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Crystal Palace were unable to stop the steam train that is Manchester United on Wednesday, as the Eagles fell to a 3-1 defeat at Selhurst Park. Romelu Lukaku scored a brace and Palace’s centre-back pairing, James Tomkins and Martin Kelly, could hardly contend with the big hitman.

Mamadou Sakho was absent through injury and the Eagles backline looked considerably less organised without the Frenchman, who is a guaranteed starter when fit.

Last time out, Roy Hodgson’s side made light work of Leicester, with Wilfried Zaha scoring a brace although, against United, it was Palace’ full-backs who were centre-stage. Patrick van Aanholt had a fairly poor game, while Joel Ward got on the end of Jeffrey Schlupp’s cross to head the ball in and thus put his side back in the game.

Schlupp’s assist, though, wasn’t enough to spare him from scathing remarks made by the Selhurst Park faithful after the game, who criticised the former Leicester man for his poor defensive positioning in the build up to Ashley Young’s decisive strike late on.

The 26-year-old has impressed playing in central midfield in recent weeks but was moved back to his previous position under Hodgson – left-back – once van Aanholt was replaced by Cheikhou Kouyate. Within minutes, Young had found space on the left flank and fired beyond Vicente Guaita.

It’s safe to say that some Palace fans were less than pleased, as they reacted on Twitter…

The Ghanaian more or less pocketed Paul Pogba and the cross for Ward was an excellent, as was the burst into the box prior to it; it was perhaps unfortunate that the substitution came when it did, but Schlupp had been covering van Aanholt at left-back for much of the game until then so perhaps criticising him for his defending is also a tad unfair.

The number 15 did a lot more going forward than that assist, though, as he completed three key passes – a figure only bettered by Palace captain Luka Milivojevic on the night. Key man Zaha, meanwhile, completed just one.

Taking 63 touches, too, the 26-year-old was willing to get on the ball wherever possible and make things happen for his team – he might not do things as smoothly and cleverly as Max Meyer, who came on in the second half, but the fact remains that he is still making improvements in his new role week on week.

Watch how to cross the road like a boss with freestyler Ben Nuttall in the video below…

Some of the criticism he received was surely unjustified considering the all-round performance he put in.