tears as he was taken to the dressing room.

Things somehow got worse (which seems to be the case with United) as just before the 90, Mateta scores his and Palace's second to kill the game. Poor defending from United once more and particularly Yoro and Maguire who weren't on the same page as one played for the offside trap and the other didn't. This resulted in Munoz getting in behind and playing a square pass to Mateta who was free in the box for his second tap-in.

This gave them a deserved win, which turned out to be quite comfortable in the end.

Despite 9 minutes being added on, there was no way back. Even an extra 90 wouldn't have made a difference.

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United lose their 11th game of the season which is 46% of their matches; United lose their 7th at home in 13 matches; United have now lost three of the last four against Palace without scoring; Amorim's record is now 7 losses in his 13 Premier League matches.

We just suck regardless of opponent, system, manager, competition, location.

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I do believe that Amorim may have made his first big mistake as United boss as that gamble of Mainoo as false 9 did not work. While neither striker may be good enough, they are at least strikers and we do play better with them in the team.

Another criticism of the manager I would say is that I think he plays with too many defenders and not enough width. Five at the back doesn't seem to be working as we look suspect defensively anyway and they don't do much in the final third either. Mazraoui and Dalot provide nothing going forward and with Amad and Garnacho as CAMs, it takes away what they're good at which is flying down the wings.

Offensively, his side offer very little and at the back, we are uncertain.

There's nothing about this performance that is a positive although there were times when the team displayed some good football. Rotation of the ball, lack of panic, winning the second balls. But those were just instances rather than anything sustainable.

I also felt that he took too long to make changes because his original plan clearly wasn't working and hadn't been working for a while. He needed to do something to affect the game earlier.

Losing Martinez is almost as bad as the defeat because the butcher is so important to how he wants his team to play out from the back. The defender has also been key to some of the work we do going forward as no one in the side seems to have his eye for a pass.

This is could seriously be a big blow for the rest of the season.

But overall, not good enough from Amorim and simply pathetic from his team, once again.

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Ratings

Onana - 6

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Yoro - 4

Maguire - 4

Martinez - 6.5 MOTM

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Mazraoui - 5.5

Bruno - 5.5

Ugarte - 6.5

Dalot - 5.5

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Amad - 5.5

Garnacho - 6

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Mainoo - 5.5

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Zirkzee - 5.5

Hojlund - 5.5

Eriksen - 6

De Ligt - 6

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Ruben Amorim - 5

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Final Thoughts

This shouldn't be a completely unforeseen result and performance. We know that with United we can get anything and against a good side like Palace who do have our number, if we are inconsistent, we will get what we got in this game.

We were simply diabolical and didn't deserve anything. Most of that team also didn't feature much against FCSB or didn't play at all so should've been a lot fresher for this match.

I guess that this is what we are now and we shouldn't be surprised if next week, we crack Leicester 5-0 before losing to Spurs, again.

What a terrible afternoon after all that positivity.

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