Erik ten Hag continues to add his pre-season friendlies by wins since taking over the Manchester United bench. After thrashing Liverpool 4-0 in Bangkok (Thailand) and Melbourne Victory 1-4, today the ‘red devils’ once again beat another Premier League team, Crystal Palace, 3-1 in Australia .
read also
A match that was once again marked by whistles directed by the 76,000 spectators who gathered in the stands of the Melbourne Cricket Ground towards captain Harry Maguire.
Ten Hag is counting on Maguire and plans to keep him at center back alongside Lisandro Martinez, the Argentine centre-back United signed from Ajax on Sunday. But some supporters disagree with this decision, hence the whistles directed at Maguire every time he touched the ball in the first half hour of play.
Maguire’s ordeal
It is not the first time that Maguire has been immersed in this situation and faces criticism for his disappointing performances with United and the English team due to the downturn in his game in recent months.
Harry Maguire, at match time
In fact, last season Maguire was repeatedly booed even by the United fans and also by the supporters of the English team during the friendly against the Ivory Coast last March at Wembley (3-0).
For his part, last April Maguire also received a bomb threat at his home in Cheshire and, after reporting the incident, the local police carried out a search.
Martial participates in the three goals
As for United’s match today, the positive note was the good form of Anthony Martial, who, after finishing the season on loan at Sevilla, has returned with renewed enthusiasm and has scored in all three summer friendlies.
He did it against Liverpool and Melbourne Victory and today Martial scored from close range after his excellent control with his chest in a Diogo Dalot cross at the far post. The French striker not only opened the scoring in the 18th minute as he was also involved in the other two beautifully crafted goals that came after the break.
At 2-0 he traded passes with Jadon Sancho before finding Donny van de Beek, whose back pass was netted by Marcus Rashford (48′).
At game time, after a good action by Fred and Rashford, Martial assisted Sancho, who left due to the speed of the defense and finished with class (59′).
De Gea misses the goal
David De Gea was not successful in Palace’s goal as Joel Ward’s header after a corner bounced close and the ball slipped between his body (74′). United finished with ten as the young William Fish (19 years old) was shown a red card for a foul as the last defender and only spent 20 minutes on the pitch (84′).
United’s next friendly will be on July 23 against Aston in Perth (Australia). His debut in the Premier will be on August 7 against Brighton