Palace 1-3 Manchester United: Romelu Lukaku shows Ole Gunnar Solskjaer what he can bring

Crystal Palace 1-3 Manchester United: Romelu Lukaku made the case for himself again with two clever, inventive goals, his first since 5 January, enough to give United the 2-0 lead

It has not always been easy to be Romelu Lukaku at Manchester United, not even in the last few months. When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer replaced Jose Mourinho in December the atmosphere at Old Trafford transformed, and with it the form and prospects of United’s best players. Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and most of all Paul Pogba are unrecognisable from the players so shackled and inhibited by Mourinho’s toxic tenure.

But amid all those transformations, Lukaku’s prospects have barely changed. A faster, slicker, braver playing style means that Lukaku’s old-fashioned virtues have not always looked so necessary. As United have moved on into the future, they have looked like they could even leave Lukaku behind.

And before tonight Lukaku had only scored three goals under Solskjaer, all in the opening weeks of the season, all in comfortable wins against Bournemouth, Newcastle United and Reading.

But here at Selhurst Park, with no Martial or Jesse Lingard, and with Rashford on the bench, Lukaku made the case for himself again. He scored two clever, inventive goals, his first since 5 January, enough to give United the 2-0 lead in a game they eventually won 3-1. That keeps them one point off fourth place, but it also expands the positive feelings about the Solskjaer tenure. He has changed so much at United already. Why can’t he change things for Lukaku as well?

It did not feel like this was going to be a positive Lukaku story eight minutes in. That was when United should have taken an early lead, taking advantage of non-existent Palace defending in the box. When Luke Shaw curled across a corner from the left, the Palace marking dissolved into nowhere. Lukaku could barely believe how free he was 10 yards out to volley the ball. But all he could do was put it into the stands.

But 25 minutes after missing that simple volley, Lukaku returned to take a far more difficult chance. It started again with Shaw, running down the left, facing far less opposition than he might have expected. Joel Ward and Jeffrey Schlupp both declined to tackle Shaw, who slalomed his way through, before rolling the ball inside to Lukaku.

If Shaw’s jinking run was slightly surprising it had nothing on what happened next. Lukaku took a sharp touch to set himself on the edge of the box and then, with three defenders closing in, he stroked the ball into the far bottom corner of the net. Vicente Guaita just stood and watched, caught off-guard by the audacity and precision of the finish.

That goal was all about cool accuracy, the second was an even more impressive moment of gymnastic skill. The ball was bouncing around the Palace box, from Ashley Young’s corner and set-up headers from Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof. But someone had to take the initiative, and so Lukaku, facing away from goal, made himself space, nudging James Tomkins out of the way. Then, with everyone still waiting to see his intentions, Lukaku stuck out a long left leg, hooking the ball back over Guaita and in. For a man who is not obviously the most natural finisher, this was his second clever take of the match.

Paul Pogba impressed again for United (PA)

Execution was the difference between the teams, with Andros Townsend and Jeffrey Schlupp missing Palace’s best early chances. And it was not until they were 2-0 down that they were able to play their best football. Too often in the first half Palace had looked scared to attack in numbers but when they finally pushed men into the box, when they had no other option, it worked.

The move began, like everything good Palace do, with Zaha, in this case getting away from Young down the left. He crossed to Batshuayi, who was forced to turn and give it to Townsend, who played in Schlupp, who played a cross. No-one was expecting what came next, Joel Ward bounding down the other side, connecting with a far-post diving header that David De Gea could do nothing about.

Now the game took on a different feel, Palace realising that they can be a dangerous team when they focus on attack. Emboldened, Townsend and Zaha kept running at United, trying to provoke a mistake. Hodgson threw on Max Meyer who nearly snuck a 25-yarder underneath De Gea. And when Cheikhou Kouyate replaced Patrick Van Aanholt, Palace made a tactical switch to turn the game.

But it did not work in the way Hodgson hoped. Pogba and Lukaku moved the ball from left to right, and Pogba slipped a pass to Young on the overlap. Schlupp had just been asked to move back to left back, and he was nowhere near Young, racing into the space, hammering his low shot into the goal. Guaita, not for the first time tonight, looked slightly taken aback.