#4 Pardew’s decision to play Zaha up front backfires
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Former United man Wilfried Zaha had been in spectacular form coming into the game, with 2 goals and 7 assists in his last seven Palace appearances. However, Pardew’s decision to start Zaha as a second striker to run off Benteke surprised many an Eagles fan.
With Eric Bailly playing his first game for United at right-back, it was the perfect opportunity for Zaha to use his pace and trickery to provide some attacking threat for Palace. In the end, Zaha turned out to be a peripheral figure for most of the game, not receiving enough service to get behind the United defence.
A short spell during which he played at left-wing in the first half showed exactly where Pardew got his tactics wrong, as the 24-year old ran the byline and put quality crosses in. Lee Chung-Yong – who occupied the left side – was nowhere near as threatening as Zaha would have been, allowing Bailly to press high up the pitch rather than worry about the Korean going forward.
