Manchester United take on Crystal Palace this afternoon and Erik ten Hag says that his players need to be better than they were at Selhurst Park last month as the Reds look to make it 13 consecutive home wins at Old Trafford.
It's matchday! 🤩
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 4, 2023
United are familiar with Palace as they recently met at the middle of last month at Selhurst Park. Bruno Fernandes gave United the lead, but the Eagles equalised in stoppage time through a Michael Olise free-kick, which meant that the game ended 1-1.
With United not controlling nor performing well in the second half of the game at Selhurst Park, ten Hag says that his players “must do better” this time around against the South London outfit because this is a significant game in United’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League, with victory opening up a six point gap over fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur, who play Manchester City tomorrow..
If United are to get a win over Crystal Palace, then they will need to ensure that they are concentrated throughout the 90 minutes, because this was lacking in the previous meeting between the two sides as in the second half at Selhurst Park, United were sloppy in and out of possession, which explains why ten Hag wants his team to maintain their “focus on the pitch”.
”It’s a difficult team. They have a physical approach and a good manager with really good ideas about winning football games, so we have to be ready and play better than we did at Palace. We need to be better in defence and be better in the way we play and have more energy and focus on the pitch than we had before” [via Man United].
The game between United and Patrick Viera’s side kicks off at 3pm UK time today.
