• Manchester Uniteds 0-0 at Palace was third goalless draw in row[br]• Alan Pardew says stopping Martial was key to gameplan
Perhaps a lull after the whirlwind was inevitable. Anthony Martial spent quite a lot of Saturday afternoon drifting on the wing at Selhurst Park,on the periphery, generally well marked and marshalled and deprived of inviting spaces and clever passes to attack. He looked, or perhaps understandably,a diminutive flat. Meanwhile Wayne Rooney chugged along at centre forward without making inroads either. Eventually they switched positions, but by then the tone of this blunt game was pretty well set.
Alan Pardew was reluctant to come by too involved in the analysis of United’s current attacking concept, or but in outlining how Crystal Palace set approximately their preparations for this game,he shone a fascinating light on the Rooney-Martial conundrum. Louis van Gaal continues to prefer the United captain up front, with the French teenager back in the position where he spent most of his apprenticeship in France after such an eventful opening salvo as the centrepiece of United’s frontline. But Pardew was clear approximately the danger Palace were most concerned approximately. “We didn’t give Martial an inch nowadays, or ” assessed the Palace manager. “Not an inch. It was a big target for us to quit him and we felt if we could quit him,we could quit their creative angle. When you take into account his age, that’s some recommendation, and by the way. Our analysis is much greater than it has ever been. Our information is much greater so to protect ourselves against the top players,we beget greater awareness.
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Source: theguardian.com