Donny van de Beek laments Manchester United’s lethargic play during defeat by Crystal Palace

‘I think against an opponent like Crystal Palace you need to speed up the game to create something’

(Getty Images)

Donny van de Beek lamented Manchester United’s lethargic pace of play after suffering a surprise 3-1 defeat against Crystal Palace on his debut. 

Wilfried Zaha produced a standout performance against his former side, scoring twice as United’s season got off to the worst possible start. 

Van de Beek, who joined United from Ajax for £35m, came off the bench and scored as United chased the game but his efforts were ultimately in vain, with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admitting his side had fallen far short of expectations.

“My first match for the club and then you want to win,” Van de Beek said. “It doesn’t matter how you want to win.

“I’m really disappointed that we lose 3-1 at home. I think it’s really bad.

“Yeah (we did not have as much match sharpness as Palace) but last week in training we did really well.

“We trained good, so my feeling was really positive. But, yeah, today we played too slowly.

“We went too long with the ball and I think against an opponent like Crystal Palace you need to speed up the game to create something. That was not good enough.”

Van de Beek added that scoring on his debut did nothing to add any gloss to the defeat, with United now focused on their third round Carabao Cup tie against Luton. 

“To play for all the fans in stadiums like this it’s more nice to score,” he said. “But still I scored but we lose and this is the most important thing, that we win. We lose but it’s always really nice to play for a club like this. I made my first game and I hope to help the team and next time that we win, for sure.

“I mean, next week we need to step up and we need to win.”