THE VERDICT: UNITED 0 PALACE 0

CUT through the vindictive reactions and Jose Mourinho had a point about certain United players missing ‘character, personality, bad blood, that natural aggression’ during that interview. Character. Personality. Bad blood. Natural aggression. They were all lacking.

Paul Pogba was not name-checked by Mourinho but Jesse Lingard was.

Both were substituted on a day Pogba was programmed to feckless mode, overelaborating with the game goalless, failing to trap a pass or play a pass on a day of apathy, rather than aggression. Lingard was bright and urgent, albeit ineffectual.

Marcus Rashford brought some bite in the 72nd minute to spark a four-on-three counter-attack which ended with Alexis Sanchez playing the ball behind Anthony Martial and into touch.

Graeme Souness advised United play ‘one or two touch’ in midfield. Multiply those numbers by about 10 and that is how pedestrian United were.

Mourinho’s surrogate son, Nemanja Matic, was also lightweight. Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend both hurdled the Serb’s challenges to fashion Crystal Palace’s glaring chances. Of course, Matic stayed on. Sir Bobby Charlton was present for his first Old Trafford game of the campaign and Sir Alex Ferguson was back for the first time in two months. The broadcasters resisted homing in on either but an artist could have sketched their expressions without laying eyes on the knights. Too many in red ambled through the motions. Palace merited their point and their animated analysts in the press box appeared to be disgruntled that they had not claimed a winner. There were nearly moments. Rashford had a shot deflect wide and Wayne Hennessey adroitly foiled Lukaku but David de Gea was forced into a double save and Palace engineered the better openings. A Palace team without a home win all season and who last claimed three points on September 15. The uplifting domestic comebacks from United in recent weeks now feel inconsequential after the jeers and the Samuel Luckhurst None None 60% 40% 12 13 10 3 Young Sakho, Milivojevic Lee Mason 74,516 booing and the exasperated sighing soundtracked another cumbersome performance.

Mourinho is not exempt and has some explaining to do. Why, too, the persistence of Matic?

Why was Fred, the £52m midfield lockpicker, an unused substitute again? And why start a wantaway ahead of the club captain and summer signing?

Antonio Valencia was back in a matchday squad for the first time since October 2 yet it was the ‘emergency player’ Matteo Darmian who replaced the suspended Luke Shaw in what was his first appearance since the season opener on