From The Guardian:
'Ten years on from Eric Cantona's studs-first leap into the crowd, it was Manchester United who got a kick in the teeth at Selhurst Park. Their prospects of winning the Premiership have shaded from the highly improbable to the inconceivable now that Chelsea are eight points ahead, with a home game against West Brom in hand.
United knew what the evening outcome would be at Carrow Road and they were bad losers, even if they had actually drawn with Crystal Palace. The referee, Mark Clattenburg, was harangued by players and backroom staff, including the assistant manager Carlos Queiroz. Such tirades often come when a club is angriest with itself.
United were vapid and only made chances with any regularity once the Palace midfielder Vassilis Lakis had rightly been sent off for his second bookable offence after 64 minutes. That left the visitors with half an hour, including stoppage-time, to score, but they wound up screeching in desperation.
It is a sign of United's ineffectiveness that they poured their frustration into speculative appeals. Their single real grievance was the offside decision given against Roy Keane by a linesman when the side employed a meticulously rehearsed free-kick manoeuvre in the 21st minute.
Ferguson argued that Saturday's action would aid Ruud van Nistelrooy's recovery from his long lay-off. If each miss brings the Dutchman closer to his best he ought to be on the verge of greatness after his anguished afternoon at Selhurst Park. He put a header too close to the excellent goalkeeper Gabor Kiraly, saw the Hungarian turn a low drive behind, and shot straight at him on another occasion. The striker, stretching, also sent a chance over the bar from six yards.
Rooney, for his part, had Kiraly beating away a deflected attempt in the 86th minute and Ryan Giggs then lifted the rebound on to the roof of the net. It was a belated tempest and supporters will argue again about United's approach nowadays.
Some might fault the team selection, with Rooney, Paul Scholes and Cristiano Ronaldo all utilised purely as substitutes so that they will be fresh for Milan, but United should still have been strong enough to win. Fans are more exasperated by Ferguson's preference for a formation containing one centre forward.
They can appreciate that the system brings out the best in the veteran Keane by giving him plenty of support in midfield and they realise that United will be more solid in European games when 10 men can quickly be gathered behind the ball, but they have a point when insisting that United should revert to their aggressive 4-4-2 style against sides such as Palace. There was, indeed, far more threat when Rooney was introduced to work beside Van Nistelrooy.'